The scene might seem ordinary. In the middle of the small courtyard of the very trendy hotel, Great Love, a seductive young woman takes selfies. His smile is that of a instagrameuse comfortable in his skin. But his 300.000 subscribers know, Julie Bourges is not a influenceuse as the other. His body was burned in the third degree after an incident at the teen. This Tuesday afternoon, she shows proudly its scars under the camera, alongside other burn victims. A few hours from the premiere of the film Dirty God Sacha Polak, where the heroine is rebuilt after an acid attack, they trace their individual careers in a video spot.

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The initiative, which is a cunning blend of advocacy and outreach, is led by The Jokers. Founded in 2014, the society of independent distribution aims to “defend the lovers of tomorrow”, without a ban of promotional methods of the singular, to a thousand leagues of competitors such as the giant Disney and his press junkets to the chain.

For Dirty God , the distribution company seeks to make about the great burned while attracting the curious in the rooms. “Like all arts, the cinema is a way to open a small window on a vision of the world,” said Manuel Chiche founder of The Jokers. Former boss of the Wild Side, film distributor, sometimes with success, as Old Boy (2003) or Drive (2011), he sold his shares when the company became “too big”. “The day you don’t remember the first name of the trainee, you say to yourself that there is a problem,” said this middle aged man drawing the sword rock ‘ n ‘ roll.

Former founder of Wild Side, Manuel Chiche sold his shares to found The Jokers wild 2014, film distribution company authors. “We are trying to defend the lovers of tomorrow,” he says in his premises in the Ninth arrondissement of paris. Robin Cannone/Le Figaro

In the lineage of his experience with the Wild Side, it offers a cinema of author demanding. An alternative to the blockbusters of super-heroes, monsters godzilesques and comedies popular american or French ones, which follow one another in the halls of the Hexagon on Wednesday. In parallel, it offers books on the seventh art – produced by his other company La Rabbia – and re-releases of feature films forgotten by all as the distinct Wake in Fright dating back to 1971.

the importance of The “buzz”

The film of Sacha Polak on the burn is part of the process of The Jokers. “We hope to be able to broadcast the spot at the same time that the trailers during the sessions of Dirty God ,” says Kern Joly, director of marketing. In two weeks of its theatrical release, he believes hard as iron that the movie director in the netherlands.

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At the age of 32, he’s part of this generation who knows the importance of “buzz”. He intends to generate a snow ball effect and make people talk about Dirty God. And why not follow in the footsteps of Mademoiselle , a thriller psychologico-erotic Park Chan-wook (300.000 admissions in 2016), or The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2016) and its 140,000 spectators?

there is No doubt that the release of Wednesday will have no trouble attracting crowds. Alongside posters of the films of the Korean, Danish and other unsung gems of the seventh art, a gigantic poster of Parasite adorns the walls of the offices of The Jokers, located in the 9th arrondissement of paris. Metaphor for the class struggle in South Korea is divided, the long-feature film, Bong Joon-ho has won the palme d’or at the nose and the beard of the favorite Pedro Almodovar ( Pain and Glory ). “Parasite is not quite mainstream, not quite a movie that can be described as art and test, specify Manual Chiche. Rather, it is in this third way that we try to dig: a film that will be defended by the young movie-goers tomorrow. This award gives them a legitimacy. She said: “look, they are not so dumb you know”.”

“there’s a big consensus around the “Parasite”. The film ticks all the boxes. It can meet the press, spectators, and operators,” says Kern Joly, marketing director of The Jokers. Robin Cannone/Le Figaro

On the eve of the release of the film in the theatres, the early returns are quite positive. “Finally, here is a film that ticks all the boxes and can meet the press, spectators, and operators”, said Kern Joly. The tens digits before the first to be organized in the course of the past week are “phenomenal,” says Manuel Chiche. “Maybe we should not heat up as much”, was not there. “In Korea, it has been out less than a week and he has already made 3 million entries”, reassures Violaine Barbaroux, co-founder of the distribution company.

The fateful bar of the 50,000 entries

Behind his cap of director general, she has the habit of manipulating the figures. And as much as to say that those of Parasite give the dizzy. Especially to an independent distributor such as The Jokers, whose half-dozen outings, annual worth is usually to take the helm of the 50,000 entries. However, it is the level that must be overcome for hope to keep the film in cinemas after a week of operation.

” READ ALSO – Parasite , a film “stripper”, “amazing”, “monumental”: the press screaming masterpiece

“Being an independent distributor, it is a lot of pain and very little glory,” jokes Manuel Chiche. And the dapper director to quote The Duke of Burgundy (Peter Strickland, 2015) to illustrate his point: “Only 3,000 people saw it in the theatres, grieves-t-it. This is not very rewarding. For me, however this was the best film of the year.”

masterpiece of Ted Kotcheff that were believed lost forever, “Wake In Fright” has been republished by The Rabbia, the company founded by Manuel Chiche in parallel Jokers. A trip distinct in Australia, by the director of “Rambo: First Blood”, screened at Cannes in 2009. Robin Cannone/Le Figaro

Kern Joly, him, happened in The Wild the following year. He remembers with bitterness. Galveston of Mélanie Laurent, last fall. “We said that there was a trick,” he says. But, a bad press was enough to cool the operators.” Result? “The film has been distributed in very few rooms”, he complained. The previous year, there has been the case Brimstone . “A sort of western gothic on religious fundamentalism,” he continues. To a few days of the release, the classification board has prohibited to under 16 years of age. With this barrier, the cinema has become hyper-cautious”. After a week, the axe falls on the neck of the Jokers: the movie has attracted some 27,000 spectators in the halls…

If a work has not been able to “find its audience”, the young distribution company hopes to be able to rectify thanks to the other media, leave to prefer an exit directly on VOD and DVD, and even on TV and SVOD, to output the so-called traditional. This is the case of Slayer of giants , which is not passed through the box film. The film, at the edge of the fantastic and the drama was, in its scale, a great success video of the Jokers, according to Kern Joly. Freaks , a kind of hybrid between the film genre and the superhero to the Chronicle “, should follow the same path in the end of the year, after a good reception at the festival of Gérardmer in January.

Seed of movie-goers.

Some films are-they are “too black” for the dark rooms? Manuel Chiche do not hesitate to ask the question himself to the public at the Jokers Club, rendez-vous movie-goers offers before-first and exchange then of ideas with the members of the team of Jokers, producers and directors… For Manuel Chiche, these laboratories of reflection are also a way to educate the younger generations. “I find it much more interesting to make questions and answers with them and ask them what they thought of what they come to see that to speak like their teachers of fac”, still says Manuel Chiche.

Arthur has joined The Jokers six months ago, after studies of communication. During his free time, he writes screenplays. Cinephile seasoned despite his young age, he cites “Control” (Anton Corbijn, 2007), “city Lights” (Charlie Chaplin, 1931) and “A History of Violence” (David Cronenberg, 2005) among his favorite films. Robin Cannone/Le Figaro

The youth has never left the radar cinéphilique of Chiche, from the time it has been founded Wild Side. “I have always chosen films that would be interesting to see for my children, he says. When they were little, I made animation films and I have pulled out of the classics of japanese animation, and the adaptation of the Three Thieves of Tomi Ungerer. Today, they are not all the time agree with me, but when they come to see Parasite , they are very enthusiastic.”

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Among the young team that surrounds us daily, there is the trainee, Arthur. In the lobby of the MK2 Bibliothèque, where the premiere of Dirty God , the young man admires the poster of Parasite . “The days have been long these past few months, but it was worth it”, he says. Mission accomplished for Shish. “There is no greater satisfaction than when my kids tell me that they are happy to be there, he whispered. Because they see it as a worthwhile project and say, ” the purpose, he is there.”