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21:33 Nov 10, 2009
French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
French term or phrase:circuits parallèles
Contrairement à ses codisciples snob UCLA, il entend déjà à travailler à Hollywood. Comment faire le pont ? Il saute sur la première occasion venue : réaliser un nudie, film légèrement vêtu destiné aux circuits parallèles.
I am struggling with this term. " On the circuit"? is close but what do they mean by this term here. I could guess but I am wondering if this is a word with a specific meaning that might be known to a French mother tongue person. The text is refering to a well-known director trying to break into Hollywood in the 1960s: underground, art house, or something completely different like 'specialist audience' ) Any ideas? So far I have come up with'destined for audiences outside the mainstream' but does anyone know if this means black market?
Stephanie Ezrol's comment reminded me of an anecdote. Some time in the 80's I was in a video store looking for something to watch. I struck up a conversation with a lovely young woman and she asked me what I liked in movies. I answered that I enjoyed foreign movies (the ones that made it to the States were arguably the best of the crop). I felt a sudden chill in our budding relationship, then she turned tail and that was the last I saw of her. Much later (I am a little slow), it dawned on me that "foreign film" was in fact code for soft porn in the Midwest. Just like art house is a cinema where you stood a good chance to see some skin. There are places where being a cinéphile can be a dangerous advocation.
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Answers
11 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +5
art-house circuits
Explanation: Mainstream movies are distributed in cinemas such as UGC, PATHÉ, etc. Less commercial movies go into local "art houses", unaffiliated cinemas
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 mins (2009-11-10 21:47:55 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
c'est le circuit des salles d'art et essai qui ne fait pas partie de la grande distribution du cinéma de masse.
jmleger Local time: 18:52 Native speaker of: French PRO pts in category: 16
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +5
