While visiting the Lumiere Festival in the city of Lyon, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati unveiled a significant budget increase aimed at restoring and digitizing French cinema classics, as well as extra funding for film centers known as ‘cinematheques.’
Dedicated to classic cinema, the Lumiere Festival is organized by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux, who also serves as director of the city’s historic Institut Lumière, devoted to heritage cinema preservation.
“First of all, we’re going to improve the support for cinemas. French films are making a real comeback. But the return has not been the same everywhere. There is an imbalance, and this will be taken into account in the new distribution of support to cinemas, to which I will devote an additional envelope of €3 million ($3.3 million) each year, starting in 2025,” she said at a press conference on the sidelines of the festival.
Dati also announced increased funding for cinematheques across France.
“I’ve asked [France’s national film board] the CNC to step up its support for these structures by releasing an envelope of specific funding, so that they can continue to operate in their local areas.
“Firstly, annual operating support will rise from €900,000 ($990,000) to €1.5 million ($1.65 million): that’s an increase of 67%. Secondly, a one-off grant of €1.4 million ($1.54 million) in 2025 will finance particularly relevant investment projects,” she said, adding that her goal is to make cinema more accessible, by supporting mediation and activities such as open-air screenings.
As part of this broader effort to reinforce France’s cinematheques, Dati outlined two “flagship projects.” The Cinémathèque de Toulouse will benefit from a €2 million ($2.2 million) CNC investment, in partnership with local authorities, while the Marseille branch of the Cinémathèque Française will be integrated into a vast new campus for digital learning and cultural dissemination, currently under construction in the 15th arrondissement.
Dati also revealed plans to nearly double the budget for digitizing France’s classic films.
“The CNC supports the digitization and restoration of movies shot on film. In total, €75 million ($82.5 million) have been committed to digitize nearly 1,400 films. Here, at the festival and at the Lumière Institute, you screen many works restored in this context,” said Dati.
“And I am thinking, in particular, of Costa Gavras‘ famous ‘Z,’ and of course Abel Gance‘s ‘Napoleon,’ which is currently screening in theaters across France and has already attracted more than 30,000 viewers. This effort will be strengthened. From 2025, the dedicated budget of the CNC will increase by 40%, from €2.6 million ($2.9 million) to €3.6 million ($4 million).
During her visit at the Lumiere Festival, Dati also inaugurated the new facilities of the CinéFabrique, a free film and television school funded by local authorities as part of France’s Grande Fabrique de l’Image – a government initiative to boost film and audiovisual production by creating dedicated training, production, and innovation hubs for the creative industries.
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