Like Jerry Lewis, his longtime friend, many of us admire the films of Pierre Etaix and many more deplore their disappearance from the "large" and "small" screens.

The films of Pierre Etaix are not released any more. Why?

Quite simply because his five features, co-written with his friend Jean-Claude Carrière, are today "quarantined". No projector may revive LE GRAND AMOUR nor re­awaken the silhouettes of YOYO or LE SOUPIRANT except under penalty of a chase... Not the kind of a chase enjoyed in a Buster Keaton film, which finishes rather well, but a pursuit by lawyers that too often ends badly.

So it is impossible for even the keenest programmer to plan for a film by Etaix, for a distributor to release it or for a cinema to show it even for free. The films are "quarantined", their authors dispossessed of the right to show them and audiences deprived of the pleasure of ever seeing or discovering them.

If you consider – as we do - that this situation is outrageous, unfair to the authors and contemptuous of their work, you can do something to help

• by signing the petition for the re-release of Pierre Etaix’ films

• by sending your ideas or a supporting message to lesfilmsdetaix@gmail.com

• You can also join the support organization
  « Il Etaix une fois… » .

The more of us who lobby for a revival of these films, the sooner we’ll have the pleasure of wandering once more in his poetic-comic universe. It is as simple as that!