A page is turning in the small town of Vervins, the Piccoli-Piccolo projectionist has decided to hand over. After sixty years in the cinema, he screened his last film, and passed the torch on to the team of volunteers who will succeed him.
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Edmond Bourgeois started out as an usher in the cinema-theater in Vervins. He was 13 years old. Years later, he would become its projectionist. Now 77 years old, this film enthusiast, former tax officer, is forced for health reasons to hand over. A few days ago, he provided his last screening, obviously with a little nostalgia.
It was always a pleasure to see people leave the cinema, happy. They had had a good time. And me, that made me happy.
It was the concern of Edmond Bourgeois, forced to give up sometimes providing up to four sessions per week: was someone going to take over? Would the cinema, as in many small rural communities in recent decades, have to lower the curtain? Times have changed, the countryside is reuniting with inhabitants and the small cinemas are coming back to life. In Vervins, whose town hall paid tribute to the projectionist’s years of commitment, everyone is delighted that a dozen people from the town and the surrounding area have volunteered to take over.
Among them Virginie, one of the volunteers involved in the adventure, who took advantage of Edmond’s last session to do her first session: “Finding yourself in front of machines that you do not know, with an audience waiting for a screening at a certain time, you have no room for error. It’s true that it’s stressful, but at the same time, I want us to succeed and keep cinema going.“.
For his part, Edmond Bourgeois leaves quiet. And he promises above all not to be intrusive with his successors: “From home, I’ll look in the newspaper and if there’s a movie I’m interested in, I’ll come take a look. But I won’t come bother them“.