The rebirth of a small municipal cinema, after a record year of cinema attendance

The rebirth of a small municipal cinema, after a record year of cinema attendance
The rebirth of a small municipal cinema, after a record year of cinema attendance

At a time when is experiencing a new craze for cinemas and cinemas, such as that of Saint-Leu in , are recording admission records, the town of Ault (), has just opened the his. Called the Cameo, it will host 9 to 12 sessions per week.

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The town of Ault, in the Bay of Somme, will once again have the right to its own cinema, more than 40 years after the Caméo closed in the early 1980s. It owned “several hundred places, I think there were around 400. It had its activity, its hour of glory, and it closed its doors” after a deceleration which began at the end of the 1970s, explains Cécile Caëls, responsible for the city’s cultural policy.

The project to, in some way, revive the Cameo has really begun.from the last quarter of 2023“. In this seaside resort of 1,400 souls, residents have expressed expectations in favor of the return of a local cinema, at a time when the number of admissions to French cinemas has increased in 2024.

We’re pretending to be a little thumbs-up, we’re talking about a room with 128 seats, including two PMR (persons with reduced mobility) seats.“, continues Cécile Caëls. She and the mayor of Ault, Marcel Le Moigne, went to visit more or less equivalent cinemas.”in terms of scale or space, operation, in a rural environment or more remote“. They are particularly close to that of Crécy-en-Ponthieu, Albert and Quend.

It’s not at all innocentunderlines the person in charge of cultural policy. These three cinemas operate under an informal programming agreement, meaning they have come together to work with distributors.

These circulations also exist on a national scale, “but we are on a local level, namely that the Albert cinema contacts distributors to offer circulation on the scale of these three cinemas“. From now on, there are four since the one in Ault has joined this programming agreement.

Marcel Le Moigne and Cécile Caëls, before the first session.

© Antoine Roynier / FTV

Furthermore, this cinema room is not only used to show films, it also serves as a performance hall. They therefore have the possibility of “switch between two activities, but behind all that, the idea is to have nearby access to a leisure activity, and not just any leisure activity: in the seventh art“.

This new Cameo will have sustained activity “with a proportional inversion compared to high season operation. For the record, we quadruple our population in the summer, with a lot of activities on the seaside and outside, in the open air, it’s logical. That being said, we will still maintain an activity because the weather is not always favorable“, explains Cécile Caëls.

In low season or during short school holidays, “the idea is to have sustained cinematographic activity, at a rate of 12 screenings per week as far as possible“.


The Caméo hopes to welcome many spectators.

© Antoine Roynier / FTV

But to get to inauguration day, we had to overcome a few obstacles. The hardest part was “find the key to open the CNC door“, raises Marcel Le Moigne. Indeed, it is a “grosse institution“, that’s why he “tire [son] hat“to Cécile Caëls, who has”worked hard to have good contacts, good relations with the CNC and other partners so that this project could see the light of day“.

Cécile Caëls also highlights the challenge of putting together grant application files. And finally, “through good will, a lot of elbow grease and teamwork that mobilized the entire community, we got there“She also says she is moved to have succeeded in defending the bias.”usual“of the commune: culture within everyone’s reach with a”popular quality programming“.

On Wednesday January 15, the resurrected Caméo cinema welcomed the first spectators with a family session. Cécile Caëls hopes that the “little Aultois“who have moved will say”in 30, 40, 50 years“, that they were”there at the first session“, she concludes, with a blissful smile.

With Claire-Marine Selles / FTV

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