France’s CNC bolsters reforms to support arthouse films

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Daaaaaali!

Source: Venice Film Festival

‘Daaaaaali!’

France’s CNC has introduced a series of reforms to boost distribution of arthouse cinema in the country that will roll out over the next two years.

Scroll down for the top 10 arthouse releases in France in 2024

The annual budget for what is known in France as “le cinéma art et essai” has been set at €19m for 2024, up €1m from the previous year.

The increased funding is meant to better reward exhibitors who give what they call “fragile arthouse films a chance” and support the marketing of arthouse titles especially to the younger 15-25 age demographic.

The CNC is also updating its criteria for the classification system used to designate cinemas as ‘arthouse’ thus making them eligible for distribution and marketing support.

It has changed its system for calculating the amount of funding theatres receive, with more money being earmarked for cinemas screening what the CNC describes as “risky” programming, namely more experimental, lower-budget films.

Under the new criteria, more successful arthouse films – defined as those with more than 750,000 admissions since their national release – will be deprioritised in favour of titles released in fewer than 80 cinemas countrywide and labelled ‘research and discovery’ films.

A cinema’s designation as an arthouse theatre is decided by the current CNC president based on the recommendation of the organisation’s arthouse film committee, which has around 20 members including government officials and leading industry figures. Under the new system, this committee will have more power to determine how much aid is allocated to cinemas.

The reforms also include the creation of two new film categories to bolster marketing, one for films aimed at 15-25 year olds, and another for short films that join the currently existing labels ‘young audiences’, ‘research and discovery’ and ‘heritage’ films.

While France is known for auteur cinema, smaller titles – both locally produced and international – have been struggling to attract audiences, making theatres more hesitant to book them.

Earlier this year, Urban Distribution and Rezo Films both exited the independent distribution space down due to struggling ticket sales.

2024 successes

While 2024 so far has seen Hollywood blockbusters dominate the French box office alongside local sensations like A Little Something Extra (Pan Distribution) and The Count Of Monte-Cristo (Pathe), a few arthouse titles have performed strongly.

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest (Bac Films), Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow (Universal) and Poor Things (Disney) topped the list, followed by local films Daaaaaali! (Diaphana), The Second Act (Diaphana) and Boléro (SND), all likely boosted by festival play.

Even these films, however, are significantly off the pace of 2023, where several arthouse titles sold upwards of one million tickets, led by Anatomy Of A Fall (Le Pacte), Father & Soldier (Gaumont), All Your Faces (Studiocanal), The Animal Kingdom (Studiocanal) and The Crime Is Mine (Gaumont).

With just under 800,000 admissions during its theatrical run, The Zone Of Interest is this year’s best performing arthouse title so far in 2024.

Titles that could challenge it by the end of the year include Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Competition title Emilia Perez, which has been designated both an arthouse film and a ‘coup de coeur’ for the 15-25 age category. The latter designation could help widen its attraction to audiences when Le Pacte releases on August 21.

While they are yet to be classified, other indie titles on the horizon include Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winner Anora, Audrey Diwan’s San Sebastian opener Emmanuelle and Claude Barras’ animated feature Savages.