LIGHT CONE is a nonprofit organization whose aim is the distribution, promotion and preservation of experimental cinema in France and around the world.
LIGHT CONE's primary mission is the distribution of the works in its collection, in their original format whenever possible, to cultural organizations such as nonprofits, cinemas, museums, universities, galleries and festivals.
LIGHT CONE's Documentation Center offers a unique collection of written and audiovisual documents for consultation by researchers and programmers. With the addition, in 1999, of the Experimental Film Archive of Avignon (AFEA), the Documentation Center includes over 5,000 print documents (books, periodicals, catalogues), nearly 12,000 audiovisual documents (digital files, DVDs, Blu-Rays, audio and video tapes...) and 1080 thematic records (biographical and institutional files).
Since 2015, LIGHT CONE Editions publishes ebooks on certain filmmakers in the collection. Currently available are Paolo Gioli by Jean-Michel Bouhours and Rose by Rose Lowder. A print publication of Robert Breer, A to Z has been recently released in partnership with AFEA Editions.
LIGHT CONE also undertakes actions to preserve film works through numerous digitization projects (having been in charge of the large digitization project for the 24/25 web portal in 2011), as well as a digitization program financed by a grant from the National Center of Cinematography (for the films of Patrick Bokanowski, Germaine Dulac and Rose Lowder). LIGHT CONE has taken the initiative to propose an agreement with the Cinémathèque Française regarding the preservation of original negatives.
In 2014, LIGHT CONE received the support of the region Ile-de-France as part of the program Fabrique de Cultures to create a residency program for the post-production of experimental video-based works. The Atelier 105 is open to all experimental filmmakers, whether or not they are members of the organization. A specially equipped workspace in LIGHT CONE's premises, including an editing station, sound mixing software, a color-correction monitor and computers dedicated to file encoding and DCP creation, is made available to the artists.
