Outdoor movie festival not free anymore

by Sarah Elzas

Article published on the 2008-07-20 Latest update 2008-08-11 11:05 TU

(lubitsch.com)

An annual Parisian summer tradition started this week, the Cinema en
Plein Air, or "Open Air Cinema" festival.  For 18 years people have been coming to the La Villette park in the northern nineteenth arrondisement to watch movies projected on a giant inflatable screen every night from mid-July to mid-August. Until this year, it was free.

This year tickets are two euros each, which has raised the ire of
moviegoers. At a recent showing of Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo,
people had a mixed reaction about having to pay for tickets. Some said
they expected outdoor festivals to be free, and others remembered
previous years with regret. Some wondered if they shouldn't be
paying for movies, though recognizing that two euros is a symbolic
amount.

Adiren Quenette of La Villette says the organisers felt pressured into
charging by the Centre national de la cinématographie, the national
cinematography centre, which regulates the movie industry in France.

"The CNC asked us to charge, because they considered that it was
unfair competition towards the cinemas around the Parc de la
Villette," said Quenette. "They wanted us to charge. Then we could
decide the amount of money. They didn't ask us to give them money.
They asked us to charge so that people would not only decide to
go see movies because it's free. It's a symbolic two euros that was
foisted on us by the CNC."

A spokesperson for the CNC said they had not forced La Villette into
anything. Rather, they recently clarified the rules for non-commercial
movie festivals, and those that wanted to continue to be free needed
to remove their advertising before the screenings.

La Villette continues to have advertising, so the CNC did not allow
them to have a free festival.

Quenette says the price is symbolic and doesn't even cover the extra
costs involved, like hiring security and ticket sellers.

Spectators are not the only ones who are unhappy. A community group
formed a few weeks ago to fight against the entry fee. Before
Ninotchka, four were handing out fliers to people going in, which
included the phrase "culture is not a commodity".

Emmanuel Chanial, who is part of the group, says the problem is with
the CNC but rather with the organizers themselves who, he says, did not
consult spectators about the issue:

"It is the public that loses out," he said. "The public was not
alerted, and we were told it just was going to be that way."

What he and his group are calling for is an exception for this
year—for the festival to become free again--and then an open,
roundtable discussion over the status for next year's festival.

All of this disagreement, though, is about free festivals causing
undue competition for theatres in the neighbourhood.  Chanial says it
doesn't actually make a difference.

"When [local theatres] show classic movies, it's late at night," he
said. "And people don't picnic."

Spectators had a similar reaction, saying the outdoor movie experience
is a unique one, not to be compared with going to see a movie in a
theatre.

The two euros do not seem to have discouraged too many people so far.
According to the organizers, opening night drew a crowd of 2,000
people.

The festival runs every night, except Mondays, through 17 August. On
the program are three nights of trilogies, where they show three
movies from one director all through the night, with breakfast the next morning.

For those used to the festival being free, the two euros is a bit of a
disappointment. But for others, two euros might seem like a bargain.