Declining attendance in French arthouse cinemas: franceinfo interview with Francois Ayme
"Many exhibitors are asking themselves the question of keeping staff," François Aymé, president of the French association of arthouse cinemas, told franceinfo on Monday 3 August. The situation is difficult for the whole sector since the coronavirus crisis. He also fears a change in behaviour after the health crisis: "When the cinemas return to their usual offer, will people, especially the occasional public, come back as often?".
“Arthouse cinemas are a little less affected. We're around 50%, but that's a historic drop. We've never seen a situation like this before.” Says Aymé about the movie-going in France. And about the request of aid to the Minister of Culture: “We asked for 150 million euros in emergency aid. It's already been four months since there's been a considerable loss. We're on half a billion less in revenue over the past four months. If we want to keep this network, which is the only cultural network that is open every day, accessible to everyone throughout the country, it is absolutely essential that very significant aid be announced quickly.”
Full interview in French is available on franceinfo: https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/cinema/frequentation-en-baisse-dans-les-cinemas-dart-et-essai-beaucoup-d-exploitants-se-posent-la-question-de-garder-le-personnel_4065091.html
Overview of the situation of Italian cinemas by Domenico Dinoia, president of FICE
The president of the Italian Cinema Federation of Essai, Domenico Dinoia, gives an overview of the situation of the sector in this difficult summer for Vivilcinema.
At the time of the closures for anti-covid measures, how was the arthouse circuit developing in terms of supply and frequency?
The pandemic interrupted an extremely positive cycle. We were coming from a very brilliant 2019 for film attendance, in which there had been a reversal of the trend compared to previous years (+14%). Arthouse cinema could count on important titles like Joker and Parasite and Italian production was also doing well thanks to Ozpetek and Muccino's films, La dea fortuna and Gli anni più belli. The coronavirus came at a time when audiences were returning to the cinema with great participation.
The problem of audience rejuvenation and audience disaffection existed before the covid, unfortunately. Is there a danger that the long interruption of these months will accentuate them?
Certainly those who benefited from the situation were the historical platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sky. To these have been added Mio Cinema and Io resto in sala, the result of the distributors' initiative with the involvement of exhibitors. The release of I miserabili and Favolacce on these platforms has helped to keep the relationship between the audience and the cinemas alive, but it is clear that the closure of cinemas can cause changes in cinema-goers' habits in the long run. We still have the chance to fully recover the public's interest in films in cinemas, but the lack of new films certainly doesn't help.
Is the arthouse circuit taking risks?
The arthouse sector is run by a network of small businesses that put passion, economic resources and great attention to the public into the business. Fortunately, the law recognises the value of these independent cinemas which maintain a great variety of film programming in our country. In small municipalities, the cinema is often the only place of encounter and culture. If at the end of the pandemic some of these structures were no longer able to survive, we would have lost a piece of our heritage.
CICAE'S PROJECTS
Registrations for the 5th European Arthouse Cinema Day are open
The fifth edition of the European Arthouse Cinema Day, which will be held on November 8.
Cinemas interested in participating in the event can register at the following link: https://artcinemaday.org/en/register-precheck?cinemaid=0
Exhibitors who already participated in the past edition can select their cinema from the list available. New participants can instead click on „register new cinema“. The form is available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
CICAE jury awards Mare at Sarajevo Film Festival
The CICAE international jury at the 26th SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL, which moved online this year, is happy to announce that the winner of the CICAE Art Cinema Award is Mare by Andrea Štaka, "a film by a Swiss director who engages its audience to a great poetic journey portraying a modern mother in difficult times. A female heroine who struggles with prosaic everyday duties and forgets about herself; her sexuality, identity and femininity. The viewer is not only involved throughout the story by the impressive camera work but also by the natural acting in the leading role and her fight in everyday life."
We look forward to see this amazing film reach audiences in art house cinemas all over Europe.
Congratulations!
Mare
Switzerland, Croatia, 2020, 84 minutes
Written and directed by: Andrea Štaka
Cinematographer: Erol Zubčević
Cast: Marija Škaričić, Goran Navojec, Mateusz Kościukiewicz, Gabrijel Vidak, Karmela Vidak, Marin Vidak, Mirjana Karanović, Zdenko Jelčić, Ivana Roščić, Vesna Stilinović, Nikša Butijer
Production : OKOFILM Productions, +41 44 2419567
International Sales: Be For Films, +33 6 14343755
Synopsis
Mare has never flown, although she lives right next to the airport with her husband and their three teenage kids. She loves her family, cares for them, but sometimes almost feels like a stranger in her own home. Who are these people she lives with? Mare finds herself gazing at the planes overhead, longing for change and the unknown. When one day a young man moves into the house next door, she puts her life to the test.
The jurors attending virtually the renowned festival from Bosnia-Herzegovina are: Éva Demeter, international relations coordinator at TISZApART Mozi in Szolnok, Hungary, Piotr Szczyszyk, programmer and film education specialist of the cinema of the ZAMEK cultural center in Poznan, Poland and Anika Wagner, programmer and creative head of Traumstern Kino in Lich Germany.
CICAE’s roundtables at AvantPremiere Lab by CineLink – Sarajevo Film Festival
Avant Premiere Lab is an educational programme tailor-made to address some of the pressing issues of film exhibition and distribution.
The CICAE is offering its expertise to outline the Avant Premiere Lab programme, which welcomes top experts and cinema managers from different countries, who will share their insight into best practices, since 2019.
This year the programme which was fully online, from August 15 to August 17 included the following panels:
1) Screening for your audience during pandemics (August 15)
with the participation of: Raphaëlle Cittanova – co-author of the study „Collective Cinema Experiences” in the framework of the NextWave training programme of DFFB; Barbora Tóthova - co-founder of Kino Usmev (Slovakia); Joanna Piotrowiak - manager of Kino Muza and coordinator of MojeKino.pl (Poland); Borsos Erika - programmer of Budapest Film zrt (Hungary).
2) Networking cinemas working as cultural hubs (August 16)
with the participation of: Mira Staleva – Director of Art Fest Ltd. / Cinema House, Deputy Director of Sofia Film Fest (Bulgaria); Éva Demeter – Head of International Relations at Tisza Mozi (Hungary); Marijana Bosnjak - Director of Kino Urania & Kinematografi Osijek (Croatia); Tina Maroh - Center interesnih dejavnosti Ptuj (Slovenia).
3) Curation at its best - Creative programming and communication online and offline (August 17, 11:30-12:30)
with the participation of: Mathias Holtz –Programming Manager at Folkets Hus och Parker (Sweden); Anika Wagner – programmer at Kino Traumstern in Lich (Germany); Koen Van Daele – Head of programming, Kinodvor (Slovenia)
CICAE round table at Venice Production Bridge on September 5 - confirmed speakers
The International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas invites you to the panel organized in the framework of the Venice Production Bridge on September 5th between 4-6 pm at Hotel Excelsior about "Opportunities and Challenges for the Arthouse Sector After the Pandemic".
It would be the occasion to speak about the changes in the film industry, specifically the arthouse sector and the role of cinemas within it.
Confirmed guest speakers are:
Tinne Bral, Associate Manager of Imagine Film Distribution (Benelux)
Dr. Christian Bräuer, CICAE president and CEO of Yorck Kinogruppe (Germany)
Domenico Dinoia, president of Federazione Italiana Cinema d’Essai and director of Cinema Palestrina (Italy)
Mathieu Fournet, Head of European and International Affairs, CNC (France)
Marynia Gierat, owner anf director of Kino Pod Baranami (Poland).
Vanja Kaludjercic, director of the International Rotterdam Film Festival (Netherlands)
The panel will be also available in live streaming on the Venice Production Bridge website.
COVID-19 UPDATES
Reopening of cinemas: feedback from Tunisia, France and Hungary
Cinemas across the world have slowly started reopening. Curious to know what it feels like to go back to the cinema after months of closure, we have asked some of our members to give us their feedback on the reopening experience.
New this month are: CinéMadart in Carthage, Tunisia; Cinéma Le Studio in Aubervilliers, France; Uránia and Béke Art Cinema Screens in Miskolc, Hungary.
Check this link http://cicae.org/category/reopening to discover new articles every week.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CINEMAS
National supportive measures for cinemas after reopening
Many cinemas in Europe and other countries have reopened, but the management difficulties are not over. On the contrary, an uncertain distribution landscape (the Hollywood majors are postponing the release of the most anticipated titles, and in some cases have decided to release the films directly on VOD platforms), the summer season that in some regions does not play in favour of indoor cinemas, and the overcoming of anxieties and fears on the part of the public, are making the life of arthouse cinemas still difficult. Despite the support of many governments for the film industry and exhibition, cinemas need further support. For this reason, the various national film associations, as well as national film funds, are pushing for additional funds from the authorities even after the reopening.
To date, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain have created financial support plans.
Germany
In Germany, Monika Gütters, Minister of Culture, has launched the "Zukunftsprogramm Kino II", which provides €40 million for cinemas. The "Zukunftsprogramm Kino II" funding line is part of the NEUSTART KULTUR economic stimulus package. It complements the existing "Zukunftsprogramm Kino I", which is aimed at smaller cinemas in rural areas and arthouse cinemas. https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/bundesregierung/staatsministerin-fuer-kultur-und-medien/aktuelles/bund-unterstuetzt-kinos-bei-wiedereroeffnung-kulturstaatsministerin-gruetters-kinos-als-orte-der-begegnung-erhalten--1769026
United Kingdom
In the UK, a £30 million Recovery Fund for Culture has been launched and will be controlled by the BFI (which has published application guidelines for independent and arthouse cinemas on its website): the fund is aimed at independent cinemas that need to apply national health and safety rules and measures against the spread of the coronavirus, and are struggling with this period of crisis since last March.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/culture-recovery-fund-guidelines
Italy
In Italy, the Minister of Culture Franceschini signs a 22 million euro decree for the refreshment of lost ticket sales and to support outdoor programming in the summer season.
"These additional resources will increase the 20 million already allocated to support cinemas, which have been hard hit by the closure during the lockdown period and are now experiencing a slow recovery". http://www.cinema.beniculturali.it/uploads/NW/2020/ministrofirmadecreto22milioniperristorobiglietteriasale.pdf
Spain
On August 13, Spanish government has launched a direct grant aid for cinema owners to cover costs incurred in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, which will have until September 2 to apply for. The recovery fund amounts to 13,252,000 euros.
http://www.culturaydeporte.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano/catalogo/general/23/2314160/ficha/2314160-2020.html
