Confinement Comes Up and the Lights Go Down: The Cinémathèque Reopens!

22 July 2020 by Dimitri Keramitas    477  
Confinement Comes Up and the Lights Go Down: The Cinémathèque Reopens!
Dimitri Keramitas
By Dimitri Keramitas
Like Paris’s movie theaters, museums and other cultural centers, the Cinémathèque Française was obliged to close its doors during the severe lockdown imposed by the French government. It kept a certain presence going through its site and on-line activities ranging from e-newletters, podcasts, and movie streaming. After several weeks, it reopened on July 15, one day after Bastille Day. It’s opening on the lighter side, with an exhibition dedicated to France’s cinematic funnyman Louis de Funes. A broad comic, de Funes was more Jerry Lewis (another French favorite) than Jacques Tati. Films like La Grande Vadrouille, Captain Fracasse and The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob are beloved by the French public, though not very well-known abroad. (La Grande Vadrouille remains France’s most successful film ever.) The exhibition features more than 300 extracts from the comic’s films as well as artefacts, such as the costume sketches, inspired by Valasquez paintings, for La Folie des Grandeurs.
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Lead photo credit : Photo: Corina Rainer, Unsplash

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By Dimitri Keramitas

Dimitri Keramitas was born and raised in Connecticut, USA, and was educated at the University of Hartford, Sorbonne, and the University of London, and holds degrees in literature and law. He has lived in Paris for years, and directs a training company and translation agency. In addition, he has worked as a film critic for both print and on-line publications, including Bonjour Paris and France Today. He is a contributing editor to Movies in American History. In addition he is an award-winning writer of fiction, whose stories have been published in many literary journals. He is the director of the creative writing program at WICE, a Paris-based organization. He is also a director at the Paris Alumni Network, an organization linking together several hundred professionals, and is the editor of its newletter. The father of two children, Dimitri not only enjoys Paris living but returning to the US regularly and traveling in Europe and elsewhere.