La Cinémathèque de Toulouse

What La Cinémathèque de Toulouse does

La Cinémathèque de Toulouse is a French non-profit association (loi 1901) founded on February 12, 1964, by film critic Raymond Borde, and constitutes the second cinematheque in France. The institution operates two sites: the historic headquarters at 69 rue du Taur in Toulouse (a former 16th-century Collège de l'Esquile inscribed to the Inventaire supplémentaire des Monuments historiques since 1993) housing the 196-seat Salle Raymond Borde, the Bibliothèque du cinéma, exhibition spaces, and administration; and the Centre de conservation et de recherche in Balma, inaugurated in 2004, which provides FIAF-compliant film storage. It holds one of the three principal French cinematographic archives, comprising 45,160 inventoried film prints, 8,000 videos, 78,500 posters (the oldest dating to 1907), 15,000 books, 72,000 press files, and 1,500 periodical titles. The institution is a member of the FIAF since 1965 and maintains active international exchanges, notably with the Russian Gosfilmofond since 1966.

Core offerings span cinema exhibition (regular programming in Salle Raymond Borde), the annual outdoor Cinéma en plein air festival (44 films over 8 weeks in summer), the SYNCHRO cine-concert festival, La Cinémathèque Junior programming for young audiences, the Bibliothèque du cinéma for researcher access, rotating exhibitions (physical and virtual), a digital collections platform (Collections en ligne), educational programs for primary, collège, and lycée students via the Académie de Toulouse partnership, and the Perforations radio broadcast on Campus FM. The Cinécert diffusion service licenses cine-concert accompaniments to external venues. Underlying technology is conventional cinema infrastructure (DCP-compatible screening, 35mm/16mm and digital preservation) plus a digitization function supporting the online collections platform.

The business model combines recurring public subsidies (from the French Ministry of Culture, CNC, Ville de Toulouse, Conseil Départemental de la Haute-Garonne, and Région Occitanie) with ticket sales at €5–€9 per seat, tiered subscription cards (€50–€150 annual), venue and exhibition rentals, event partnerships with Cave Po', Festival de Toulouse, and ABC Toulouse, and corporate mécénat from Saint-Agne Immobilier, Ombres Blanches, and Spididam. Customers include individual cinephiles and families (primary), school groups (primary), researchers and documentalists (secondary), and cultural partners. Governance is overseen by a board presided by screenwriter-director Agnès Jaoui, with Franck Loiret as Directeur délégué and a management team spanning programming, collections, digitization, and administration across 32 employees.

Name

La Cinémathèque de Toulouse

Legal name

La Cinémathèque de Toulouse

Website

https://lacinemathequedetoulouse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

La Cinémathèque de Toulouse is a French non-profit film archive and cinema founded in 1964, operating the second-largest cinematheque in France with 45,160 film prints, a 196-seat cinema, and conservation facilities. It serves individual cinephiles, families, schools, and researchers in Toulouse through screenings, exhibitions, and a digital collections platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Film Archive and Cinematheque Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Exhibition (51213), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121), Museums (71211), Motion Picture Theaters (except Drive-Ins) (512131), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)

akta.pro primary industry

Screening Rooms & Cinematheques (Nonprofit/Institutional) (MPADAKAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Independent & Art-house Cinemas (MPADAKAB), Programming, Booking & Repertory Exhibition Services (MPADAKAL), Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH)

Keywords

• Film archive services
• Cinema exhibitions
• Film conservation
• Cultural education programs
• Cine-concert festivals

Headquarters

HQ city

Toulouse

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Subventions publiques: La cinémathèque est soutenue par le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, le Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), la Ville de Toulouse, le Conseil Départemental de la Haute-Garonne et la Région Occitanie.
2. Billetterie et abonnements: Vente de billets pour les projections en salle (séances à l'unité) et cartes d'abonnement (CinéFolie, Carte 10 places, Carte Cinéphile Junior)
3. Location d'espaces et expositions: Location des espaces pour des événements et expositions, gestion d'une bibliothèque对外开放

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

La Cinémathèque de Toulouse is a non-profit film archive and cinema institution that conserves, restores, and screens cinematic heritage. It operates a 196-seat cinema auditorium (Salle Raymond Borde) and a conservation center in Balma housing 45,160 film prints and 8,000 videos, while offering film screenings, themed cycles, festivals (SYNCHRO, Cinéma en plein air, Extrême Cinéma), exhibitions, an on-site film library, and educational programs for schools and families.

Product overview

La Cinémathèque de Toulouse operates as a film archive and cinema exhibition institution offering both physical and digital services. The core offerings include cinema screenings (Salle Raymond Borde with 196 seats), outdoor summer screenings (Cinéma en plein air), exhibitions, and a film library (Bibliothèque du cinéma). Digital services include online collections and virtual exhibitions. The institution also produces and diffuses cine-concerts through SYNCHRO festival and its Cinécert catalog. La Cinémathèque Junior provides youth programming, while Perforations serves as a radio broadcast. The conservation center in Balma maintains the physical film collections.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• La Cinémathèque Junior: A specific programming section for young audiences and families featuring films suitable for children and educational activities
• Cinéma en plein air
• SYNCHRO
• Extême Cinéma
• Perforations

Products and services

• Cinéma en plein air (Outdoor Cinema) Annual outdoor cinema screenings held during summer in the historic courtyard, featuring 44+ films of varied genres. Open to individual cinema-goers, families, and tourists.
• SYNCHRO (Cine-Concert Festival) Cine-concert festival featuring live musical accompaniment to silent films, with performances ranging from piano solo to electro and ensembles. Targeted at cinephiles and music audiences.
• La Cinémathèque Junior Youth and family programming including dedicated screenings, educational activities, and special events designed for children and young audiences.
• Bibliothèque du cinéma (Film Library) On-site consultation of 15,000 books, 72,000 press files, 1,500 magazine titles, and access to approximately 6,500 film titles with 12 reading seats and viewing stations, targeted at researchers, students, and cinephiles.
• Collections en ligne (Online Collections) Digital collections platform providing access to digitized holdings, thematic pathways (Cinexplora, Balades de cinéma, Mémoire filmique Pyrénées-Méditerranée), and virtual exhibitions.
• Cinécert (Cine-Concert Distribution Service) Distribution service allowing external venues and cultural institutions to rent the cinematheque's silent-film cine-concert catalog for their own programming.
• Expositions (Exhibitions) Physical exhibitions (with selected examples available for rental to external venues) showcasing film-related collections including posters, photographs, and promotional materials from the archives.
• Centre de conservation et de recherche (Conservation and Research Center) Conservation and research facility housing 45,160 inventoried film prints and 8,000 videos, with specialized storage meeting FIAF international conservation standards; supports professional deposit and consultation services for researchers.
• Programmes éducatifs (Educational Programs) Curated film and cinema-education programs for primary, middle, and high school classes, delivered in partnership with the Académie de Toulouse with reservation, teacher resources, and on-site sessions.
• CinéFolie Subscription Cards Annual subscription cards (CinéFolie at €150 and CinéFolie jeune at €50) and a non-nominative 10-session Carte (€65), offering reduced-price access to screenings.

Quantifiable outcome

• 44 films projetés pendant le Cinéma en plein air 2026 sur 8 semaines

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, important and minor.

• Gosfilmofond (Archives nationales du film d'Union soviétique)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1966Collaboration particulièrement riche entre Moscou et Toulouse initiée en 1966, qui se poursuit aujourd'hui. Échanges de collections et coopération internationale.
• FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1965La Cinémathèque de Toulouse est membre de la FIAF depuis 1965. Cette adhésion marque l'ouverture aux échanges internationaux qui se révèlent déterminants pour l'avenir de l'institution.
• Ministère de la Culture et de la CommunicationcoreOthersSoutien public majeur pour les missions de conservation et de diffusion du patrimoine cinématographique
• CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée)coreOthersSoutien du Centre national du cinéma pour les activités de conservation et de programmation
• Ville de ToulousecoreOthersSoutien municipal pour l'association
• Cave Po' (Cave Poésie)importantGTM or Marketing PartnerTarifs croisés: billet Cave Po' à 5€ pour les séances en plein air, et concert à 9€ sur présentation du ticket de cinéma. Événements conjoints: concerts les mardis à vendredis, bals les lundis.
• Festival de ToulouseimportantGTM or Marketing PartnerPartenariat pour la projection de E.T., l'extra-terrestre pendant le Festival de Toulouse
• TisséominorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartenariat transports pour faciliter l'accès au 69 rue du Taur
• Saint-Agne ImmobilierminorOthersMécène de l'institution
• Ombres BlanchesminorOthersMécène -Librairie toulousaine spécialisée
• SpididamminorOthersMécène - Organisation de gestion des droits
• Service CiviqueminorOthersPartenaire annuel accueillant des volontaires en Service Civique
• ABC ToulouseimportantGTM or Marketing PartnerPartenaire de La Cinémathèque Junior - première salle d'Art et Essai de Toulouse
• Pass CultureminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartenariat pour permettre aux jeunes de 15 à 21 ans de réserver des propositions culturelles via l'application
• Campus FMminorGTM or Marketing PartnerStation de radio locale diffusant l'émission 'Perforations' animée par la Cinémathèque sur l'actualité du cinéma

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Eye Filmmuseum: Amsterdam's combined cinematheque, museum, and archive. Comparable integrated model — exhibition, conservation, education — with strong digital collections, making it a benchmark for Toulouse's online platform ambitions.
• Deutsche Kinemathek: Berlin-based cinematheque and film museum operating repertory screenings, exhibitions, and a major archive. Direct European peer with comparable programming and conservation profile.
• Cinemateca Portuguesa: Portuguese national film archive and cinematheque in Lisbon. Same FIAF membership, comparable public-funding mix, and screening/conservation/exhibition triad.
• Cinemateca Brasileira: Brazil's national film archive, also a long-standing FIAF member. Comparable mission — preservation, screening, education — though operating in a more resource-constrained context.
• Cinémathèque de Marseille: Regional French cinematheque operating repertory screenings and heritage programs in another southern French city. Same nonprofit model, public-subsidy revenue mix, and programming depth, making it a close structural peer.
• Cinémathèque de Lyon / Institut Lumière: Lyon-based film archive and cinema operating screenings, exhibitions, and educational programs with strong collections and a regional anchor. Highly comparable structure: heritage mission, repertory programming, education partnerships, and conservation activities.
• Cinémathèque suisse (Cinémathèque suisse Lausanne): Swiss national film archive offering screenings, conservation, and exhibitions. Closely aligned mission and FIAF membership; comparable in scale and collection scope to Toulouse.
• Cinémathèque française: The flagship French cinematheque (founded 1936 by Henri Langlois), operating film screenings, exhibitions, and a major archive in Paris. Most direct comparable as the largest national cinematheque against which Toulouse explicitly positions itself as 'the second cinematheque of France.'

Broad incumbents

• BFI (British Film Institute): UK national film organization combining the BFI National Archive with exhibition, distribution, and education arms. Operates at a far larger scale but shares the same cinematheque-plus-archive-plus-education structure and FIAF standing.

Others

• Bois-Colombes — Lobster Films / Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé: Adjacent archival and heritage-film organizations in France focused on restoration and Pathé/Gaumont collections. Manuela Padoan (vice-president of La Cinémathèque de Toulouse) directs Gaumont Pathé Archives, illustrating the operational ecosystem overlap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xbsky.app/profile/lacinemathequedetoulouse.com
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@lacinemathequedetoulouse
• Facebookfacebook.com/La-Cin%C3%A9math%C3%A8que-de-Toulouse-138795362861515
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/la-cin%C3%A9math%C3%A8que-de-toulouse
• Instagraminstagram.com/cinematheqtlse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about La Cinémathèque de Toulouse