An alliance of prominent French business, publishing and film figures has joined forces to revive one of the most storied venues in Paris cinephilia, with luxury house Chanel serving as lead partner behind the reopening of the historic Saint-Germain-des-Prés cinema.The Left Bank theater marked its return to public life last week with a gala screening of Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cannes competition title “Fatherland,” presented by Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux and attended by CNC president Gaëtan Bruel, who used the occasion to deliver a pointed defense of France’s theatrical model amid mounting political pressure.The 208-seat venue reopened after more than a decade away from the public. Once known as the Bilboquet and later the Olympic Saint-Germain, the cinema hosted premieres by filmmakers including François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Costa-Gavras, whose political thriller “Z” famously played there for 20 consecutive weeks following its 1969 release.
Behind the project is an unusual coalition of financiers, producers and cultural patrons led by producer Charles Gillibert and investment banker Grégoire Chertok. Gillibert arrived at the reopening fresh from Cannes, where he presented Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Grand Prize-winning competition title “Minotaur.” Chertok, a longtime patron of the film industry and a lifelong cinephile, was behind the creation of the Cannes Film Festival’s first investment fund and recently received the Légion d’honneur from Bruel.
