Despite an appeal from the movie industry to ease the curfew under certain specific conditions, cinemas in the Paris region and eight other cities must shut their doors at 9 pm nightly starting Saturday, along with theatres and restaurants. Industry officials warn that the new regulation threatens the survival of many of these businesses, reports FRANCE 24.
After being forced to close their establishments during the lockdown, theatre and cinema operators in the Île-de-France region and eight major cities now have to deal with the introduction on Saturday of a curfew from 9 pm, for at least four weeks.
This latest restriction comes just as people have begun regaining the confidence to go out again and cinemas and theatres have started filling up. How will French culture survive under the curfew?
French president Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of a nightly curfew last Wednesday caused much anxiety for film professionals, and understandably so: Evening screenings starting after 7 pm have been key to keeping the industry alive, representing 40.5 percent of the total number of cinema admissions in France, according to a 2019 survey for the Centre National du Cinèma (CNC).
Despite a call by the industry to re-examine how the curfew could be applied to cinemas and theatres, the government announced Friday that no exceptions would be made to allow screenings or performances ending after 9 pm.