What is a modern film museum? How, in the complex 21st century, can it be opened up to audiences? What is a cinémathèque for a society captivated by the contemporary and by everything still to come? For almost a hundred years, the Cinémathèque française has been the standard-bearer of film archiving, research and demonstration – founded in 1936 by French film visionaries Henri Langlois, Georges Franju and Jean Mitry.

RIGA IFF, together with the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture and the Latvian Film Museum, is honoured to collaborate with the Cinémathèque française and invite audiences to a guest lecture by Émilie Cauquy, Head of Film Access and Promotion. In her talk, Cauquy will address strategies for promoting film heritage, explain the concept of the cinémathèque, and discuss the challenges of audience engagement.

Cauquy is an experienced professional in the distribution and promotion of the film heritage amassed at Cinémathèque française and in shaping the concept of the modern cinémathèque, as well as in developing programmes and retrospectives dedicated to the classics of French film. She currently runs the Cinémathèque VOD platform Henri, dedicated to Henri Langlois. With this new platform, both Cauquy and the Cinémathèque hope it will serve as a synonym for the past, present – and, without doubt, the future of French film.