Being Both Public and Non-public. When the Public of Art Houses is a Non-public of Art Movies

In France, we can find films and movie theatres that are subsidized by government and film authorities that are designated with the Art label. This support entails the labelling of some of the films that come out every week - approximately 3 out of 5 of all new films. Said films are recognized for their filmic value. It materialises as assistance given to movie theatres which devote at least some of their programming to Art Films or experimental films. However, Art movie theatres do not only showcase this type of film,thus the question arises : is there not a public of Art houses that can also be considered as a non- public of Art movies ? Based on the results we gathered from two surveys (n = 984 and n = 250) conducted in a number of Art houses, we will demonstrate that certain individuals can, in fact, be a public in said theatres, all the while being a nonpublic for the films that allow these theatres to obtain an institutional recognition. We will point out how the non- public category is a socio- discursive construction used to indistinctively label a group of individuals who does not go to certain venues and does not expose itself to certain artistic or cultural objects, while both these activities - the use of a venue and the artistic delectation - are to be dissociated.