Mk2 is first and foremost a company that carries values. It was created on May 1, 1974 with the opening of a first room, place de la Bastille, which was called July 14. This gives a small idea of ​​the program for the next fifty years! Marin Karmitz (the father of Elisha Karmitz, founder of the mk2 group, editor's note) moved in with François Maspero, one of the great booksellers of the time, a specialist in committed and political literature. He then developed a concept of living space. The cinema is a vector for reviving a district: open every day, from morning to evening, it brings light to the city and is aimed at everyone. It is primarily this urban and social function, before the financial and economic aspect that guides us. Creating places to live has always been in our DNA. It is sincere and not the result of a marketing analysis.

He is Jewish, born in 1930 in Romania and immigrated to France in 1947. He is therefore part of this generation which has seen the world crumble under its feet. The one who grew up with the idea of ​​rebuilding this world, with, at the time, the emergence of new theatre, journalism or cinema… Mk2 was born at the same time as Liberation, for example. It is an era driven by the desire to create a new world based on the idea of ​​freedom and liberties. Cinema and mk2 were the vehicles to participate in this cultural revolution.

The rise of radicalism and a certain form of fascism are not new. I was 18 when Jean-Marie Le Pen arrived in the second round of the presidential election. We have therefore developed mk2 Institut in 2020, a space for debate on social issues. These are 300 to 400 conferences organized to date with the greatest French and European intellectuals. Authors, directors, philosophers… A space for healthy debate and listening where one does not seek controversy. It is clear that today the public debate is struggling to exist.

Mk2 Curiosity was born out of containment. We were one of the first players to position ourselves on the VOD sector. We wanted to come back, but from another angle. The lockdown created the opportunity. From the first weeks, a platform offering a small selection of films for free was tinkered with. Membership has been strong. We therefore made the project permanent by following the so-called AVOD model (Adversiting Video On Demand). New services will soon see the light of day, such as a subscription offer. Drawing from catalogs of lesser-known films is also a way of taking part in the current debate on sobriety. L'audio-visual should it mainly be structured by novelty?

For several years, mk2 has been investing in immersive technologies. This is a sector to which we want to return strongly next year, with new concepts, places and projects.

In 2019, before the yellow vests crisis, we set up an entrance ticket price of €4,90 for those under 26, in order to meet a need that the Covid-19 crisis has brought to light. day when we saw lines of students showing up in front of food banks. How can we ask young people who are unable to feed themselves to participate in a public debate that comes out of conflictuality? Once again, we want viewers to choose us for the stories we tell them, our values ​​and our commitment to public debate, and for a societal fight to lead.

Genesis, strategy and launch. On the occasion of a masterclass on the theme of new uses of cinema, Elisha Karmitz presented the case of Hotel Paradiso. Find this workshop on video.

Photo: ©mk2