The Nîmes British Film Festival opened its doors this weekend. Until March 20, there will be meetings and screenings. Bonus for this 25th edition: the presence of legendary directors Terry Gillian and Stephen Frears.
A long queue at the cinema… No doubt, the festival of British screens, hascanceled for the past two years due to the pandemic, is back. And the public is delighted to find this annual meeting.
The films are screened at the Semaphore, at the Carré d’Or and at the Daudet cinema. An exhibition is also visible at the Nîmes Tourist Office.
On the program for this 25th edition, around forty films have been selected for screening. Among them, two gold palms. Meetings with 12 British directors are also planned.
Terry Gillian, famous author of “Monty Python: Holy Grail” is at the rendezvous. Stephen Frears will also be on hand for the screening of his series Philomena and movie Florence Foster Jenkins worn by two emblematic “British”: Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.
This year, the music will be in the game with The Open Road London : a silent documentary from 1926 set to music.
The cine-concert is back, with a pearl, a colorized film from the turn of the last century promoting the charms of London. It was unearthed by the musician who will illustrate it musically live, Virgile Goller, whom festival regulars know well.
Bernard Raynaud, president of the festival
Returning to the cinema, a tenfold pleasure with the fall of the mask. Since February 28, the mask is no longer mandatory in dark rooms. Added to this is the suspension of the vaccine pass this Monday, March 14.
The easing of restrictions is a relief for this viewer: “Anyway, we’re not very close, we don’t talk to each other, we don’t spit on each other.”
Despite a gradual return to normal life, the Semaphore, a Nîmes cinema, recorded a 30% drop in attendance compared to before the health crisis. Daniel Vidal, deputy director of the room, explains: “There are people who have become accustomed, during the confinements, to staying at home, to refurbishing a new family economy and to doing without these physical cinemas. It is access to servers, Netflix, VOD, etc… which is predominant.”
The managers of dark rooms are counting on the festival of British screens to give a boost to their activity. It will be held until March 20.
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