Raymond Chirat Prize 2019

PostED ON OCTOBER 14 AT 4PM

Vincent Paul-Boncour, co-founder (with Jean-Pierre Gardelli) of distribution and publishing co. Carlotta Films, is the laureate of this year’s Raymond Chirat Prize, which recognizes a writer-historian-researcher in cinema history. 

What does receiving the Raymond Chirat Prize represent to you?

At Carlotta, we’re happy and proud. This prize is the result of all the work we’ve accomplished in 20+ years in all its forms: DVD, festival, Blu-ray… What motivates us is seeing the films of cinema history continuing to exist, every day, everywhere. This prize represents all of that. It’s a joy to receive it!

How would you define your profession?

There is a great word used by Serge Daney, who spoke of a “passer,” someone who passes things down, who transmits the cinema in all its forms with the desire and quest to reach the largest number of people, and not just cinephiles – that’s my profession! It’s the perpetual discovery of the principal themes of worldwide cinema and attracting new audiences, new generations, on all horizons. We must constantly work on the big founding filmmakers, as well as esoteric or lesser-known directors.

How do you see your profession in twenty years?

Whatever the future holds, movie theaters will last and not just for festivals, just as DVDs will continue to exist on the heritage market thanks to the notion of the object. Our work will be the same: create a yearning for films by audiences. And what is capital amid this over-abundance of images available everywhere, is the aspect of being a guide, a supporter, a prescriber of what is possible. It is one of the major specificities that make our work perennial. 

Interview by Virginie Apiou