Roger Odin (French Embassy, Paris)
Which role for the cinema in a working-class city: the case of
Saint-Etienne
The purpose of this lecture is not to do the history of cinema in
Saint-Etienne but to point out three logics ruling the relationship between
city and cinema : a logic of "propaganda" with an ideological aim using
cinema as an educational media, a logic of trade marks using the cinema
image to help Saint Etienne to get out of the eighties economical crisis
and a logic of memory mobilizing the amateur cinema for identity purposes,
after the decision of transforming Saint-Etienne from a working-class city
into the "City of Design".
