That said, even without the latest major productions and under competition from Cinémont, there are still some good moves to be made for the “small” town in its niche and on its scale. The Story of Souleymane, which recounts the arrival of a migrant in France, for example, enjoyed encouraging success with around forty entries.
The salvation of La Grange will mainly depend on the added value that it manages to bring to stand out. His committee seems to have sensed this. Last spring, he had the reflex to bounce back by offering a festival of several films around the Taxi Compostelle exhibition, which focused on Galician immigration. Quine! “But I doubt that this type of event will be repeated. It requires such energy for the number of volunteers that we have,” regrets Pol-André Rais. Nancy Freléchox takes the opportunity to launch an appeal: “The door of our committee is wide open to people of good will!”
Intense exchanges
Simpler, the new team has also focused on extending the experience by offering as much as possible discussions with the directors after the screenings. “The discussions are often intense. I remember a film with four spectators. The director had as much fun as if the theater had been full,” underlines Pol-André Rais.
And then, in these times, La Grange could take advantage of its small size by becoming this space where we do not compromise on freedom of expression, sometimes even if it means offending. An example: the theater had accepted Film Covid – Swiss Totalitarianism?!, a work which criticized health measures, when many others had given up on it for fear of alienating some of their customers. Even so, the room was full. “We are not here to decide what is good or bad to broadcast. We want to give freedom of speech to the directors,” claims Nancy Freléchox. None of the committee members attended the screening.
Another film which could also arouse passions: Until the fault which is interested in geothermal energy in Switzerland and where it is about the Haute-Sorne project. The date of passage is not yet known, but we bet that there will not be many empty seats left.
Financially, the cinema regrets the elimination of the 5000 francs. allocated by the City of Delémont. “Too bad she doesn’t recognize us as necessary,” sigh the two members of the committee.
As we leave, we tell them that we definitely don’t come to this room enough, even though we like it. “Everyone tells us that…”
