History

The Katorza Cinema, where most of the festival of the 3 continents takes place, has a long history that makes it play a special role in the hearts of Nantes’ moviegoers. In fact, it was founded on June 4, 1921 by a Jewish immigrant from Tunisia named Salomon Kétorza. This fairground entertainer was at the time quite famous in the City of the Dukes because he had created in 1900 a huge 14-wagon long travelling cinema and 2 brick-and-mortar theatres : the Apollo which opened in December 1908 with 1700 seats, and the Variété, which opened in 1917. When the man died a few years later in 1928, his wife took the helm of the family business and the theatres continued to thrive through the Golden Era of cinema. Unfortunately, the German bombed the building during World War 2, but the Katorza reopened in 1951 with a larger screening room. Modernized, it was the first theatre in town to be equipped with Cinemascope and stereophonic sound in 1954. The single screening room was later split in 1974 and the theatre now has 6 screens (with 325, 170, 144, 90, 87 and 70 seats). Since the 1990s, it is owned by Soredic (Société Rennaise de Diffusion Cinématographique), a major owner of theatres in Western France, who bought it to longtime exhibitor Jean-Serge Pineau.

Programming

Today, Katorza is an arthouse cinema run by young Cécile Menanteau. It is supported by Europa Cinema, the AFCAE (Association Française des Cinémas d’Art et Essai) and has no real competitor in downtown Nantes, because unlike the huge Gaumont Multiplex (12 screens, 1 968 seats) a few meters away, it offers all films in their original subtitled version. The real competition comes from the two multiplexes in the western suburb of Saint Herblain, the Pathé Atlantis (14 screens, 2 904 seats) and the UGC Ciné Cité Atlantis (12 screens, 2 453 seats) which also offer the films in their original version. Yet, unlike those multiplexes, which program mainly blockbusters, the Katorza can keep arthouse films longer on its schedule. In fact, its biggest success this year is Good Bye Lenin which has been playing since its release in September and doesn’t show any sign of weakening.

Olivier Delesse