Why I started doing this

The problem that started it

We would try to plan a night at the cinema and hit the same wall every time. Paris runs hundreds of screenings a week, and the listings that exist are built for people who already read them fluently: is this print subtitled or dubbed, original version or French version, a rare 35mm worth crossing the city for or just another release you can catch next week? None of that is obvious from a title and a showtime, and French cinema sites rarely spell it out for someone who doesn’t already know where to look.

So before any of this was a project, it was a habit: checking formats, calling venues, reading the fine print, so we could actually go. I kept doing it, evening after evening, until it was obvious other visitors and other couples were running into the exact same wall.

Where the eye comes from

Looking closely is not new to me. I trained in still and moving image in Belgium, studied cinema in France, and wrote my thesis on Claude Régy and Bill Viola, two artists who work in silence, time and attention. For twenty-five years I have taught photography and film to teenagers in Montreal, adults in Brussels and retirees in France, and the part of teaching I never tire of is the moment someone stops watching the technique and starts seeing the image.

Paris Cinema, Curated asks the same question of a screening that I ask of a photograph: what is actually here, and is it worth your attention tonight?

What it became

Five screenings a week, checked against the official sources and explained in plain English: the version, the format, the venue, and the reason to go. Not an exhaustive listing, and not a ranking. Just the answer I used to spend an evening building for one person, now built every week for anyone visiting or living in Paris who reads the programme in English.