France Inter journalists want to "resist" the Duanju
- Sanjorge Guillaume
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
On October 14, 2025, at the end of the 7 p.m. news on France Inter, the major French public radio station, the journalists humorously concluded: "We will resist, we will fight with our little arms." A seemingly innocuous phrase, but revealing a certain French reflex in the face of cultural revolutions. We laugh to keep at a distance what is disturbing: a new, fast, popular, and strangely effective format.
This ironic tone is not just a radio joke. It is part of a broader context: that of a French film industry in crisis of its model.
According to Le Figaro, 90% of films produced in France are not profitable. Despite abundant production and considerable public support, most works do not recoup their costs. And as Les Échos points out, the Court of Auditors is now questioning the number of films supported by the CNC: between 2011 and 2022, France produced an average of 270 feature films per year, far more than its European neighbors, even though a large proportion of them struggle to find an audience. In 2019, nearly a third of French-initiated films attracted fewer than 20,000 spectators.
In other words, the industry is already resisting another form of reality: that of a subsidized system where supply exceeds demand and profitability collapses. In this context, duanju is not a threat, but a parallel experiment, a model where lightness of production, responsiveness, and public attention breathe new life into creation.
We can smile at a one-minute format, financed differently, consumed elsewhere, and designed for a generation inventing other narrative rhythms. But we can also see it as a laboratory: that of a modern narrative adapted to the speed and fragmentation of attention.
To resist this is perhaps to perpetuate a misunderstanding: to believe that defending cinema consists of ignoring new forms rather than understanding them. To resist a moment is perhaps to resist the times. Or to refuse to admit that creativity can, sometimes, fit in the palm of one's hand.
Article written by Guillaume Sanjorge
Source :
• France Inter , October 14, 2025
• Le Figaro , January 8, 2014
• Les Échos , October 17, 2023
