MISCELLANEOUS FACTS “I made a mistake”, recognized this Tuesday morning in the court of Créteil Serge Bromberg, famous collector and restorer of films
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A lawyer. Drawing. — M.LIBERT/20 MINUTES
À the opening of his trial for manslaughter, Serge Bromberg, famous collector and restorer of films, admitted Tuesday to Créteil its “fault”, after a fatal fire in a building caused by by a large stock of nitrate coils that he stored there. Stored without authorization under an inhabited building. eight floors of Vincennes, in the Val-de-Marne, these cinema reels, old and potentially dangerous because they are flammable, caught fire on the night of August 10, 2020, in the middle of a period of heat wave.
Two people died in the very violent fire that firefighters brought under control. after six hours of struggle. “I made a mistake,”serge Bromberg admitted this Tuesday morning before the criminal court.
A room without a fire alarm
The former artistic director of the Annecy Animation Film Festival stored in this room the reels of his company, Lobster Films, which specializes in saving, restoring and distributing old films. These nitrate films were kept in a room without air conditioning, without a fire alarm, near a glass roof. A “ fire wall” had been installed, but was not actually installed. not equipped with thermal insulation. It melted in 30 minutes.
Investigators estimate that at the time of the fire between 1364 and 1935 coils were there, weighing between 2.5 and 3.6 tons. The defendant makes a different calculation: 965 reels, 970 kg. “It’s a fact, not an estimate,” to the helm.
He recognizes “a very serious error of assessment”
“This place was a “buffer stock”, it was only intended to accommodate a few reels before they went to the CNC,” defended the animator and producer, who” was fully aware of the inherent risks of nitrate. Even if he recognizes “a very serious error of assessment” and “negligence” on his part, the defendant, aged 61, believes that the National Center for Cinema and Animated Image had an obligation to recover and store its nitrate reels.
“”The quantity” nitrate was supposed to be extremely minimal,” in his room,” he explained, adding: “Never before had the CNC turned me down. coils”. “The fact that a site in the countryside, an unused farm, could be used,” the spirit”?” the president of the court. “It was certainly a fault, an error, an imprudence,” the victims and civil parties came in large numbers. The trial is held until Wednesday.