Guémené-sur-Scorff, with 1,000 inhabitants, has the small village cinema where everyone gathers. And then, there is its championship reality: a room that wins labels from the National Cinema Center (CNC) and impresses cinephiles. In 2026, the verdict from the public body has arrived, and it is flattering: 16/20. A rating that propels the establishment among the “very good students” in France. A nice reward for its hundredth anniversary.
Among a hundred Breton establishments, the Ciné Roch would not only be the oldest, but also one of the ten most rewarded: four Art and Essay labels out of five. “It’s quite exceptional for a town like ours,” smiles Laurent Hervé, the president. “Since 2014, we have obtained the Research and Discovery, Youth audience, Heritage and Repertoire, Short Films labels. The only one missing is the ’15-25 years old’ badge for a full house.” Guémené-sur-Scorff is the second smallest town in France to display such a pedigree.
60% of Art and Essay films
In 2025, nearly 60% of films were classified as Art and Essay. This led to a subsidy of 14,000 euros. Beyond the economic aspect, the president sees a way to “diversify the offer and introduce another cinema, not just the big blockbusters.” He adds: “We have been screening seven days a week for fifty years. If it wasn’t eclectic, we would be going around in circles.” Besides the quantity, it is also the way the films are screened that boosts the rating. “Every month, schools in the area come on a field trip to the cinema. And directors are regularly invited to present their creations and discuss with the audience.”
For the team of volunteers who operate the reels, these labels are like their Palme d’Or. Sylviane, a faithful member for seven years, has seen the audience change. Today, spectators are not just from the local area: “We have regulars coming from Lorient, and sometimes even from Nantes. In 2025, we were the only ones in Brittany to screen ‘Summer Garden’ by Shinji Sômai. And it worked since the room was almost full for a Japanese art film.”
“It looks like a cinema from the Latin Quarter”
The real consecration, however, comes not from Paris, but from a neighbor. Alain Masson, from the cinema magazine Positif, lives in Persquen. The man, who has experienced the greatest festivals in the world, fell in love with the Guémenéois screen and wrote about his love in the reference magazine in 2015. For him, Ciné Roch is “a nugget of intelligence” compared to the programs of large complexes. He says: “I have visited hundreds of cinemas, but only two are engraved in my heart: Studio Rivoli in Paris, which no longer exists, and the one in Guémené-sur-Scorff!”
He praises the modernity of the projection and above all, the daring of the programming. “The lineup is rich, we change it every day. The Parisian in me would never have thought of seeing Danish auteur films in their original version in Central Brittany.” The former columnist does not mince his words: “It looks like a cinema from the Latin Quarter in Paris. An exceptional cinema in the middle of the countryside. When I see Guémené-sur-Scorff, I think that suburbanites have more to lament than country people.”
