22/09/2003

Today is a crucial day in the future of the French National Film Library, the Cinémathèque. There?s a general meeting being held today to try to draw up a new set of statues governing the body, after the failure to agree on the issue in June. The credibility of the new director, Serge Toubiana and the future of this hallowed French film institution are at stake.

Financial problems and controversy about the reorganisation of the Film Archive came to the forefront in July 2002, when the American director, Peter Scarlet, was replaced by Patrick Bensard, who in his turn was replaced in April 2003 by Serge Toubiana, the author of a study into reforms of the institution, called for by the minister of culture, Jean-Jacques Aillagon. The president, Jean-Charles Tacchella, also left this spring, who accused the Film Archive of imposing Toubiana, with the threat of cuts in funding (80% of the Film Archive?s funding comes from the CNC). In the interim, the presidency has been taken over by the pair Martine Offroy / Humbert Balsan, who should be succeeded by Claude Berri.
The General Assembly meeting held on June 24, 2003 to discuss the reforms was a fiasco: they didn?t get the necessary majority (two-thirds of those present) to adopt the project.
The Film Archive staff are concerned about many of the proposals as they are anxious to protect their independence. The particular measures causing the widest concern are the creation of a jointly run finance committee with the CNC, the introduction of a government-appointed commissioner and the eventual reduction in restoration work in favour of the Film Archive Service.
The eagerly awaited decision of today?s meeting could make the crisis at the Film Archive even worse, or it could lead towards a new future destined to bring in many changes.

(Translated from French)