2016 Département de l’Ardèche Département de l’Ardèche
Twenty-eight years ago, a collective of producers and filmmakers, “La Bande à Lumière”, invented the États généraux du film documentaire; since then, every summer, spectators from around the world converge on Lussas for this non-competitive event.
The ingredients of this success are simple: a rich and diverse programme, debates moderated by committed professionals and the unfailing support of the region’s elected officials. It is with this conviction that the Département of Ardèche supports all those who use the image to reveal the world without giving in to the temptation to simplify in order to manipulate. Questioning the meaning of the “battle of images” as the États généraux du film documentaire proposes to do is a question of real urgency.
I am convinced that an ambitious cultural policy remains an absolute priority. It is the responsibility of elected representatives to support the people who create and to multiply the viewing opportunities open to them. This year, the Village documentaire has grown in size. I am particularly proud of the most recent addition to the family: a platform dedicated to showing documentaries on line, Tënk. This SCIC federates producers and directors and proposes access to documentary treasures which are today impossible to view outside the festival circuit for a monthly fee of six euro. Editorial choices of content will ensure the success of this platform. Let us bet that it will allow the transmission of documentary to a wide public, but also to secondary school students, people in retirement homes and public library members. Ten thousand subscribers are necessary to reach financial equilibrium and to break free in the future from an economic model under the dictates of television. Together, let us rise to the challenge!
An entire productive sector is being structured in Lussas, a model of successful cultural decentralisation, bringing important local economic benefits, the creation of numerous year-round jobs and post-production contracts signed with directors from around the world.
I wish to all an intense and rich week of human encounters.
Hervé Saulignac
President of the Ardèche Département