The Drive-In Festival, which wanted to transform several cities in France into an open-air cinema, stops after a single experience in Bordeaux, due to the upcoming reopening of theaters, we learned on Monday from the organizer.
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" We had always said that we would stop when the rooms reopened, " said Mathieu Robinet, former director general of Bacs films, one of the major independent studios in Europe, and initiator of the festival, to AFP. " But we didn't think it would happen this early, we were a bit taken aback by the Prime Minister's announcements on Thursday (regarding such a reopening on June 22)."
“We are a bit cut in our momentum but I am happy for the rooms. I am not disappointed, so much the better if life resumes its course ", added Mathieu Robinet who had planned to decline the festival in Marseille, from June 10, then in Hauts-de-France before other destinations which were "in preparation."
The organizer did not wish to maintain the Marseille dates, even if they were planned before June 22: "We would have been out of time to offer a drive-in when people can go out on the street, that would not been in the spirit of the moment, there was a tempo problem . "
" Great experience "
Mathieu Robinet also assured that his decision had nothing to do with the mixed reception that his project had received in mid-May from the National Federation of French Cinemas.
According to him, the 10 screenings in 9 days in Bordeaux, on the main Place des Quinconces, were a "great experience" and attracted 3,750 people, with titles like the Oscar-winning Parasite or the comedy Le Grand Bain projected on a screen giant of 190 m2, framed by a strict sanitary protocol.
Mathieu Robinet felt that his project, which had no commercial objective, had made it possible to “recreate a desire for cinema” during the delicate period of deconfinement.