The Court of Auditors calls on the State to take control of the Cinémathèque: News

The Court of Auditors calls on the State to take control of the Cinémathèque: News


The Cinémathèque française, already in the crosshairs of feminists who accuse him of not having taken the measure of the #MeToo wave, is in the viewfinder of the Court of Auditors, which calls on the State to regain control of the institution.

Reference of world filmphilia, founded in 1936 and installed in the Bercy district of Paris, the Cinémathèque, which retains 50,000 heritage films, nearly a million documents on cinema and thousands of devices, is in full turning .

But the public operator, chaired by the filmmaker Costa-Gavras, is also “an association that lives in an inter-self” with a reduced public supervision to the rank “observer”, underlined the first president of the Court of Auditors , Pierre Moscovici, by presenting a report on his management since 2016 on Tuesday.

“It is not healthy and it does not allow you to develop from movement forward” to fulfill its objectives of conservation of heritage and distribution to the public, he added.

The project of a large cinema museum, up to that of Milan or Los Angeles, has not materialized, the public of the Cinémathèque is aging and the management of its collections leaves something to be desired.

– “Control of management” –

To open a “new page”, it is undoubtedly necessary to accept major developments “, continued Mr. Moscovici, who evokes a” defect in piloting the ministry “of culture.

Public operator funded at three quarters by public subsidies, up to 20 million euros per year, the Cinémathèque is a 1901 law association. With members the personalities who made him donations.

If “the Ministry of Culture is supposed to exercise its supervision via the National Center for Cinematography (CNC)”, the latter “is however for the association more a partner than a real supervision”, deplores the court.

The Sages propose to transform the Cinémathèque into a “recognized foundation of public utility” or to decide a “reinforced backing on the CNC, even integration, by letting it remain by the side an association of friends of the Cinémathèque”.

The Ministry of the Budget approves the idea, which will reduce conflicts of interest.

Jealous of its associative status, the Cinémathèque opens it, it carries it to “a reflection on the place of the State within the board of directors”, in its response to the wise men. But is opposed to an absorption by the CNC, which could scare many donors not wishing to “deposit their works in the fold of the State”.

Argument taken up by the CNC, which does not imagine absorbing the Cinémathèque but approves the orientation of the Court of Auditors, to strengthen “the public power in the board of directors” of the institution, explained its president Olivier Henrard to AFP.

The statutes of the French cinematheque have become “partly obsolete”, for its part wrote the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, in her response to the jurisdiction. “It will actually be to re-examine the governance of the institution, in particular on the Place du CNC and my ministry within its board of directors,” she concluded.

– my guilt –

The Court also wishes to limit in time the mandate of the Managing Director.

Frédéric Bonnaud has held this position since 2016 and his mandate has been enamelled by crises, his detractors accusing the Cinémathèque of not wanting to take the measure of the #MeToo speech release movement on sexual violence in cinema.

After controversies about the directors Roman Polanski or Jean-Claude Brisseau, implicated in cases of this type, the programming in December of the “Last Tango in Paris” gave fire to the powders.

This 1972 film by Bernardo Bertolucci includes a scene appearing a rape filmed without the consent of actress Maria Schneider. Faced with an uproar of feminists, the programming was canceled 24 hours before, officially for security reasons.

The leaders of the Cinémathèque made mid-January their mea culpa in front of the National Assembly, so as not to have given the film in context.

But Frédéric Bonnaud and the programmer, Jean-François Rauger, also defended their desire to project films which belong to “the history of cinema”, despite their filming conditions or the actions of their directors.

The Court of Auditors had planned to publish its report before these controversies, Pierre Moscovici said on Tuesday. “We do not ignore what is going on, but we are on another level”, that of financial management, he added.

Posted on February 4 at 8:12 p.m. AFP

Related Articles