the role of notes in Allociné in question

The director of this film on police violence and others question the role of Allociné and denounce “far-right raids” generating poor ratings on the cinema site

An essential prescriber of cinema in France, the site Allocinated sees its rating at the heart of a controversy after an avalanche of bad ratings against a film about police violence, Before the flames go outwhich its director attributes to the extreme right.

Released on November 15 in France, the film directed by Mehdi Fikri with Camélia Jordana, was a bitter failure, with only 18,000 admissions for its first week. A setback that its director and the Society of Film Directors (SRF) attribute to negative coverage by media that they classify as “the extreme right”, but also to his “spectators rating” extremely low on Allocinatednamely 1.5/5 for 600 votes on Friday (the press average reached 3/5 for 18 reviews).

As a warning, Allocinated accompanied the film profile with a message on their “unusual distribution”. Clearly, the feature film could have been targeted by activists who probably did not even see it.

The director denounces “far-right raids”

“Allocinated should stop hiding behind its algorithm and name what is happening, these are far-right raids, which are part of an overall harassment of the film”, denounces Mehdi Fikri.

If the matter is sensitive, it is becauseAllocinatedcreated in 1993 as a telephone answering machine to find out screening times, has been able to adapt to all changes in the sector and become the reference in cinema, with 14 million unique visitors per month.

According to the SRF, other works have already suffered the same fate, notably two films evoking immigration, by Emilie Frèche and Philippe Faucon. “Unfortunately, the subject of online hatred exists. We are constantly trying to deal with it and improve,” responds Julien Marcel, general manager ofAllocinated.

A “credibility score” allows you to give less importance to the ratings given by users who have just registered. And moderation “7 days a week” controls the 300,000 to 500,000 ratings and 25,000 reviews monthly.

Allociné defends its editorial staff

Besides racism, “homophobia, religion, grossophobia, anti-French comedy bashing, which is growing a little”, are monitored by the second largest global player in its niche, behind the American Imdb. However, “we are prohibited from deleting notes”, except hateful comments, preferring to put a warning in case of signs of manipulation, he continues.

Regarding Mehdi Fikri’s film, the alert was first raised by positive comments posted by new accounts, even before the film was released, he says.

Allociné defends its editorial team of around forty journalists and highlights its editorial work. The site, best known for its trailers, screening schedules and ratings, also annoys critics who see their articles summarized with a “press rating” out of five stars.

“The notes Allocinated participate in the success or failure of a film”, operates an independent distributor, Eric Lagesse (Pyramide). And advertising on Allociné has become essential, in the same way as advertising on buses, he explains. “Allocinated must protect the people who keep it alive! It’s not the fascists who give lousy ratings to a film they haven’t even seen who should decide the rating.” he exclaims.

Others put the influence of Allociné into perspective

“It’s the leading film discovery site in France, so it has an impact, especially on arthouse films, by deciding whether or not to go.” adds Mathieu Robinet (Tandem), distributor of the film by Emilie Frèche, targeted by “the fascistosphere” one year ago. “These were clearly raids related to the subject but, in the end, it’s difficult to know to what extent it impacted the film’s career.”

Under cover of anonymity, players in the sector put the influence ofAllocinated : “No theater operator looks at these notes to program or not a film,” underlines one of them. Another judge that the notes do not have “changed career” from the film by Mehdi Fikri: “Given its start in theaters, the film was already dead on the first day.”