• As part of a call for projects launched by the national cinema center (CNC) for the creation of film studios, the former tobacco factory, located in Sarlat in the Dordogne hopes to be selected.

  • The 28,000 m2 site, owned by the Sarlat Périgord Noir community of municipalities, could house eight studios but also a training center and a resource center for the reuse of sets.

  • With its strategic position for productions in central France, the project hopes to be selected when the results are communicated at the end of 2022.

Will film studios see the light of day in the last tobacco factory which closed in France, in September 2019 in Sarlat?

In any case, this is the wish of the community of communes Sarlat Périgord Noir, new owner of the ten-hectare site, which participated in the call for projects "La grande fabrique de l'image, France 2030" launched by the center National Cinema (CNC).

At stake, an envelope of 300 million euros for the creation of ten film studios in France.

A project supported by many local partners (

see box

).

The results of the call for projects will be known by the end of the year, and should decide the fate of the site which comprises 28,000 m2 and is located in the Dordogne department, which hosts 100 to 150 days of filming per year.

To further appeal to productions, especially English-speaking ones, indoor premises would be a considerable asset for this department, which is already prized for its many natural settings.

Complement natural settings

In addition to the eight cinema studios envisaged, from 400 m2 to 1,575 m2, the site could accommodate a training center around creative professions and a resource center designed to make the production of sets, necessarily ephemeral, more virtuous (reuse, recycling etc.)

The project leaders highlight the strategic location of the site "at the crossroads of the three largest French filming regions (New-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Auvergne Rhône-Alpes)", in their press release.

By allowing major productions to find a site suited to their needs, they hope to become “the rear base for filming within a radius of 150 km, taking advantage of the central square of Sarlat in the heart of this open-air plateau”.

If the project is one of the winners, new, more in-depth feasibility studies will be launched in the process, in 2023.

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Private partners also expected

The disused factory already serves as a rear base for film crews.

A reflection has been underway for several months by the Dordogne filming reception office and the service of the Ciné Passion association on a possible transformation of the premises.

The project is carried out by the mixed economy company d'Equipement du Périgord), with the support of local authorities (city of Sarlat, Dordogne department and the New Aquitaine region) an initial technical feasibility study has been validated by professionals in the sector (producers, production managers, managers of French and European studios).

Private partners are also expected to expand the monitoring committee.

  • Company

  • Aquitaine

  • CNC

  • Movie theater

  • Film