In Pasadena, a very francophile video library

It hosts the Bouquinerie solidaire of the association of Bruno Paing four times a year, organizes outdoor screenings of French films, has a rare collection of discs of the hexagon, animates the Decadanse evenings … Behind these blue events white-red, is a Californian: Mark Wright. Owner of La Vidéothèque in Pasadena, this forty-year-old presents himself as "A lover of French culture", a passion that he tries to share with the greatest number.

The ties of this Irish-American with the hexagon date from his childhood, holidays he spent in the south of France with his parents. "My mother, francophile and greedy, also made me take private lessons of French when I was a child", he says. A foretaste that pushed him to settle in Paris for two years, in 1993 and 1994. "France has many treasures, such as charming neighborhoods, monuments on every street corner. It is special."

Au Pair and employed for the Erasmus service at the University of Paris IV, he became familiar with the local seventh art, his second passion. Admirer of the Nouvelle Vague filmmakers, such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut or Agnès Varda, he showcases them on the shelves of the video library, a video club he opened in 2003. "It's a library where we buy or rent movies, inspired by the Forum des images in Paris", describes Mark Wright.

In the shelves, arranged by country and genre, there are all types of French directors, such as Olivier Assayas, Jacques Audiard, Marcel Pagnol, Alain Resnais, Agnès Jaoui; and even posters and postcards of cult movies. And when the weather comes, he sets up an ephemeral cinema in the Hotbox Vintage parking lot in South Pasadena.

During his stops in Paris, Mark Wright is also fond of the music of the 60s, with France Gall, Indochina, Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy. "Every time I go to France, I spend time hanging out at record stores." Vinyls that he proposes to the Video Library.

And he decides to go further. After having been a DJ at Claremont University Radio, he decided to create parties dedicated to French music in the 1960s, in 2011. Since then, Decadanse has been monthly and sedentary at the Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown, while becoming more eclectic –"Even though I have a fascination for Jane Birkin", says one who always appreciates being on turntables. "We even had prestigious guests, like members of the band La Femme."