The day after the announcement of the continued closure of cultural venues until at least January 7, professionals in the film industry are angry.

Some are even considering reopening illegally, while the National Federation of French Cinemas is considering filing an appeal. 

These are three additional weeks of closure that do not pass.

By showering hopes of reopening cultural venues on Thursday, Prime Minister Jean Castex drew the wrath of theater operators, hard hit by the economic crisis of the coronavirus.

"I have a feeling of rebellion", confirms at the microphone of Europe 1 Aurélie Delage, who directs the Megarama of Garra, in Charente.

As she was preparing to resume her activity on December 15, as announced in November by Emmanuel Macron, she learned by watching her television, like all French people, that this would not ultimately be the case.

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Cinemas reluctant to reopen illegally

But this time, it is too much and the manager is thinking of defying the law by welcoming "spectators in compliance with health standards, as was done between June and October", before January 7.

A decision that is not only economic: "[government] aid does not compensate for the lack of pleasure that we can have when we function normally." 

A desire that seems fairly widespread within French cinemas, since the National Federation for its part plans to file an appeal to reopen as soon as possible. 

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A very important month of December for the sector's treasury 

Still, one of the reasons for the discontent lies in the fact that December is the most important month of the year in terms of turnover for cinemas.

A truth that also applies to other places forced to remain closed, since theaters achieve half of their turnover over the last three months of the year and museums see their revenues jump by 20% in December.  

Last element of the anger of French cinemas: January 7 is no guarantee of reopening.

As Prime Minister Jean Castex clarified during his press conference, a new point will be made on this date to consider a reopening.

January 7 may very well be just one more step and not a horizon. 

In an attempt to calm the discontent, the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot indicated that she would ask for 35 million euros of additional aid which would be added, according to her, to the 7.5 billion euros granted to the sector cultural since spring 2020. The key is to know if these aids will dissuade the managers of dark rooms from opening.