Sophie Seydoux : President of Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé

The great era of cinematheque founders is long past; therefore, it is as rare as it is delightful to be able to present an award to someone who conceived of and founded an institute that did not exist twenty years ago. Even more so given that this institute is based in Paris, a city without rival when it comes to institutes dedicated to cinema heritage and which, twenty years ago, already had a great many important ones. And yet Sophie Seydoux, who possesses a cultured and elegant graciousness that allows us to imagine her starring in a sophisticated comedy, dreamt up and realised a project that was new, unique in the world, and which functioned perfectly.

Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé has existed for 19 years, initially gathering together and subsequently enriching, through large acquisitions, an impressive paper heritage that allows us to understand in detail the workings of a production studio that, in the first twenty years of its history, was the most important and innovative film company in the world. The Fondation promoted the publication of the Pathé filmography – exemplary and fundamental for any researcher or enthusiast of cinema history – created a freely accessible database of the collections and online catalogue, which serves as a model for all film archives, and selected a team of highly qualified and specialised individuals to work on the various projects.

Thanks to the richness of the collections and the accessibility policies concerning the patrimony held by the Fondation, the wonderful images of the Pathé posters have entered into the collective consciousness of a vast community of international specialists and cinephiles.

Every year, Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé restores a certain number of titles, shorts from the turn of the century whose negatives are restored, silent-era serials, monuments from the history of cinema such as La roue, but also less well known or forgotten films such as La femme et le pantin, which, thanks to their restoration, find a new appreciation. And of course we cannot neglect to mention the role played by Sophie in the restoration of Les Enfants du Paradis, one of the first 4K restorations undertaken in France.

Then, in 2014, the Fondation created a new space in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, designed by Renzo Piano, a beautiful, welcoming and free research centre for historians, teachers, students and all those passionate about cinema, which also boasts an exhibition space and a splendid theatre where a programme of silent films is screened every day.

No private initiative in the field of conservation has ever enriched a community so much. In an era when wealth is, too often, synonymous with arrogance, ignorance and privilege, Sophie Seydoux has demonstrated the exact opposite: that wealth can also be combined with sharing and therefore cultural enrichment for everyone. Thank you, Sophie, for the sincere, cultured, courageous and stubborn passion that has guided you over the years!

For all of these reasons, it is our great pleasure to present the VITTORIO BOARINI AWARD 2025, created in 2022 in memory of the founder of Il Cineteca di Bologna and awarded every year during Il Cinema Ritrovato to international figures who have distinguished themselves in preserving and promoting cinema heritage, to Sophie Seydoux.