The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, was in favor, on Saturday, October 19 in Lyon, of the creation of a national cinema museum in France, demanded by figures of the seventh art, calling for a “real thoughts on this topic”.
Such a project was defended in a column published on Friday in Le Monde, in which the board of directors of the Cinémathèque française – including its president, the filmmaker Costa-Gavras, and the actress Carole Bouquet – calls for the birth of such an establishment to be “the additional but essential embodiment of our country’s ambition to promote, disseminate and perpetuate an art that he invented”.
Invited on Saturday to the Lumière festival in Lyon, the minister first declared that she had read this column and that it was necessary “study this project in detail”according to his speech sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Unique heritage collections in the world”
“But I still want to tell you my deepest conviction. And this intimate conviction resonates with you completely and you know it.”continued Rachida Dati, adding that “The time has come to move forward by starting a real reflection on the viability of this museum”while the cinema will celebrate its 130th anniversary in 2025.
To support his statements he mentioned “unique heritage collections in the world” stored “in boxes for almost thirty years” and the fire that destroyed the roof of the Chaillot Palace in 1997, where the Cinémathèque française was then located.
