The birth of a public cinema in Bobigny, with Zadi as its patron

The territory of Est ensemble, which includes nine towns in Seine-Saint-Denis, boasts of operating "the leading network of public cinemas in France", with now six establishments.

Jean-Pascal Zadi had fun promoting the new place in Bobigny, loudspeaker in mouth, for a clip broadcast on social networks.

He will be present for the screening on Wednesday at 16:30 PM of the film "The American Dream", he who "was born in Bondy, lives in the territory of Est ensemble and has filmed a lot in Bobigny, notably the two seasons of his series +En Place+", mentions the operations manager, Victor Courgeon.

The promotional campaign also involved local residents, as well as the young rapper from Bobigny, WaïV, and the documentary filmmaker Aïssatou Bathily.

The opening of the new cultural complex has been awaited for years in the prefecture city of Seine-Saint-Denis, the youngest and poorest department in metropolitan France.

The city of over 55.000 inhabitants had been without a cinema since the closure of the Magic in 2019, which at the time only had two screens in a shopping center that had become outdated and was subsequently demolished. However, the population did benefit from traveling film screenings.

The new venue is named after Alice Guy, a pioneering filmmaker who has fallen into obscurity, chosen by residents following a "citizen consultation". It is located in the new "city center" district, between the prefecture and the town hall, and is served by metro, tram and bus.

The result of a total investment of 23 million euros, this three-level complex appears vast, elegant and very well equipped, with three of its six rooms being modular to also accommodate live performances, an AFP journalist observed.

Its lobby will include a café-bookshop, in a city that doesn't have one. It's banking on the appeal of its low prices (€4 to €7 per ticket) and its profile as a "generalist cinema," offering "both blockbusters and art-house films." It will develop "a strong focus on young audiences" as well as "film education, one of the network's priorities," emphasizes Mr. Courgeon.

"These are public cinemas that are self-financed to a little over 50%, despite very low prices, and which have the particularity of organizing a huge number of debates: we have 500 meetings annually in the 14 (already existing) venues of our network," argued Alexie Lorca, vice-president in charge of Culture and Popular Education at Est ensemble, praising "a public service of culture".