From the enthusiastic young crowd packing French movie screenings at the Walter Reade Theater at New York’s Film at Lincoln Center over the weekend, it might appear that the theatrical future of foreign cinema is thriving. The real picture, however, is more complicated. Like most independent films, foreign-language movies continue to struggle for traction at the U.S. box office even as enthusiasm among younger cinephiles appears to be growing.
Since joining Film at Lincoln Center last May, production veteran Daniel Battsek, whose credits include “Poor Things” and “The Zone of Interest,” has been working to nurture that next generation of moviegoers through a range of initiatives.
One of them is Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, the annual showcase co-organized with promotion body Unifrance, which kicked off March 5 with screenings of contemporary titles including François Ozon’s “The Stranger,” Arnaud Desplechin’s “Two Pianos” and Olivier Assayas’ “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” alongside masterclasses with filmmakers on college campuses. The event also gives French sales agents a chance to network with U.S. distributors and tease upcoming productions. Battsek said he was struck by the diversity of projects on display.
“It was exciting to see such a variety of different material,” Battsek said. “Just a huge variety of cinema that France represents, both as a co-producer, but also with French talent, with filmmakers like Desplechin and Assayas; but also a new breed of young filmmakers who choose subjects that represent the diversity of France and the diversity of cinema,” he continued.
France’s role at international film festivals and awards season was another talking point at the Unifrance showcase. Dylan Leiner of Sony Pictures Classics, which recently distributed Rebecca Zlotowski’s “A Private Life” starring Jodie Foster and Laura Piani’s “Jane Austin Wrecked My Life,” noted how French financing was behind many Oscar contenders in the international feature category.
“All five of the nominated international films this year have French money in them,” Leiner said, adding that roughly 30% of the 86 films submitted for the Oscar international feature race involve some French financing. “When we’re speaking of the French film industry we’re really speaking about the entire global film industry.” Still, for distributors and exhibitors in the United States, bringing foreign-language films to theaters sometimes seems like an act of philanthropy, while French sales agent grumble about the low sales prices.
“Distributing and exhibiting independent films, foreign language, French or otherwise, has never been easy,” Battsek said. The pandemic further complicated the equation, particularly for arthouse theaters that historically relied on older patrons.
“Post-pandemic, it definitely became more challenging because the more traditional, older arthouse audience has been slow to return to the cinemas,” Battsek said. At the same time, a younger demographic has started to emerge and Film at Lincoln Center has “had better results this year over last year by a substantial amount.” The shift was visible at the New York Film Festival where he said the “demographic is now substantially under 35.”
Part of that evolution reflects how younger viewers discovered international cinema in the first place. “They’ve seen a lot more movies through streaming than they would have done ordinarily, and are now ready to come out and experience those films in the cinema,” Battsek said. Social media platforms have also helped transform moviegoing into a shared cultural activity.
“There’s a newfound love for doing exactly that, and then for sharing their thoughts on movies through social media, through sites like Letterbox, etc.” Battsek said. “There’s a currency now to having seen ‘Sirat’ or ‘Secret Agent,’ or ‘A Private Life,’ or all these various foreign-language movies that come out.”
For exhibitors, that means rethinking how theaters can stand out in a crowded entertainment landscape. He says the issue is not so much the cost, because “If you go out for a meal in Manhattan, it’s a lot more expensive than going to a movie,” but rather the quality of the experience that people have in a cinema.
“I think we need to make the theaters really, really great so they provide fantastic sound and vision and just make people really comfortable,” Battsek said.
“Wherever possible, we need to create a bit of an event around going to a movie,” he says. Festivals and curated programs like Rendez-Vous play a key role in that strategy. “What’s so great about Rendez-Vous is that we have so many French filmmakers in town who are coming to talk about their films, and younger audiences particularly appreciate that,” he pointed out. He added that younger moviegoers are also more sophisticated than one might assume.
“They appreciate 4K restorations, 35 millimeter prints — the things that you wouldn’t necessarily think a younger audience would be interested in, but they really are. They like the idea of doing something special,” he said.
While France has been producing some splashy period sagas such as “De Gaulle,” “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “Les Miserables” in recent years, Battsek believes U.S. audiences often respond most strongly to projects that offer a distinct cultural perspective, rather than bigger movies. “What audiences here really love is to get a window into a culture and into a country that they may not have traveled to,” he said.
At the same time, Battsek welcomes the trend of international or French directors making films in English, like Assayas’s “The Wizard of the Kremlin” starring Jude Law and Paul Dano, which he programmed. “I like the idea of crossing over different aesthetics and different experiences to make movies. I think you get a richer film,” he continued.
Leave a Reply