Film Buffs of the World, Unite!

In France an unbelievable amount of work for society is performed by volunteers of all sorts. For example, in Cormatin a group of volunteers has pimped up the Post Office, they maintain the village hall, they take care of plant and flower pots along the village streets during the summer and install the Christmas decorations in winter, they fixed street names and house numbers on street corners and facades, … It does not cost the community a penny, and the work gets done.

The cinema in Cluny

The Cinema in Cluny is run partially by volunteers as well. One of the most active members is Anne Krief, a firm lady who was or still is present in all sort of cultural committees and who did the programming for the cinema. And she did so to everybody’s satisfaction. She programmed the French block busters, but also the art cinema films, often in the original language with French subtitles. That has always been the main reason why we regularly go to the cinema in Cluny. Everything was running smoothly until the last council elections. The old mayor was ousted from office, a new one took his place, and as the saying goes, new brooms sweep clean. A new head of Cultural affairs was installed in the town hall.

Rue Lamartine - Cluny

He and Anne Krief, to say it elegantly, had slightly different views on cinematographic issues. Still nothing seemed to have changed: September 29 we received the usual program for the coming month, signed Anne Krief, we made our choice, and that was the end of that. So we thought.
Until, two days later, October 1, we received a farewell note from Anne Krief, in which she explained that she had been relieved as an unpaid volunteer on September 1, and was offered a paid part time job instead.

Al about the same subject

She had accepted the offer, and was fired the last day of her trial period. Cluny is a small town, everyone knows everyone, and most people saw this as coming from some sort of dirty trick department. The meeting hall where the council met last Wednesday was too small for all those who wanted to follow the debate about this matter. The former Mayor, Jean-Luc Delpeuch is a very outspoken member of the opposition in the council, and he was definitely not impressed by the “elegant” way this matter was handled. Presently a shop window of a former shop in Cluny’s main street is plastered with notes and letters from villagers, film fans and council members of the opposition calling for the council to reverse this case.

Flaming protest of the oppostion

The next step is unclear. The new head of Cultural Affairs has been appointed by the new Mayor (without a trial period, one might add), and reversing the decision and re-appointing Anne Krief as a volunteer (assuming she would accept it) would make the new mayor losing a lot of face. So how this whole story will end, time will tell…

Back to the Future IV, the cinema in November 2014?

The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.