Home » News » FACT OF THE DAY For cinemas, the sanitary pass is a horror movie

FACT OF THE DAY For cinemas, the sanitary pass is a horror movie


Room 6 at the Le Sémaphore cinema in Nîmes (Photo Anthony Maurin).

The law is hard, but the law : from this Monday, August 9, the health pass becomes compulsory in many places, such as cafes, bars and restaurants, and is generalized in cultural places such as cinemas.

The health crisis has already, for a year and a half, undermined the cinema industry and more particularly the exhibitors. Since July 21 and the implementation of the health pass above fifty people, many cinemas have chosen to limit their capacity to 49 people per room to avoid having to ask their customers for the health pass. It’s now over, and everyone is in the same boat. And one thing’s for sure: if the health pass was a movie, it would be a bad horror movie. Testimonials.

Évrard Zaouche, general manager of Cap Cinéma CGR in Nîmes, serves as a pioneer here. In his multiplex, he had to set up the sanitary pass two weeks ago, and he says it bluntly: “The results are very negative. The group (CGR, editor’s note) recorded in some cases a loss of 70 to 80% as soon as the health pass was put in place. “ And “For Nîmes it is less”, he says, attendance has all the same markedly lowered.

Évrard Zaouche, Managing Director of Cap Cinéma CGR, in Nîmes (Photo: Norman Jardin / Objectif Gard)

“It’s just going to be hell”

The hardest part is law enforcement. If the boss of the cinema says to himself “Against sorting at the entrance, it’s not our role, it’s difficult to live”, the risk of an administrative closure level in the event of non-compliance with the law. And because he respects her, “We are treated as collaborators but we have no choice, we have been visited by the police three times. “ And Évrard Zaouche denounces a difficult, if not impossible, application of the measure: “We have someone who checks at the entrance with the Covidverif app. What is completely delusional is that we are not allowed to verify identities so if you come with a pass that is not yours, you can enter. “ Mathieu and Anne-Marie Duffès, managers of the independent cinema Casino in Bagnols, four rooms, tried the health pass at the beginning. “We tried the health pass the first week out of Kaamelott, and we gave up to go to the gauge because it is extremely complicated”, said the first.

So the generalization of the health pass, “It’s just gonna be hell, launches the Bagnolais. When there are not many people it is easier, but when there are people, everyone will arrive in twenty minutes and you have a queue. ” Besides that“We should not check the identity, we have all the scenarios, and telling people to leave is complicated”, adds Anne-Marie Duffès. Her husband adds: “And we’ve seen fakes before, plus those under 18 have until September 30, but how do you know if someone is 18 or younger?” “

The Casino de Bagnols cinema team around Mathieu and Anne-Marie Duffès (Photo: Thierry Allard / Objectif Gard)

On the Semaphore side, in Nîmes, we had chosen the 49-person gauge to avoid the health pass, and “It was going pretty well”, for the assistant director of the cinema Daniel Vidal. He fears losing customers on the way: “Our audience encouraged us and appreciated our approach, but we know that from August 9, because they are opposed to the health pass, they will no longer come to the cinema. We expect a further ebb of the public in a proportion that we cannot imagine. “ Worrisome, especially since “Since July 19 and the entry into force of the health pass, we have lost a quarter of our audience”, he breathes, pulled up against “Decisions taken without consultation with the field. “

“It’s the double penalty”

For him, many questions remained unanswered at the end of last week. This is also the case for Olivier Griffith, co-director of the Vog arthouse cinema at Grau-du-Roi. Usually, the cinema of the seaside resort has a higher attendance in the summer by programming family films and more general public. Despite everything, he had made the choice to opt for the gauge of 49 people per room because “We are in small numbers, so it’s complicated to control, all the more so during the summer when we are targeting families: as those under 18 are not very vaccinated and we said to ourselves that it was not playable to ask for the pass, that we were going to penalize ourselves. “

Daniel Vidal, assistant director of the Semaphore, in Nîmes (Photo: Norman Jardin / Objectif Gard)

And even though he lost in dating, “We communicated well on this and it worked well”, says Olivier Griffith. With the generalization of the health pass, “We don’t know how we’re going to do it, we risk having to recruit staff”, says the co-director of Vog. “Not only do we make fewer entries but we are forced to have additional people to apply the health pass, it’s double the penalty”, considers for his part Évrard Zaouche.

Daniel Vidal, from Semaphore, is even very worried: “These saves break the bond that we have been building with our audience for years. We see the considerable time it takes to find the lost audience. It’s very hard to live with and we have no visibility. This can lead to bankruptcy filings and bankruptcies. “

In Bagnols, Anne-Marie and Mathieu Duffès begin to be “Tired of all that, until now, we have adapted, but now it’s starting to be heavy”, says the first, when her husband finally admits that “If it becomes too painful and unmanageable, we will close and then voila. ”

Norman Jardin (in Nîmes), Boris Boutet (in Grau-du-Roi) and Thierry Allard (in Bagnols)

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