Angelo Antolino

Passeurs de rêves

Paris is the city in Europe with the biggest range of films shown per week, with 350 different titles. From large multiplexes to small independent cinemas, films are shown everyday throughout the day. Today the cinema industry is going through a time of transition and transformation: 35mm film gradually has to give way to the digital – already many films are shot directly in this way. This change has a major effect on the entire cinema industry, since it changes the relationship between distributors and cinema operators, threatening to deprive them of their jobs preparing film rolls as well as maintaining the projectors. The age of digital film making poses a serious threat to many independent cinemas: These cinemas define themselves by being “different”, by showing cult films of the first half of the 20th century to the experimental films of today. This will be a journey into the world of independent cinema in Paris, a world spirited by the passion of the men and women who run the cinemas. Among them are the founders of “cinéphilie et de l’art d’essai”, those who first believed in the “Nouvelle Vague, “and the younger generation today. It is them who defend the quality films and therefore preserve the richness and variety of the cinema culture of Paris. This work is also intended as a tribute to the work of the projectionists and the projectionists themselves who are most likely to disappear with the growing dominance of the digital.