Culture under curfew.

After closing their establishment during confinement, the operators of theaters in Île-de-France and eight major cities will have to deal with the establishment of a curfew from 9 p.m., Saturday, October 17 and for at least four weeks.

A measure that comes at a time when French cinema was barely beginning to find its audience, as evidenced by the recent success of the comedy “Antoinette in the Cévennes”, released on September 16 and which currently has more than 625,000 admissions.  

The announcement worries cinema professionals, and rightly so: evening screenings after 7 p.m. are strategic for the activity of theater operators: they represent 40.5% of the total attendance of cinemas in France, after an investigation carried out for the CNC for the year 2019. Despite a call from the profession to relax the curfew, the government announced on Friday that there would be no arrangements allowing performances after 9 p.m.

No exception, even 10 minutes, will not be tolerated either, assured Matignon to France 24. 

"The objective is clear: we must fight the virus. For the sake of clarity, there will therefore be no exemptions other than those already stated. Even if we are aware that the effort will be difficult for the cultural sector and for all those whose activity is night. However, we are not going to leave the profession on the side of the road, aid will obviously be distributed ", recalled the office of the Prime Minister, Jean Castex.

"Autumn, a capital period for arthouse"

In an attempt to limit losses, some exhibitors, like the Parisian network MK2, have decided to open their theaters from 8 am.

Others will offer sessions earlier on the weekend.

But will that be enough?

"We hope to keep up with the aid we receive from the CNC in particular," notes William Benedetto, director of the arthouse cinema at the Alhambra, in Marseille.

“We have reworked our programming schedules: our screenings scheduled at 8 pm are now moved to Saturday and Sunday mornings at 11:30 am. But a curfew in October does not really help us. Autumn is a capital period for the cinema of 'arthouse. Long-awaited and award-winning films usually come out at this time and improve attendance. But this year, we are sure of nothing, "sighs the operator. 

Same concern in the capital.

Since the announcement of the curfew, Émilie Nouveau, programmer of the Studio des Ursulines, an independent cinema for young audiences in the 5th arrondissement, "spends her time glued to the phone".

"I ask distributors again if the films will go well in theaters, I contact festivals to make sure they are maintained ... It is endless work, especially for small teams like us. Since the end of the lockdown , we have the impression of sewing and re-stitching in order, in the end, to have to unstitch everything ”, she sums up bitterly. 

"A terrible iniquity"

If everyone must be at home by 9 p.m. at the latest - and since a screening lasts on average 2:15 -, it is hardly possible to start a screening after 6 p.m., estimates the National Federation of Cinemas (FNCF) which pleaded for that spectators can return home shortly after the fateful hour, their ticket serving as proof.

But this last session would still be scheduled too early, in Paris and in large cities, where most city dwellers leave work around 7 p.m., still judges the FNCF.

“There is a terrible inequity in this situation: you can come back by train or walk your dog after 9 pm, but you cannot leave a cinema!”, Deplores, on the phone, Erwan Escoubet, director of regulatory affairs at the Federation national cinema.

“Okay, the point of this curfew is to prevent the transmission of the virus, but there has never been a cluster in a room!” 

"A film that does not come out in Paris does not exist"

The consequences for the film industry would then be sadly mechanical.

The ever more limited screenings would lead to a drop in attendance at the rooms.

What to dissuade many distributors from programming their films immediately.

Thus, film professionals could, in the long term, no longer have any works to show, according to the FNCF.

A hypothesis that could even turn out to be attractive for several streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon Prime. 

Fearing not to make enough admissions, the distributor of the South Korean horror film "Peninsula" by Yeon Sang-ho has already announced the postponement of its release, initially scheduled for October 21, for December 16.

“A program for young people or the elderly can be seen in the afternoon without any problem, but would you go see a zombie film at 8 am?”, Explained Michèle Halberstadt, to Télérama . 

The absence of films could also mechanically lead to ... the closure of cinemas, even in areas outside curfews.

“The consequences are more important for the cinema than for the theater because a film which does not come out in Paris does not exist!

If the screenings can no longer be held in the big cities, most of the French films eagerly awaited this fall, like "Adieu les cons" by Albert Dupontel, "Aline" by Valérie Lemercier or even "DNA" by Maïwenn will be deprogrammed everywhere. elsewhere.

For the time being, we simply do not see a way out, ”concludes Erwan Escoubet. 

> To read: Curfew: in France, the world of performing arts is fighting for its survival

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