Coronavirus: Cinema professionals do not understand why theaters remain closed -
20 Minutes
The fact that theaters do not reopen on December 15 is a bad surprise for film professionals.
Most do not yet know how to react, but do not believe in a reopening on January 4.
To say that film professionals are not happy with Jean Castex's announcements, pushing back the opening of theaters to January 4, is far below the truth.
"Depressed ulcerated flabbergasted" by his own term
are
Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas does not mince words for
20 Minutes
.
“It is incomprehensible that the leader of cinema exhibitors is strangling.
The government recognizes that there is no cluster in cinemas, it congratulates us for our work and our respect for sanitary conditions, then drops the ax!
It's as if we wanted to encourage people to stay locked in their homes and watch movies on the platforms.
"
pic.twitter.com/iVO2bonbkP
- Romain Le Vern (@RomainLeVern) December 10, 2020
Wonder Woman 84
by Patty Jenkins and
Mandibles
by Quentin Dupieux are among the many films that we don't really know what will become of them after this announcement.
But they are not the only ones.
"It is not so much the health decisions that we can understand, but the way in which they are announced without the slightest consultation with the professionals, says Etienne Ollagnier of the distribution company Jour even 2Fête, who was to release
Charlène Favier's
Slalom.
December 16.
It's still crazy to learn on BFM TV what sauce we are going to be eaten.
The television channel announced the decisions this Thursday morning.
Disgust and incomprehension
Amel Lacombe, of the Eurozoom distribution company, is not fading either.
She was to release two Japanese films,
Violet Evergarden
by Haruka Fujita and
Little Zombies
by Makoto Nagahisa: "The government obviously does not understand how cinema works," she insists.
We cannot be reopened overnight in this industry, she reminds
20 Minutes
.
A promotional campaign must be carried out and the costs incurred in this area are irretrievably lost.
But it's not just money that comes into play, artists also take it for their registration.
"I am devastated for Maiwenn and
DNA
, the output of which is being sacrificed for the second time after being truncated the day after its release, on October 28," says Jean Labadie of the Pacte
20 Minutes
.
Neither does he know what he will do for this release or that
of Laurent Tirard's
Speech
, initially scheduled for December 23.
Forced to go out in theaters
"What makes us angry is that we have been dangling a recovery and the decision seems unfair and arbitrary while so many businesses that seem more dangerous than cinemas remain open" adds Amel Lacombe.
It is forced to release its films in theaters by contract and does not receive any aid from the state which reserves them for French film distributors.
Etienne Ollagnier is also stuck.
“I have already invested too much money in the promotion of
Slalom
for the film to be profitable on VOD.
If we had been warned a little in advance, I would not have continued the poster campaign for the film.
"
Skeptics for January 4
Nobody believes in a reopening on January 4 and especially not the operator Richard Patry.
“Which films would we reopen with?” He sighs.
Distributors cannot be ready to start investing again without any certainty.
“Indeed, this date seems too close to the holidays for serious figures for the decline of the pandemic to be obtained.
“We have the impression that culture is the government's adjustment variable,” insists Jean Labadie.
What happened tonight confirms it!
The film professionals must come together quickly to decide what to do next.
“We go to bed collapsed but we will get up tomorrow for new fights.
We have had enough of subsidies: we want to do our job, ”asserts distributor Etienne Ollagnier.
And we, the spectators, want to go back to the movies!
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