With over 400 movie screens and between 450 and 500 films on offer every week, Paris merits its title as cinephile capital of the world. The art-house cinemas specialize in rare films, old classics, and independent works. You can find listings of both mainstream and art house theaters in l’Officiel du Spectacle, or online at Allocine (www.allocine.fr). Many of the mainstream movies shown in the big chain movie theaters are dubbed in French (v.f., or version française). If you want to see a mainstream English-language film, make sure you find one in v.o., or check out Lost in Frenchlation (http://lostinfrenchlation.com), a film society that organizes 3 to 4 monthly screenings of French movies with English subtitles.
Some of the most famous art houses include Le Champo, Reflet Medecis, Action Ecoles, and Accatone, all in the Latin Quarter. The most scandalous is Studio 28, 10 rue Tholozé, 18th arrond. (www.cinema-studio28.fr; tel. 01-46-06-36-07; Métro: Blanche or Abbesses), where Luis Buñuel’s polemical 1930 movie, “L’Age d’Or,” was censored after only two showings here. The newest addition to the art-house scene is the recently reborn Louxor, 170 bd. Magenta, 10th arrond. (www.cinemalouxor.fr; tel. 01-44-63-96-96; Métro: Barbès-Rochechouart), a gorgeous neo-Egyptian 1920s movie palace that had been abused and abandoned until the city finally took it over and restored it.
In addition to regular movie theaters, two giant cinema archives have their own theaters and programs. The first, in a wacky building designed by Frank Gehry, is the fabulous Cinémathèque Française, 51 rue de Bercy, 12th arrond. (www.cinematheque.fr; tel. 01-71-19-33-33; Métro: Bercy), home to a cinema, library, museum, and research center. The other is the Forum des Images, Forum des Halles, Porte St-Eustache, 1st arrond. (www.forumdesimages.fr; tel. 01-44-76-63-00; Métro: Châtelet–Les Halles), which is funded by the City of Paris and has a bank of over 7,500 films, including thousands that feature Paris as either the subject or the setting. A new addition to the cinema archive world is the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, 75 av. des Gobelins, 13th arrond. (www.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com; tel. 01-83-79-18-96; Métro: Place d’Italie), which specializes in film history and regularly screens silent films accompanied by live pianists.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
