A lifetime in dark rooms. Jean-Luc Audisio will bow out this summer. With him, it is a part of the history of Castres cinema that is extinguished. The 60-year-old Saïxol unrolls the film of his life.
From its history in dark rooms, there will remain a few reels recovered here and there and memories galore. This summer, Jean-Luc Audisio, 60, will bow out for a well-deserved retirement, after 40 years of cinema, in Castres.
“I went into cinema because I loved cinema”, swears the Mazamétain, an electromechanical by training. When he left the army in the early 1980s, Jean-Luc Audisio entered Club 53, boulevard Raymond Vittoz, before quickly attacking Palma and the Palace. “I was thinking of coming to work for a year and leaving. It lasted 40 years, ”laughs the father who lived in Castres, Labruguière and today Saïx. His first film edited as a projectionist operator? “Rox and Rouky”, before Conan the Barbarian, La Passante du Sans-Souci, The Last Metro and To us the little English girls. Many more will follow…
Discussing with Jean-Luc Audisio is like diving into a lost cinema, that of large projection booths and imposing black reels. “When we received them, we had to check if they were in the right direction, put them on the reel,” recalls the one whose favorite film is Cinéma Paradisio, with Philippe Noiret: the poignant story… of a projectionist. If computers have replaced traditional methods since 2015 and the disappearance of 35 mm, Jean-Luc Audisio likes to remember comical scenes such as the famous “falling from the reel”. “What projectionist at the time never broke a reel? I had dropped that of Mad Max, the film had gone from 1h40 to 1h20 once”, laughs the fan of the Star Wars saga.
Cornelian dilemma missed between the Visitors and Cliffhanger
Behind the window of his cabin, the one who has also been a football educator for 17 years, keeps some naughty memories: “I have already found bras. There was a time when young people didn’t want to pay for the hotel. It’s not just a myth,” he smiles.
Having stayed in Castres because he felt good there, Jean-Luc joined the current CGR cinema (Quai Miredames) 30 years ago. A departure for the banks of the Agout closely linked to the disappearance of other historical sites. “Well, there is a prescription so I can say it… The Palace closed because of me: We had the choice between going to Les Visiteurs and Cliffhanger. I chose the second and the first was broadcast at the CGR…”, he slips with a touch of humor today. Less at the time: the incredible success of Jean-Marie Poiré’s film allows the CGR to recover other successful films, to the detriment of the Palace. But for Jean-Luc to be transferred to the CGR and to pursue his profession with passion, until 2022, before the long-awaited arrival of the Multiplex. “I’ll go see the movies, but I’m not nostalgic. »
A career rich in episodes, which almost deserves a Cesar of honor. Just as much as his name, in the acknowledgments of the end credits of the local cinema.
He met the biggest stars
From his adventure in Castres, Jean-Muc Audisio will have met a good number of stars. Like this “memorable” memory at the Palace with Lino Ventura where the two enthusiasts “talked for two hours about everything except cinema! “. There was also Albert Dupontel, who came for his crazy film Bernie, “I enjoyed myself”. “Michel Boujenah had stayed an hour at the entrance to discuss while he was expected at the theater to play his play”. During his visit to the banks of the Agout, the great director Yves Robert had left a note on the guestbook: “To the projectionist: the projectionists in power! “Roger Hanin, Catherine Deneuve completes the list, while the Castrais had met Belmondo, then president of a festival in Albi, at the bend of a coffee.
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