REPORTAGE. Discovering a “100% green” cinema, which will see the light of day near Troyes

Craftsmen, all local, who are busy everywhere and in all directions for the delivery of the work in a few days. It must be said that the project is unusual, innovative, but also a precursor today in a way: an ecological cinema.

>> In Sarlat, film studios could see the light of day in a former tobacco factory

These are wooden buildings, insulating straw, solar panels, a pellet stove… not to mention these famous dry toilets which have led to the nickname of Anne Faucon, manager of the place and tireless defender of the project. , the “Lady pee of art and essay.” “Everything we said and which was rejected at the time, is what paradoxically helped us with the Covid and global warming: we became precursors in spite of ourselves”she explains to franceinfo.

“But we didn’t invent anything, justifies Anne Faucon. We just put together existing techniques, with the idea of ​​showing that we could imagine and build a 100% green building without additional cost, to say that there were no more excuses not to do it. “.

The idea of ​​an eco-friendly cinema in this area comes from an elected communist, in opposition to François Baroin, mayor of Troyes since 1995, who had then rejected the concept. It was the neighboring town of Pont-Sainte-Marie which recovered it, to the delight of its mayor, Pascal Landréat: “Having an arthouse cinema in a city of 5,000 inhabitants is not trivial. But we are in an agglomeration which has 180,000.”

If nothing had been done in the current years, we would have become a “peripheral” city, not to say “dormitory”.

Pascal Landréat, Mayor of Pont-Sainte-Marie

at franceinfo

The aedile continues: “For several years, we have implemented a cultural, environmental and entertainment policy for young people, which has allowed us to increase and rejuvenate our population. It is therefore natural that the city feels integrated into the project, even if it is private”.

Obviously, opening a cinema at a cost of two million euros, based on private funds and crowdfunding, in a period when – despite a very successful month of October – fewer people go to the cinema since the Covid, it may seem risky. But with moderate prices of 4.50 euros per ticket for children, 5 euros for adults with subscription and 7 euros full price, Anne Faucon believes in it: “It’s like going to sea thinking only of drowning. At some point, you have to get started! Beyond the quality of the films we will offer, creating a place like that, virtuous and pleasant, is That’s what changes things for me.”

The Utopia cinema in Pont-Sainte-Marie will begin to welcome its spectators on December 1.