For the love of cinema | Nice (France)

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the legendary film studios de la Victorine. The city of Nice has organized an extensive cinematic program all year long to celebrate the milestone so be prepared, my dear movie lovers! The festivities will start in just a few days with the Festival Victorine.

Revisiting the oldies

During this festival, around 60 classics, all of course filmed at the Studios de la Victorine, will be screened in different movie theatres around town. All the movie theatres in Nice are collaborating so that’s cool – and the tickets will only be 5 euros per movie.

That’s just the beginning as practically every event in Nice in 2019 will be celebrating the Victorine studios and the art of film in general. This ‘celebration program’ is called Nice 2019: L’Odyssée du Cinéma.

Les Studios de la Victorine

It all started thanks to the producers Louis Nalpas et Serge Sandberg. They wanted to turn Nice into the European capital of cinema. They create the Studio de la Victorine but it’s not easy, their money runs out and by 1923 La Victorine has a new owner. And a new one, and a new one.

It does not seem to work out until renowned director Rex Ingram comes to Nice and runs the studios for about three years. He makes a lot of adjustments and by the end of those years, La Victorine is a super elaborate film studio. The name changes to Ciné-Studios Rex Ingram. There is no other studio like that in France, some even call it ‘the little French Hollywood’. The studios become extremely popular.

I will not tell you all about the following years as the studios changed hands and names quite often, they have known quite a few ups and downs – but at the end of it all the Studios de la Victorine have their name back and have been here for 100 years.

Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon and Prince

Some of the most famous French movies have been filmed in the Victorine studios. Just to name a few: Roger Vadim’s Et Dieu… créa la femme with Brigitte Bardot (1956), Mon Oncle by Jacques Tati (’56-’57), La Piscine with Romy Schneider and Alain Delon (1969) and Les Enfants du paradis by Marcel Carné (1945).

International movie directors also found their way to the studios de la Victorine, like Hitchcock for To Catch A Thief with Grace Kelly (1955), Stanley Donen for Two for the Road with Audrey Hepburn (1967) and Woody Allen for Magic in the Moonlight with Emma Stone (2014). Under The Cherry Moon by Prince was also filmed there as was Ronin with Robert De Niro in de late 90s. More than 800 movies have been filmed (partly) at the Victorine Studios.

There will be three (free) open house days at the studios at the end of Septembre. I will be going for sure (and will let you know all about it afterwards ;))!

Nice 2019: L’Odyssée du Cinéma

The city of Nice will rely on all of its municipal cultural institutions and will highlight the cultural associations of Nice.

There will be seven exhibitions during the 4th edition of the Arts Biennale – among others in Mamac, Musée Masséna, Musée Matisse, Musée Marc Chagall and the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre and four festivals throughout the year, shows, animations, concerts, exhibitions, conferences on the theme of cinema etc.

Personally, I’m very much looking forward to the expo in MAMAC, called Le Diable au Corps. It will be on show from May 17 until September 29. This expo will revolve around the dialogue between optico-kinetic works and fiction films. Sounds exciting, right?

Plus all the usual cultural events that take place in Nice yearly, (for example the Nice jazz festival, the book festival and the ballet Nice Méditerranée) will be revolving around cinema, the history of cinema and the influence of cinema on other artforms and vice versa.

Check the agenda to see all details about the program.