” Light ! The adventure continues”, this is the title of the film that Thierry Frémaux will present on Thursday 16 at the Jean-Eustache cinema, for what will be the 1000e popular university of the place. It could also be the slogan of this unique system in France: offering conferences or meetings on cinema, history or the arts, and linking them with screenings.
” Light ! The Adventure Continues” will be screened in preview. In Pessac before even being presented in Paris or Lyon.
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In this case, Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival and director of the Lumière Institute in Lyon, will come to talk about his film on the Lumière brothers, whose legacy the institute preserves. Which film will have been screened just before. ” ”Light ! The adventure begins, Thierry Frémaux’s first feature film on the subject, recorded 150,000 admissions, which is a lot for a documentary,” explains François Aymé, director of Jean-Eustache. “We expect this second film to attract people. Especially since this will be the very first time that it will be screened: in Pessac before even Lyon or Paris. »
Brigitte Lacombe
Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival and director of the Lumière Institute.
But in any case these popular universities – more generally called Unipops – attract people. “During our second edition we offered a course dedicated to Chinese cinema of the 1930s. I was dreading an oven. But the Fellini room was full. I understood that it was Unipop as such that was popular, the pleasure of coming together to learn about cinema, art or history. »
A success from the start
Launched in 2010, Unipops have quickly become a time for sociability. “When we launched the registrations we expected to have around forty in the first week; we had 500. The fact that they take place twice a week – the story on Monday; cinema, art and literature on Thursdays – so they have become a regular event, like a sports class or a television show. »
Having films in preview has further boosted this attractiveness. With an audience that came for a third from Pessac; for another, from the rest of the metropolis, and for the last, around fifty kilometers. And which is mainly made up of retirees. “You have to be available to stay four hours for a class and then a screening,” admits François Aymé. But this audience is renewing itself. Many people sign up as soon as they retire. And we also reach a lot of students. When we welcome François Ruffin or devote an evening to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we have lots of students from Sciences Po. When we talk about Niki de Saint Phalle we have those from Beaux-Arts. »
-Alain Birocheau
Louis Garrel at Jean-Eustache in 2022: “He replayed several scenes from his film “L’Innocent” in front of the public”.
Strong memories
From the 999 unipops which preceded that of January 16, the director inevitably takes away many strong memories. “Louis Garrel who replayed several scenes from his film “L’Innocent” in front of the public, and who, the next day, spoke about us on France Inter; the guitarist Thibault Cauvin, who came to talk about a documentary about him and his father, and who offered us a little concert at the same time. »
Ch. L.
François Aymé with a screen print of Bertrand Tavernier by Floc’h, which will be offered to Thierry Frémaux on Thursday the 16th.
And he expects another moment of emotion with Thierry Frémaux. “We will give him a screen print by Floc’h, the designer with whom we worked a lot at one time. It represents Bertrand Tavernier, whom he met at the age of 20 at the Institut Lumière, and whom he followed until his death in 2021.”
