Installed since 2012 in a former electrical factory on the banks of the Seine, the Cité du Cinéma, created on the initiative of director Luc Besson, is set to become the heart of the Olympic village currently under construction next year. The requisition of the premises, announced as part of the 2018 law on the organization of the 2024 Olympic Games, should be effective from the beginning of next year. This assumes that most of its occupants have left the premises by December 15 at the latest.
But this move, originally temporary, is taking on the appearance of a berezina for the Hollywood-sur-Seine project designed by the filmmaker, raising questions about the future of a place hitherto entirely dedicated to movie theater. The École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, which trains in the professions of image and sound and occupied part of the building, announced at the beginning of the year its definitive departure and provoked the anger of teachers and students. It will initially settle on the Campus Condorcet in Aubervilliers with a view to then joining the Cité Descartes in Champs-sur-Marne.
A “mortal blow” for EuropaCorp, Luc Besson’s company
The other occupant is EuropaCorp, the company created by Luc Besson (of which he is now only a minority shareholder). It sublets part of its premises to other cinema-related companies (production companies, equipment rental, post-production, armory and sets for filming). But it has not yet obtained any guarantee from the owner of the premises, La Nef Lumière, majority owned by the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, in terms of compensation and renewal of the lease beyond 2024.
A situation all the more worrying that EuropaCorp, in financial difficulties for several years, is the subject of a safeguard procedure. “A catastrophic situation”according to his lawyer, Arnaud de Senilhes, which could lead, according to him, to the pure and simple liquidation of the company.
The lawyer therefore initiated an emergency procedure before the court to claim in his name and for his sub-tenants the 14 million euros in compensation claimed to finance their temporary relocation. “The silence that the owner opposes us is a form of contempt for us and puts us in an inextricable situation. It is a mortal blow to EuropaCorp and the Cité du Cinéma”he laments.
A project that has had many setbacks
From the outset, this ambitious project launched by Luc Besson to attract foreign productions has known only setbacks. At the time, Nicolas Sarkozy had to intervene to bring the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, reluctant, to buy and renovate the building. It was he who also brought the École Louis-Lumière to the scene to complete the financial round.
However, the rents paid by the latter – 3.5 million euros per year – are astronomical and therefore led him to make the decision to leave. “We are paying the bill for a choice made ten years agoexplains its director Vincent Lowy. We tried to negotiate the rent down but we failed. Therefore, our supervisory authority has chosen a more sustainable long-term solution. »
The question arises of what will become of the premises thus liberated. If the activity of the cinema studios, sold last year by Luc Besson to the Tunisian producer Tarak Ben Ammar, is going well and does not seem to be called into question, the other companies present are wondering about their future.
Three of them have already left the scene, two have turned against EuropaCorp for compensation and the others are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing proceedings. “There is obviously a desire to break this tool”regrets Arnaud de Senilhes who suspects the owner of wanting to make them leave and rent the premises more profitably after the Olympics.
A surprising choice for a public actor, especially since it would be in complete contradiction with Emmanuel Macron’s desire, as part of his France 2030 project, to develop filming structures in France and to create an entire ecosystem around these facilities. What Luc Besson’s project was originally. “A beautiful project that ends badlyconfirms Vincent Lowy. When his company began to struggle, it precipitated decline. »