''To Each His Own Cinema'' () is a 2007 French

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

film commissioned for the 60th anniversary of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. The film is a collection of 34

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s, each 3 minutes in length, by 36 acclaimed directors. Representing five continents and 25 countries, the filmmakers were invited to express "their state of mind of the moment as inspired by the motion picture theatre". The film's subtitle reads "a declaration of love to the big screen". Many of the shorts share similar subjects, including homage to classic European art cinema, the death of the filmgoing experience, memories of childhood wonder, the transporting power of cinema, and activities performed during a movie screening, including talking, stealing, crying, and having sex.

Distribution

Premiere

''To Each His Own Cinema'' premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival on 20 May and was televised on the same night in France on Canal+.

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

's contribution, '' Absurda'', was not ready in time and was instead shown before Wong Kar-wai's '' My Blueberry Nights'' on the festival's opening night.

DVD release

Two DVD versions of the film are available, both Region 2: one released by

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

on 25 May 2007, the other released by Pyramide Distribution on 31 October 2007. ''World Cinema'' by Joel and Ethan Coen is not included on the StudioCanal DVD nor listed on the Pyramide DVD. David Lynch's ''Absurda'' is also not present on the StudioCanal DVD.

Short films

* Raymond Depardon – ''Cinéma d'été'' (''Open-Air Cinema''): In

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, Egypt, a small crowd attends a makeshift movie theatre. * Takeshi Kitano – ''One Fine Day'': An older gentleman deals with an incompetent projectionist (Kitano). *

Theo Angelopoulos Theodoros "Theo" Angelopoulos (; (27 April 1935 – 24 January 2012) was a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. He dominated the Greek art film industry from 1975 on, and Angelopoulos was one of the most influential and widely respect ...

– ''Trois minutes'' (''Three Minutes''): A woman ( Jeanne Moreau) encounters the late Marcello Mastroianni (using footage from Angelopoulos' 1986 film '' The Beekeeper'') in a movie theater and professes her love for him. * Andrei Konchalovsky – ''Dans le noir'' (''In the Dark''): An aged cinema owner (Ela Sanko) attempts to watch '' 8½'', while sex-crazed youths make out behind her. * Nanni Moretti – ''Diario di uno spettatore'' (''Diary of a Moviegoer''): Moretti himself recounts treasured movie memories. * Hou Hsiao-hsien – ''The Electric Princess Picture House'': A family in 1940s Taiwan goes to see a film in a suddenly abandoned or decrepit theatre. * Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne – ''Dans l'obscurité'' (''Darkness''): A pickpocket in a screening of '' Au hasard Balthazar'' accidentally connects with an audience member (

Émilie Dequenne Émilie Dequenne (; 29 August 1981 – 16 March 2025) was a Belgian actress. She first gained recognition for her role in the Dardenne brothers' film '' Rosetta'' (1999), which earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. The fi ...

). * Joel and Ethan Coen – ''World Cinema'': A cowboy resembling Llewellyn Moss (

Josh Brolin Josh James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film ''The Goonies'' (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starr ...

) decides between art films at the Aero Theatre. * Alejandro González Iñárritu – ''Anna'': A blind woman (Luisa Williams) is profoundly moved listening to her boyfriend interpret the end of ''

Contempt In colloquial usage, contempt usually refers to either the act of despising, or having a general lack of respect for something. This set of emotions generally produces maladaptive behaviour. Other authors define contempt as a negative emotio ...

''. * Zhang Yimou – ''En regardant le film'' (''Movie Night''): A young boy is enchanted by the arrival of a travelling movie show in his village. * Amos Gitai – ''Le Dibbouk de Haifa'' (''The Dybbuk of Haifa''): Movie houses in 1930s Poland and present-day Israel are attacked. * Jane Campion – ''The Lady Bug'': A theatre janitor ( Clayton Jacobson) fights a playful, dancing human-sized insect ( Genevieve Lemon). *

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...

– ''Artaud Double Bill'': Two women exchange texts at separate screenings, one of '' Vivre Sa Vie'', the other at Egoyan's '' The Adjuster''. * Aki Kaurismäki – ''La Fonderie'' (''The Foundry''): Factory workers on lunch break sit down to enjoy a Lumiére silent film of workers on lunch break. * Olivier Assayas – ''Recrudescence'' (''Upsurge''): A thief with an ambiguous relationship to a young woman ( Deniz Gamze Ergüven) steals her purse during a screening. * Youssef Chahine – ''47 ans après'' (''47 Years Later''): A young Chahine ( Karim Kassem) and his lead actress ( Yosra El Lozy) commiserate over the critical failure of their movie at Cannes. *

Tsai Ming-liang Tsai Ming-liang (; born 27 October 1957) is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan. Tsai has written and directed 11 feature films, many short films, and television films. He is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of T ...

– ''It's a Dream'': A man ( Lee Kang-sheng) remembers bonding with his family and the small audience at a theatre in Kuala Lumpur. *

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...

– ''Occupations'': Von Trier plays himself, berating and violently hammering a loudmouthed businessman ( Jacques Frantz) to death during the premiere of '' Manderlay''. * Raoul Ruiz – ''Le Don'' (''The Gift''): A blind man ( Michael Lonsdale) tells his niece about the time he screened ''

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

'' to a rural village. *

Claude Lelouch Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained critical ...

– ''Cinéma de boulevard'' (''The Cinema Around the Corner''): A memoir of how the movie ''

Top Hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

'' impacted the director's family throughout the years. * Gus Van Sant – ''First Kiss'': A young projectionist falls in love with a girl in a film. *

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...

– ''Cinéma érotique'': A middle aged couple watching '' Emmanuelle'' are annoyed by an apparent masturbator. * Michael Cimino – ''No Translation Needed'': An obnoxious theatre owner and amateur filmmaker (Cimino) makes a music video for a Cuban band. * David Cronenberg – '' At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the World in the Last Cinema in the World'': In a dystopian future, the horrific act of the title character (Cronenberg) and its societal implications are the subject of bland media obsession. * Wong Kar-wai – ''I Travelled 9000 km to Give It to You'': A young man eating fruit (Fan Chih Wei) thinks of his lover. *

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including s ...

– ''Where Is My Romeo?'': Various Iranian women, including Golshifteh Farahani, Hamideh Kheirabadi, and Pegah Ahangarani, watch ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' and cry. This short is similar to Kiarostami's 2008 film '' Shirin''. * Bille August – ''The Last Dating Show'': A man ( Frank Hvam) translating a Danish movie for his non-fluent date (Anne-Marie Curry) runs afoul of aggressive audience members. * Elia Suleiman – ''Irtebak'' (''Awkward''): A Palestinian director (Suleiman) is uncomfortable at a film festival. *

Manoel de Oliveira Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira (; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about Wor ...

– ''Rencontre unique'' (''Sole Meeting''): A silent film depicting a meeting between

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

( Michel Piccoli) and

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

(Duarte d'Almeida) is screened. * Walter Salles – ''À 8 944 km de Cannes'' (''5,557 Miles from Cannes''): In front of a marquee for '' The 400 Blows'', two Brazilian singers trade songs about visiting the Cannes Film Festival. *

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

– ''War in Peace'': The inhabitants of a Congo village watch and discuss '' Black Hawk Down''. * Chen Kaige – ''Zhanxiou Village'': Small children rig up a projector to watch a

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

film, only to be scared off by a nosy adult. * Ken Loach – ''Happy Ending'': A father ( Bradley Walsh) and son argue about the screenings at a multiplex, ultimately deciding to go watch football instead. *

– '' Absurda'': A sinister projectionist shows a group of teens a nightmarish vision of a murder. As he rolls the film, the teens appear to be compelled to commit it. *The epilogue is taken from the film '' Le silence est d'or'' by

René Clair René Clair (; 11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette (), was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. H ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control French avant-garde and experimental films 2007 films 2007 independent films French anthology films English-language French films Films directed by Raymond Depardon Films directed by Takeshi Kitano Films directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos Films directed by Andrei Konchalovsky Films directed by Nanni Moretti Films directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien Films directed by the Dardenne brothers Films directed by the Coen brothers Films directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu Films directed by Zhang Yimou Films directed by Amos Gitai Films directed by Jane Campion Films directed by Atom Egoyan Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki Films directed by Olivier Assayas Films directed by Youssef Chahine Films directed by Tsai Ming-liang Films directed by Lars von Trier Films directed by Raúl Ruiz Films directed by Claude Lelouch Films directed by Gus Van Sant Films directed by Roman Polanski Films directed by Michael Cimino Films directed by David Cronenberg Films directed by Wong Kar-wai Films directed by Abbas Kiarostami Films directed by Bille August Films directed by Elia Suleiman Films directed by Manoel de Oliveira Films directed by Walter Salles Films directed by Wim Wenders Films directed by Chen Kaige Films directed by Ken Loach Films directed by David Lynch Cannes Film Festival 2000s avant-garde and experimental films Films scored by Mychael Danna Films scored by Eleni Karaindrou Films scored by Howard Shore 2000s French films