• After Cognac and Beaune in the past, it is in Reims that the Police Film Festival will take place this year.

  • This first edition is virtual but the event will be face-to-face from next year.

  • A program of enticing films awaits audiences on the Internet.

Champagne! For its 38th edition, the Police Film Festival is reinventing itself digitally with a view to establishing itself in Reims from 2022. Twelve years in Beaune and 25 years, before that, in Cognac. Could it be a coincidence that the demonstration is causing bubbles in cities where we do not drink only plain water? "It's because the festival director likes good things," says Bruno Barde, speaking of himself, to

20 Minutes

. A disagreement with Beaune following the cancellation of the event in 2020 prompted it to change city and region.

"I left Cognac because I don't like Cognac and Beaune because the city forgot to pay us 400,000 euros so that we referred them to the Commercial Court", he explains more seriously. .

The successes of his other festivals, Deauville (face-to-face in 2020) and Gérardmer (virtual in 2021), reinforced Bruno Barde in his desire to continue the adventure of detective film.

A call for tenders from Reims in search of a cinema event seals the fate of the future 

Reims Polar

, face-to-face festival from next year.

Bubbles and erudition

“Like the cinema, champagne is an effervescence, explains Bruno Barde.

The thrillers do him honor: James Bond changes vintage with each film and Claude Chabrol appreciated it too.

Its 2021 jury, chaired by Jacques Weber brings together connoisseurs of the genre such as Anne Parillaud, Lucas Belvaux or Jean-Paul Salomé, not to mention Dali Bensalah, who will be seen against 007 in the highly anticipated

Mourir can wait

.

“I wanted a serious and erudite jury,” explains Bruno Barde.

We wish them to drink a small cup while discovering a promising program.

Everything for the public

The public will be able to enjoy previews such as

Black Box

with Pierre Niney,

Vaurien

with Pierre Deladonchamps or

L'Ennemi

with Jérémie Renier.

He can also make discoveries, either by acquiring a pass for the whole event (40 €) or by paying 5 € per screening.

"The public has always been of the utmost importance to me and the French public is the most curious and the best in the world," said Bruno Barde.

In spite of everything, it is from home that moviegoers will taste the Reims 2021 cuvée. “It was better to have a festival away from home than no festival at all.

At a time when the theaters reopen, it makes you want to raise your glass in honor of the cinema.

»We drink with the director of the festival to the future success of 

Reims Polar

.

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