2023-04-28 13:17:48
Finally saved the last associative cinema in Paris? The La Clef Revival collective has just signed a sales agreement to buy the establishment, after a long legal battle. But the funds have yet to be raised.
The facade of the La Clef cinema, rue Daubenton, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Photo Herve Chatel / Hans Lucas
Published on April 27, 2023 at 11:03 am
Updated on April 28, 2023 at 11:56 a.m.
«We, filmakers in America, are standing with you. » For three and a half years, the beginning of the fight to save the associative cinema La Clef, located at 34 rue Daubenton in the 5ᵉ arrondissement of Paris), there has been no shortage of brand support. On this day of celebration, it is with the support, across the Atlantic, of Martin Scorsese, who sent a video and a handwritten letter, that La Clef ends its eventful odyssey and announces very good news: the voluntary collective La Clef Revival – precisely, its endowment fund – has just signed a sales agreement to buy the cinema!
The adventure is not quite over. The most urgent: to collect, in less than six months, the total sum necessary for the transaction. That is a total of 3.1 million euros, including the 2.9 million euros of the purchase price – originally set at 4.2 million, the lessor agreed to a nice rebate, aligning itself with the cost current reality of the operating rooms, and no doubt influenced by the professional and media mobilization around La Clef – as well as the 200,000 euros in notary fees. But smiles of relief and joy are already adorning the faces of the volunteer members of the collective which has been working to save the establishment since the owner of the walls, the socio-economic council of the Caisse d’Épargne d’Île-de- France (CSE-CE-IDF), put it on sale in 2018, and raised fears of the disappearance of this unique place, the last associative cinema in Paris.
One screening per evening, at free price
In three and a half years, since the closure of the cinema, two collectives made up of film lovers, former cinema employees and local residents have succeeded each other by occupying the premises illegally – Home Cinema, then La Clef Revival – in order to save the place at all costs and let the spotlights turn. Permanent occupation of the site, daily screenings at free price, debates with authors, directors, creation of a fanzine, two ephemeral radio stations, ciné-tracts committed and development of a local education program with cinema workshops for schools and neighborhood leisure centres. Not forgetting Studio 34, a place of creation dedicated to writing and directing short films… The occupants have been busy. Their intransigent commitment will have held until their dislodging by the forces of order. On March 1, 2022, their expulsion had provoked an immediate mobilization on the forecourt of the Arab World Institute, where supporters of the world of cinema and political actors had spoken in favor of La Clef.
On the cinema wall, La Clef logo. Photo Hubert Didona / Saif Images
Long legal battle with the owner of the building; long battle with the social and solidarity economy group SOS, the only potential buyer who unexpectedly retracted on the day of the eviction; long discussion also with the City of Paris, which was for a time able to pre-empt the place to make it a public good but finally voted against… These last few years have been eventful. Outside the walls since March 2022, the La Clef Revival collective has not given up. Continuing screenings in partner theaters (to the DOC! in the 19ᵉ arrondissement for example, every Sunday evening), the collective focuses above all on setting up an endowment fund – a structure of general interest without shareholders, guaranteeing the independence of use of a property – which it calls Cinema Revival, with a view to buying the place “to make it a common good and permanently remove this neighborhood cinema from speculative pressures”.
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And it’s done! Well almost. Signed on April 26, 2023, the sales agreement involving the two parties, namely the seller, the CSE-CE-IDF, and the buyer, the Cinéma Revival endowment fund, runs for six months. Six months to raise the total sum of 3.1 million euros, of which 80% has already been reached, the financing plan being organized into three parts: sponsorship, crowdfunding and bank loan, and thus relaunch the mobilization even more. The online crowdfunding campaign should be re-engaged shortly, with the aim of reaching 400,000 euros.
In the best case, the keys to La Clef will therefore be entrusted to the La Clef Revival collective on October 26th – the endowment fund must delegate the management of the place to a third party organization, in this case the voluntary collective La Clef Revive. And the screenings, one per evening, and always at free price (commercial ticketing format endorsed by the CNC), will resume at the start of 2024. If work is to be planned (asbestos removal), other complementary and ambitious activities are already envisaged to occupy the 800 square meters of the building, such as the creation of an associative café, the resumption of image training activities, but also the installation of post-production equipment with an editing room, mixing, etc But we’ll talk about that when the time comes.
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