On July 18, 2020, about 150 Paris residents in 38 electric boats floating on the Seine River enjoyed a free screening of Le Grand Bain — a 2018 comedy on a group of middle-aged men forming a synchronised swim team. The city's first “Cinema sur L'Eau,” or “Cinema on Water,” was organised by MK2 Cinemas to celebrate the June 22 reopening of the country's movie theatres, which had been closed since mid-March to stem the spread of Coronavirus.
To comply with Covid-19 social distance guidelines, the boats, which could each accommodate up to six family members, and the deck chairs set up on the river bank to seat an additional 150 people, were situated at least six feet apart.
“It's been years, we're creating operations to take the cinema out of the cinema rooms as a promotion tool, and after the few months of confinement, we thought we needed a way to tell the people and the world that cinemas are open in Paris.