France’s cinema bosses fear drive-in screenings that avoid lockdown laws are taking away their business
FRENCH cinema owners are furious as a novelty drive-in film festival is managing to steer clear of the country’s lockdown rules while they are forced to remain closed.
The travelling drive-in film festival which began in Bordeaux this weekend, and which is set to cross the country showing a mixture of arthouse films and French hits.
The Federation Nationale des Cinemas Francais said that the festival and other outdoor projections were leading audiences away when “local and national authorities should be concentrating on battling to reopen cinemas”.
The drive-in festival gets around French coronavirus social distancing restrictions by having the audience stay in their cars to watch the films.
Although the lockdown in France was relaxed somewhat last week, restrictions remain tight throughout the country, including the capital Paris.
While most shops have reopened, there is little prospect of cinemas opening their doors till at least July, even then it will be with social distancing measures that could mean that screenings may have to partially empty.
But the organisers of the Drive-in Festival said that they were not trying to take cinema owners’ customers away, they “simply wanted to give people a chance to experience some culture during confinement” said Mathieu Robinet, a former head of BAC Films.
