The 38th edition of the Film Festival begins on Sunday and will last until Wednesday. Last year, the event attracted 3 million moviegoers.
Sonia and Rolande come out of their weekly session, smiling, beaming. They adored Isabelle Nanty, in Master Poutifard’s revengereleased this week. “It’s a moment for yourself. Outside the daily framework of the house. It feels good. Netflix, Prime Video… It’s good what! We don’t go out anymore!”, exclaims Sonia. And Rolande adds: “At home, it’s not the same, we are always disturbed, there is noise. Even if you have a big screen at home, it will never be the same thing. There, there is a soul , it’s a show.”
>> The Film Festival starts today until July 5, with an increased price
The sector’s first half of 2023 got off to a strong start with 82 million admissions. This is an increase of 33% compared to the same period in 2022, an increase both for multiplexes and for Arthouses. And all films benefit from it.
So many encouraging signs, rejoices Richard Patry, president of the French cinema federation, as the 38th edition of the cinema festival begins on Sunday July 2.
“We’re going to have a very strong summer, with two big American blockbusters, ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Mission Impossible’. And we’re all waiting for Christopher Nolan’s film, ‘Oppenheimer’. And for a little more entertainment, you have ‘ Barbie’, the ‘Haunted Mansion’…”
Richard Patry, President of the French Federation of Cinemas.at franceinfo
“I think at the end of 2023 we can be at pre-pandemic attendance levels, concludes Richard Patry, optimistic. In any case, we do everything for it!”
“An upgrade” of the tariff
If it also evokes the assured carton ofIndiana Jones, “a family get-together” with a “cinema icon, Harrison Ford”Marc-Olivier Sebbag, general delegate of the National Federation of Cinemas, is betting on Nanny Moretti’s latest film, Towards a bright futureand on Miraculous which comes out on July 5, “an expected meeting“, especially by younger viewers.
As for the price, the place has gone from 4 to 5 euros this year, inflation obliges… “We had not increased for eight years, argues Marc-Olivier Sebbag. Cinemas work with two things: films and energy to make light. The principle of cinema is to light up a screen. And as you know, the energy has increased a lot. So we had to do this upgrade. But we hope that at 5 euros, it remains an extremely advantageous price to go to the cinema”.
Marc-Olivier Sebbag also ensures that “the vast majority of cinemas are operating normally”even if some suffered damage during the riots that followed the death of young Nahel in Nanterre.