Videodromes

Arts and Entertainment, second prize stories

00-04-2003

Two boys take an illicit peek through a crack in the door of a suburban cinema. Open-air cinemas are a heritage of a once-flourishing film culture. The ten cinemas, all built to the same model but in different parts of the city, are venues for FESPACO, an African festival of arts and film. But the advent of 'Videodromes', halls equipped with DVD players and televisions screening American action movies, are posing a threat to the open-air cinemas. The cinemas are not economically viable, and are too expensive for the state to maintain, so the World Bank is pressing for their privatization.

Photo Credit: Stephan Zaubitzer

Stephan Zaubitzer has been a photographer since 1991. Twelve years later, his photography meets the cinema. Winner of the World Press Photo 2004, nominated for the SCAM Roger Pic Prize for his work on the cinemas of the world, this work is regularly exhibited in France and in the world. Its archives are distributed by the studio “Hans Lucas”.