8/4/2019 Top Directors Back Tiny Art House in Battle With Hollywood

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Top directors back tiny art house in battle withHollywood

Suburban cinema in Paris takes on multinational

David Lynch and Wim Wenders among allies

Angelique Chrisafis in ParisWednesday October 3, 2007

Guardian

In the ongoing battle between French art house cinema and the might ofblockbuster Hollywood, the Europeans refuse to go down without a fight. Andwhen a tiny suburban cinema outside Paris was challenged by the multiplex giantUGC, some of the biggest names in cinema joined the brawl.

David Lynch, Wim Wenders and Wong Kar-Wai are among 60 of the world's mostacclaimed film directors who have surprised the arts scene by taking up the causeof the Georges-Mlis art house cinema in the suburb of Montreuil-sous-Bois.

The film house has positioned itself as the guardian of the soul of Frenchcinemagoers. Founded in the 1960s and named after the French father of specialeffects, the cinema shows French art films, documentaries and subtitled foreignfilms; current offerings including Michael Moore's Sicko and the Joy Division story,Control.

As part of the French state's drive to protect culture, the Mlis receives asubsidy. Now the cinema plans to expand from three to six screens. But UGC, the

third-biggest cinema chain in France, has gone to court complaining that publicsubsidy to an expanded Mlis would be "a violation of competition rules"because the cinema would have gone beyond its public service remit.

UCG has a vast multiplex in a neighbouring suburb which attracts over 2 millionfilmgoers a year. The Mlis pulls in 200,000.

The chain has launched similar court cases over cinema competition and Frenchstate subsidies. But the contacts book of the Mlis's head, Stphane Goudet - aformer film critic and director - is not to be underestimated.

In a petition to the court and film bodies, directors including Abel Ferrara, the

Dardenne brothers and Theo Angelopoulos back the small cinema, saying: "Inthese cowardly times where artworks are reduced to a consumer products, auteurcinema and enterprising art house screens fight the same battle for quality,respect and freedom for directors and filmgoers."

Mr Goudet told Libration his programming sought to counter the "overkill" ofHollywood public relations machines. He said state subsidies had enabled artscinemas to exist all over France and he feared multiplexes were trying to pressthe government to stop supporting them.

France is one of the few countries where home-grown films stave off Hollywooddomination, helped by a strict government-enforced quota system.