Guest from Europe Midi, François Aymé, president of the French Association of arthouse cinemas, commented on the upcoming expansion of the sanitary pass to cinemas.
According to this cinema director, the device may scare away part of the public during the first weeks of its implementation.
INTERVIEW
They no longer have a gauge but they will soon have the sanitary pass.
From July 21, this device will become mandatory to access certain places of culture, including cinemas, Emmanuel Macron announced Monday evening.
To attend a screening, the public must therefore either be vaccinated, or present a negative PCR or antigen test, or proof of recovery from Covid-19 dated more than 11 days and less than 6 months.
This measure aims to encourage the French to be massively vaccinated while the spread of the Delta variant is causing contamination to rise again.
But some movie theater managers fear its impact on attendance, at least the first few weeks.
"People are not necessarily going to test themselves every 48 hours"
"We knew very well that it was likely to happen. We are still surprised by the timing that was chosen, there is a form of precipitation", reports to Europe 1 François Aymé, director of the Jean-Eustache cinema in Pessac and president of the French Association of arthouse cinemas. He points in particular to the gray zone of several weeks, between the first and the second injection, during which the public will have to make use of tests to go to certain public places. Which could act as a foil.
"We all know that there is a delay of several weeks between when we want to be vaccinated and when we are fully vaccinated. There is obviously the solution of tests. For a large concert, for an event film, people will be tested, "says François Aymé.
"But the test is only valid for 48 hours. They can take the opportunity to go to a restaurant at the same time, but they will not necessarily be tested every 48 hours," he notes.
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"We hope there will be a benevolence from the government"
Finally, the implementation of an additional control at the entrance - that of the pass in addition to the ticket - represents a constraint for small rooms, sometimes lacking staff during the summer period. "We hope that there will be a form of understanding, of benevolence from the government over the first days or the first two weeks", continues this official. "The very small structures are in a period where people go on leave one after the other, which is not necessarily obvious," he adds.