In a new report, the Court of Auditors questions “obsolete” statutes and “a form of self”-Liberation
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Concomitance with the crisis at the Cinémathèque française in recent weeks through the famous affair of Last Tango in Paris is fortuitous since this audit of the Court of Auditors was fixed for a long time, but some will have seen water to put in their mill. This Tuesday, February 4, the Court made public its report on the governance and financial management of the cinephile institution led by Frédéric Bonnaud since 2016.
Administrative and accounting management? “Rather well supervised”, It is more that well of the institutions expertise by the judges of the accounts can boast. Missions of dissemination and conservation of the cinematographic heritage? Marked by a dynamic “Public enlargement” Praised, between temporary exhibitions with popular vocation (in recent years, Wes Anderson, James Cameron, Romy Schneider, etc.), reinforced educational action and inspired digital turn (the Henri rarity platform, set up during the COVVI). Efforts to be continued in the sense of better dissemination outside and within the walls, the report judging the “disappointing attendance“From the point of view of”small part of young people“And a”unattractive museum“, Despite the 440,000 spectators recorded in 2024 (against 333,000 in 2023).
Le Bât pinches concerning the governance of the French Cinematheque, whose historical relations with the State have not always been a long, quiet river. The Langlois affair of January 1968, attempted dismissal of the founder by the Malraux ministry, is the acme of tension that has consolidated legend. Created in 1936 by Henri Langlois and now operating with a stable budget of almost 27 million euros (including 75 % funded by the public subsidy of the CNC, the National Center for Cinema and the Animated Image) the prestigious house has always claimed independence permitted by its status as a non -profit 1901 law association. Point that the report calls into question today, believing that this “Associative status does not allow him today to carry out his heritage projects”. In other words, which would not have pleased Langlois: bringing the state.
The report describes “A associative governance marked by a form of inter-self”, whose emblem would be the board of directors made up of 16 qualified personalities of the sector, majority of filmmakers (currently: Olivier Assayas, Bertrand Bonello, Arnaud Desplechin, Mia Hansen-Love, Nicolas Philibert, Claire Denis…). Bodies managed by cinema professionals “To the profiles that complement each other and to cross interests, who know each other elsewhere and are used to working together in other circumstances”. Even if it means introducing “Risks of interference” and favor elected officials “Due to their notoriety”, According to the report. Even more hot: the question of “Mandate without limit of duration for the Director General”, Currently Frédéric Bonnaud, who has benefited from a private permanent contract since 2016, when state operators are traditionally renewed after a period of three to five years.
The report is final: written almost eighty years ago, “The statutes of the association have become obsolete, because they do not be entitled to its new missions”. For the Court of Auditors, the CNC and the Ministry of Culture must be fully integrated into the bodies of the Cinémathèque française, as “real guardianshipRather than under the friendly banner of partners. Other legal forms are proposed by the Court, such as that of a foundation of public utility or a public establishment.
It is necessary to bring about a project that goes up, claimed by the president of the Cinémathèque française, Costa-Gavras and handed over to the agenda by the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati: that of the creation of a National Museum Cinema, on the model of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures de Los Angeles. As for that of a relocated antenna in Marseille, as part of the France 2030 plan and the Dada of Emmanuel Macron, the “Marseille in Grand” plan, it would have lead in the wing according to local sources, from the last disorders which occurred internally. “We can regret that he was initiated even though the project, more priority, of construction of silos to put the film collection in safety, is still not and that it has not been thought out in the same way time as the old and recurrent project of a national cinema museum ”, notes the courtyard.
The latest critical axis concerns an expensive real estate strategy. In question, the aging of the main site of Bercy, built in 1994 by Frank Gehry in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, of an insufficient surface. But above all unsuitable storage spaces, faced with the endless increase in one of the most beautiful collections in the world: 50,000 coils and more than a million invaluable objects and documents, enriched by deposits “Without selection rule” obvious. Displayed between several warehouses including the fabulous military fort of Saint-Cyr, these archives generate additional rental costs and are subject to the vagaries of “Movements operated in the emergency”. The profession is called upon to bring about a project to pool reserves between the CNC and the INA, which has remained a dead letter to date.