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After Paris Attacks, a Slow Reawakening for City’s Cultural Offerings After Paris Attacks, a Slow Reawakening for City’s Cultural Offerings
(8 days later)
PARIS — On Wednesday morning, May Zhang, a tourist from Shanghai, was outside the Louvre using a selfie stick to snap photographs with a friend. The courtyard is normally packed with tourists, but they had it mostly to themselves — and to the dozen or more heavily armed police officers pacing in the background.PARIS — On Wednesday morning, May Zhang, a tourist from Shanghai, was outside the Louvre using a selfie stick to snap photographs with a friend. The courtyard is normally packed with tourists, but they had it mostly to themselves — and to the dozen or more heavily armed police officers pacing in the background.
“We aren’t too worried,” said Ms. Zhang, 36, a sales manager who began her first trip to Paris just days after assailants killed 129 people and wounded hundreds of others. “I think security is now at a very high level,” she added, not long after the police finished a raid in St.-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, in which at least two people, including a female suicide bomber, died, and eight people were arrested.“We aren’t too worried,” said Ms. Zhang, 36, a sales manager who began her first trip to Paris just days after assailants killed 129 people and wounded hundreds of others. “I think security is now at a very high level,” she added, not long after the police finished a raid in St.-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, in which at least two people, including a female suicide bomber, died, and eight people were arrested.
Museums and cultural institutions were closed last weekend by executive order, and movie theaters shut until Sunday. This week, the places that make Paris one of the world’s great cultural capitals have been slowly coming back to life, and directors are hoping that residents and visitors alike will return. They say that they are more convinced than ever that culture is a form of resistance to terrorism — especially after militants opened fire at a rock concert — but that they are also navigating intense security concerns that have the city on edge.Museums and cultural institutions were closed last weekend by executive order, and movie theaters shut until Sunday. This week, the places that make Paris one of the world’s great cultural capitals have been slowly coming back to life, and directors are hoping that residents and visitors alike will return. They say that they are more convinced than ever that culture is a form of resistance to terrorism — especially after militants opened fire at a rock concert — but that they are also navigating intense security concerns that have the city on edge.
“The difficulty is to reassure people about security, something very material, but also to communicate a collective message of unity and resistance,” said Marc-Olivier Sebbag, the director of the National Federation of French Cinemas, which instructed the 2,000 cinemas of France to bolster security at entrances and seek guidance from the police.“The difficulty is to reassure people about security, something very material, but also to communicate a collective message of unity and resistance,” said Marc-Olivier Sebbag, the director of the National Federation of French Cinemas, which instructed the 2,000 cinemas of France to bolster security at entrances and seek guidance from the police.
Theater directors said reopening was urgent. “Closing for two days was the maximum,” said Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, the director of the Théâtre de la Ville, one of Paris’s premier avant-garde spaces, and of the Festival d’Automne, a season of cultural programming. “There was a shock, and it could be considered a kind of mourning, and people need silence,” he added. “But silence” — or staying home — “is a personal choice.”Theater directors said reopening was urgent. “Closing for two days was the maximum,” said Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, the director of the Théâtre de la Ville, one of Paris’s premier avant-garde spaces, and of the Festival d’Automne, a season of cultural programming. “There was a shock, and it could be considered a kind of mourning, and people need silence,” he added. “But silence” — or staying home — “is a personal choice.”
Still, ensuring the show goes on has not been easy. On Saturday, Mr. Demarcy-Mota had to get reassurances from the presidential palace that borders would be open and that France could guarantee the security of visiting artists, including crew members from the Schaubühne theater of Berlin driving from Germany to build the set for a production of “Oedipus the Tyrant,” directed by Romeo Castellucci. It will open as scheduled on Friday.Still, ensuring the show goes on has not been easy. On Saturday, Mr. Demarcy-Mota had to get reassurances from the presidential palace that borders would be open and that France could guarantee the security of visiting artists, including crew members from the Schaubühne theater of Berlin driving from Germany to build the set for a production of “Oedipus the Tyrant,” directed by Romeo Castellucci. It will open as scheduled on Friday.
Those involved in the city’s thriving theater culture have been undeterred, although attendance numbers are down. At the Théâtre des Abbesses on Tuesday, Sophie-Anne Descoubès, 45, attended a comic opera even after a friend decided not to join her. “I came by myself and had a glass of red wine in the cafe first,” she said, on the evening Parisians gathered in cafes, bars and restaurants as an act of defiance. Her friend stayed home “not out of fear, but she didn’t have the energy,” Ms. Descoubès added. “It’s the lack of energy that’s the issue.”Those involved in the city’s thriving theater culture have been undeterred, although attendance numbers are down. At the Théâtre des Abbesses on Tuesday, Sophie-Anne Descoubès, 45, attended a comic opera even after a friend decided not to join her. “I came by myself and had a glass of red wine in the cafe first,” she said, on the evening Parisians gathered in cafes, bars and restaurants as an act of defiance. Her friend stayed home “not out of fear, but she didn’t have the energy,” Ms. Descoubès added. “It’s the lack of energy that’s the issue.”
This week, Parisians faced a wearying sense of déjà vu that scattered, if rousing, choruses of “La Marseillaise” did little to leaven. It is a markedly different mood than the one in January, after Islamic extremists killed 17 people at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, when thousands took to the streets in solidarity rallies. The government’s new security measures bar people from assembling in large groups, although a few hundred people gathered privately for a vigil at the Place de la République in central Paris on Sunday night.This week, Parisians faced a wearying sense of déjà vu that scattered, if rousing, choruses of “La Marseillaise” did little to leaven. It is a markedly different mood than the one in January, after Islamic extremists killed 17 people at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, when thousands took to the streets in solidarity rallies. The government’s new security measures bar people from assembling in large groups, although a few hundred people gathered privately for a vigil at the Place de la République in central Paris on Sunday night.
The measures also forbid school excursions, which the theater director Macha Makeïeff said she hoped would change as quickly as possible. This week, hundreds of schoolchildren could not see her production of Molière’s “Trissotin or the Learned Ladies” at the Théâtre La Criée in St.-Denis, the ethnically and economically mixed area where the raids took place on Wednesday morning.The measures also forbid school excursions, which the theater director Macha Makeïeff said she hoped would change as quickly as possible. This week, hundreds of schoolchildren could not see her production of Molière’s “Trissotin or the Learned Ladies” at the Théâtre La Criée in St.-Denis, the ethnically and economically mixed area where the raids took place on Wednesday morning.
The attacks “strengthen our conviction of the importance of theater in cities, and notably in cities like St.-Denis, in cities like Marseille,” Ms. Makeïeff said. “Because what joins us is stronger than what divides us.”The attacks “strengthen our conviction of the importance of theater in cities, and notably in cities like St.-Denis, in cities like Marseille,” Ms. Makeïeff said. “Because what joins us is stronger than what divides us.”
The attacks have many cultural institutions wondering how to shape young hearts and minds to become humanists, not terrorists. “An attack on a theater, on young people, is very symbolic,” said Stéphane Lissner, the director of the Paris Opera. “It’s to attack that culture.” He added that the French “need to reflect in a much broader way about how that culture is diffused and who has access to it.”The attacks have many cultural institutions wondering how to shape young hearts and minds to become humanists, not terrorists. “An attack on a theater, on young people, is very symbolic,” said Stéphane Lissner, the director of the Paris Opera. “It’s to attack that culture.” He added that the French “need to reflect in a much broader way about how that culture is diffused and who has access to it.”
Mr. Lissner said the opera, where the ballet “La Bayadère” opened as scheduled on Tuesday, had not decided how to bolster security in the long term. (The police presence there has increased after the attacks.) Metal detectors can do only so much. “You have a kamikaze element of unpredictable barbarity, so it’s hard to know how efficient these would be,” he said.Mr. Lissner said the opera, where the ballet “La Bayadère” opened as scheduled on Tuesday, had not decided how to bolster security in the long term. (The police presence there has increased after the attacks.) Metal detectors can do only so much. “You have a kamikaze element of unpredictable barbarity, so it’s hard to know how efficient these would be,” he said.
Jack Lang, the president of the Institute of the Arab World, a cultural center in Paris, and a former minister of culture and of education, said the institute would increase its programs of films, music, exhibitions and talks in Paris’s economically troubled suburbs and across France. The arts are “an arm against ignorance and violence,” he said.Jack Lang, the president of the Institute of the Arab World, a cultural center in Paris, and a former minister of culture and of education, said the institute would increase its programs of films, music, exhibitions and talks in Paris’s economically troubled suburbs and across France. The arts are “an arm against ignorance and violence,” he said.
With the attacks on Friday still fresh — and fears of a new assault strong — distributors again postponed the release of “Made in France,” directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, a fictional film about terrorist attacks on Paris. Its release had already been delayed after the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January. Over the weekend, posters for the movie, which feature a machine gun superimposed on the Eiffel Tower, were removed from the subway.With the attacks on Friday still fresh — and fears of a new assault strong — distributors again postponed the release of “Made in France,” directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, a fictional film about terrorist attacks on Paris. Its release had already been delayed after the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January. Over the weekend, posters for the movie, which feature a machine gun superimposed on the Eiffel Tower, were removed from the subway.
At movie theaters, ticket sales for some blockbusters, including the new James Bond film, “Spectre,” which opened in France on Nov. 11, were down. Some bigger events were canceled, including the French premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies,” set for last Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter said.At movie theaters, ticket sales for some blockbusters, including the new James Bond film, “Spectre,” which opened in France on Nov. 11, were down. Some bigger events were canceled, including the French premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies,” set for last Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Many galleries here that had participated in Paris Photo, an annual photography fair at the Grand Palais that opened on Nov. 12 and was to run until last Sunday before it was canceled, announced that those exhibitions would be shown at their galleries on Nov. 28 and 29.Many galleries here that had participated in Paris Photo, an annual photography fair at the Grand Palais that opened on Nov. 12 and was to run until last Sunday before it was canceled, announced that those exhibitions would be shown at their galleries on Nov. 28 and 29.
The Philharmonie de Paris, on the northeastern edge of the city, is running its full program of concerts and recitals this week, but with heightened security, including portable scanning devices. “At the Louvre, you can have the army patrolling around. But that’s not possible in a theater,” said Laurent Bayle, the director of the Philharmonie.The Philharmonie de Paris, on the northeastern edge of the city, is running its full program of concerts and recitals this week, but with heightened security, including portable scanning devices. “At the Louvre, you can have the army patrolling around. But that’s not possible in a theater,” said Laurent Bayle, the director of the Philharmonie.
Jean-Luc Choplin, the director of the Théâtre du Châtelet, which helped produce “An American in Paris,” now on Broadway, said he wanted the theater to keep delighting audiences. “I won’t change the programming,” he said. “We do big theatrical shows. It’s about happiness, lightness, and people need that.”Jean-Luc Choplin, the director of the Théâtre du Châtelet, which helped produce “An American in Paris,” now on Broadway, said he wanted the theater to keep delighting audiences. “I won’t change the programming,” he said. “We do big theatrical shows. It’s about happiness, lightness, and people need that.”
At the Pompidou Center on Wednesday morning, attendance was sparse. Lucca Tatoni and Tanya Abad were visiting from São Paulo, Brazil. “At first we really considered changing the trip, but at the end of the day, we said, ‘Let’s go,’ ” Mr. Tatoni, 23, said. Ms. Abad, 20, said she was glad to stop following the news for a little while and spend some time immersed in art. At the Pompidou Center on Wednesday morning, attendance was sparse. Lucca Tatoni and Tayna Abad were visiting from São Paulo, Brazil. “At first we really considered changing the trip, but at the end of the day, we said, ‘Let’s go,’ ” Mr. Tatoni, 23, said. Ms. Abad, 20, said she was glad to stop following the news for a little while and spend some time immersed in art.
“A museum is always a good idea,” she said.“A museum is always a good idea,” she said.