2023-09-11 12:38:00
The city of Bienne is adorned with white, blue and red. The Helvetia French Film Festival returns to the bilingual city for its 19th edition. Christian Kellenberger, director and co-founder of the event, gives us an interview 20 years following its creation.
The idea was born in the late 1990s, during a trip to Finland. Christian Kellenberger saw that a large Finnish audience was interested in a French film by Alain Corneau, and asked himself why not do it in the city of Bienne. The first steps were then launched, and it was there that he met co-founder Charlotte Masini.
At that time, the festival director would never have imagined that the event would take on such magnitude. “At the beginning, it was Rock’n’Roll,” he confides, thinking back to the organization of the first editions. To overcome difficulties, it was important for him to have a clear head, but also a loyal team.
After 20 years of FFFH, he knows that it is soon time to pass the torch. Even if it’s not for now, he can do it with confidence, as long as the youth are as motivated as he was.
His vision of cinema
Of course, in 20 years, Christian Kellenberger has been able to see cinema evolve. For him, there have been two great revolutions: Covid, and streaming services such as Netflix. These two elements would have drastically changed the way of conceiving and consuming the 7th art. According to him, it’s an opportunity to rethink the way we do things, but it’s not an insurmountable crisis for the big screen. He explains to us what makes, in his eyes, “a good film”.
The festival starts this Wednesday, from September 13 to 17. RTN is devoting a series to it for the entire week of the event. /jhb
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