If you have even just a few euros to spare and want to get involved, now's the time to help buy this former art house cinema. Over the last four years, a collective of cinema professionals known as "La Clef Revival" has been fighting to buy La Clef, in Paris's 5th arrondissement, a historic venue in the Latin Quarter that has been closed since April 2018. This last push could go down to the wire on October 31.
The idea is to reopen the establishment, not as a classic cinema with weekly film releases, but as a venue not driven by market forces, a community cinema with a program of unusual cult films, as well as introductory works, short films and feature films. Everyone would pay what they could afford, but for each ticket, the usual tax (known as TSA, amounting to around 10% of the ticket price) would be paid to the French National Center of Cinematography and the Moving Image (CNC). La Clef would therefore be contributing in its own way to the ecosystem of cinema financing. The building would also include creative spaces, hosting a range of film professionals from scriptwriters through to those involved in post-production.
On April 26, La Clef Revival signed a purchase agreement (valid for six months) with the venue's owner for €2.9 million – €3.1 million when notary fees were included. The collective has already raised over €1 million in sponsorship and almost €300,000 in donations, via the HelloAsso platform – 4,000 donors to date. The aim is to reach €400,000 in donations by the end of October.
Some in the film world have already got their wallets out including Swann Arlaud, Adèle Haenel, Agnès Jaoui, Leos Carax, Céline Sciamma, Cédric Klapisch, producer Marie-Ange Luciani, producer and distributor Ronald Chammah, among others. Other professionals, including film studios, are being approached to find every last penny, as bank lending conditions have tightened with the rise in interest rates.
In addition, a fixed-price art sale, entitled "Tout doit disparaître" ("Everything must go"), will be held at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris on October 28 and 29, with public viewing on October 27. "It was contemporary artist Neïl Beloufa, the son of Algerian filmmaker Farouk Beloufa, who gave us the idea for this non-speculative sale, the proceeds from which will go toward buying La Clef," explained Camille Degeye, scriptwriter and member of the La Clef Revival collective, one of the coordinators of the sponsorship department. "Around 80 artists have responded, including Chinese documentary filmmaker Wang Bing, American photographer Nan Goldin, filmmakers Alain Guiraudie and Marie Losier, singer and actor Philippe Katerine among others. The whole of October will be spent looking for buyers, with assistance from galleries, who are helping us to reach our target audience."
You have 25.49% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.