Arthouse cinema in Cahors is faltering. Without volunteers, the Ciné + association could disappear after forty years of activity. A general assembly must decide on its future.
“People are leaving the boat,” says Bertrand Serin calmly. President of the Ciné +Â association launches a call for help. “The difficulty is human resources,” says the president. The association has been honoring arthouse cinema for more than forty years in Cahors, by organizing numerous events such as the Cinélatino or Cinédélices festivals.
To organize the latest edition of Cinélatino, a festival that promotes Latin American cinema organized every year, there was a team of eight volunteers. In January, Bertrand Serin had already alerted. “Today, there are six who are stopping. Some for health reasons, others are getting older… I don’t want to make anyone feel guilty, everyone does what they can,” he assures. All that remains is to run such an important four-armed association, it’s difficult.
“No one has ever been reluctant to serve the pies or sweep the floor!”
“It takes a lot of investment and work. Cinélatino, we think about it three months in advance. Cinédélices more than six months. For example, we are already working on the November edition”, confides Bertrand, before continuing: “To lend a hand at the time of the event, we always find something No one has ever been reluctant to serve the pies, nor to pass the broom! It’s the rest that’s difficult. When I took over the association in 2017, I was practically alone at the start. I don’t want to do that again.
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Ciné + needs passionate volunteers for many missions. “It’s not so much a question of money. It’s true that we are poor, but we always get by. Especially when we have people to look for funding,” says the president. And this is where the heart of the problem lies: the association needs motivated people to look for partners, put together files, manage the administration, the secretariat, prospect films from distributors, program, write, present, represent, speak, take charge of communication, create links with other associations… There, it gets stuck “People are finding it more and more difficult to get involved. We cannot recruit and find the next generation,” regrets the enthusiast.
Bertrand Serin asks himself another question: “Perhaps our mission, in Cahors, is over. In the 1980s, Ciné + was created to save the ABC, the old Cahors cinema. The association also wanted to promote arthouse cinema. Today, there is Le Grand Palais, and I believe that he’s doing very well.”
One last hope
Still, Ciné + believes in it. So Bertrand Serin tries everything to save her. “It’s our last hope,” he slips. This Friday, May 29, an extraordinary general assembly is organized at the house of associations. Its goal: to decide on the future of Ciné +. “We’re hoping that people will come through the door and be willing to help us. That would be really great.” The survival of the association depends on it.
“We’re running out of steam. If we don’t find a solution, two choices will be available to us: we can put the association on hold, as was done in the 90s. Otherwise, we will be forced to dissolve it,” explains the president, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Of course we are disappointed, because we would like to continue.” Bertrand Serin concludes, launching an appeal to motivated moviegoers: “Don’t remain spectators!”
