French town drops René Vautier's name from cinema
The name René Vautier has come off a small-town cinema in southwest France.
Elne mayor Steve Fortel has renamed the municipal cinema previously named after Vautier to “La Bobine Illibérienne”, which translates as “the Illibérien Reel”, a nod to the fact that inhabitants of Elne are called Illibériens or Illibériennes, according to Deadline. Fortel said he made the change for the sake of “neutrality” and because cinema “should not be politicized”.
Vautier was hard to separate from politics. He was a member of the French Resistance during the Second World War, as reported by France 3, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a French military honour, in 1945 for service against the Axis forces. He later became known as a Communist and anticolonial filmmaker.
His film Afrique 50 was banned from being shown in France for more than 40 years, Deadline reported. That history made Vautier a celebrated figure on the French left and a controversial one elsewhere.
Elne sits in the Pyrénées-Orientales, near Perpignan. Fortel was elected in March 2026 to lead the commune, according to Télérama. He stood as an independent candidate in last March’s municipal elections after previously being affiliated with the far-right party The Nationalists.
The renaming came alongside a change in control. Elne town hall moved to take over direct management of the cinema despite objections from opposition councillors, France 3 reported. A demonstration then took place following the municipal takeover.
The response spread beyond the town. A statement from 17 professional cinema bodies, including l’ACID, AFCAE and DIRE, condemned the removal of Vautier’s name. Inhabitants of Elne also launched a petition calling for the cinema to be returned to the name René Vautier.
What makes this stand out is the scale. One room. One sign. Yet the fight touches programming, funding and who gets to claim local history.
