Programmer and programming project manager, Institut Lumière and Festival Lumière
Jérémy Cottin and Mathilde Chassagneux work alongside Maelle Arnaud (who appeared in Screen International’s inaugural line-up of Future Leaders: Programmers & Curators in 2019) to programme Institut Lumiere in Lyon and Festival Lumiere taking place every year in October. The Lyon natives took very different paths to this mecca of film history and preservation.
After studying film history at Universite Lumiere Lyon 2, Cottin worked his way up from his first job 10 years ago as a guide at the Lumiere museum to become a year-round programmer at the institute in 2018. Since joining, he has contributed to “dusting off the image of the cinematheque a little” with a programme that is more “pop”.
While his personal tastes lean towards US and genre cinema, he often programmes the popular Nights screenings at the institute, seeing the initiative as “a door for new audiences” and encouraging people to take an interest in a wide range of cinema.
“We try to alternate between classical, repertory cinema and more recent, popular titles,” he says, citing a recent Ernst Lubitsch season that was followed by a focus on John Carpenter. And at the festival? “We are lucky, because the Lyon public trusts us and goes to see everything”.
With a background in conservation and international cultural projects, Chassagneux’s interest in cinema led her into the world of film programming. As well as interning at several cinematheques and archives, including the Cinematheque Quebecoise in Montreal, she spent two years in the Institut Francais in Beirut, Lebanon working on programming and event co-ordination. On her return to Lyon, Chassagneux worked on the 2020 festival and has been at the institute for the past two years (she produces filmmaker masterclasses and other special events for the festival and the institute).
Cottin, who focuses on the major retrospectives, praises his colleague: her silent cinema screenings with a live score and her regular cine-club showing classics on the big screen “bring a lot of colour to the programme”.
Contact: Jérémy Cottin & Mathilde Chassagneux
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