Parks, gardens and forests

In general, permits are managed at the departmental or municipal level. Fees are communicated by the issuing agencies.

Parks and gardens

Paris

The Paris City Hall – (Mairie de Paris – Paris Film) centralises requests for permits for 420 parks, gardens, green spaces in Paris, ring road embankments and cemeteries (inside and outside the city), including Parc Monceau, Parc Montsouris, Bois de Boulogne, Bois de Vincennes, Buttes-Chaumont, Champ de Mars and Petite Ceinture.

The following sites are not managed by the Mairie de Paris: Jardin du Luxembourg, Parc de la Villette, Tuileries, Jardin des Plantes, Jardin du Carrousel (Louvre).

Procedure

For short and feature-length fiction films, TV films and advertising films, authorisation is issued by the Paris City Hall – Paris Film.

For documentaries, the application for authorisation to film or shoot must be sent to Paris City Hall – Direction Générale de l’Information et de la Communication.

Website

Contacts

Outside Paris

To obtain permission to film in parks and gardens in the provinces, you must contact the relevant town hall. To save time, it is recommended to contact the network of local film commissions.

Forests

Procedure

If the forest is a communal property, the request must be addressed to the town hall; the latter can refer the file to the Office National des Forêts of the department

If the forest is a state-owned property, an office of the Office National des Forêts, present in each department, is competent to deliver an authorization

If the forest is privately owned, only the owner is entitled to authorize photography.

To know the status of a forest, contact the municipality or the network of local film commissions.

National parks and protected sites

Protected natural areas

A natural area is made up of land belonging to the community and/or to private owners. Several structures managing natural areas exist in France. The main ones are:

• the National Parks (10),
• the Regional Natural Parks (58),
• the Natural Reserves (290),
• the National Forestry Office (41),
• the Coastal Conservatory (31).

For any filming authorization request, please contact the park administrator.

In order to preserve the fauna and flora, the filming authorization requires the agreement of :

• the manager of the structure,
• the owner (private or public) of the filming location.

National Parks

Within National Parks, there is a central zone, where it is often difficult or even impossible to shoot, and a peripheral zone, which goes beyond the strict framework of the park (in which it is easier to shoot).

The request must be addressed in writing to the director of the park concerned.

Regional Natural Parks

Before filming, it is advisable to contact the park management.

Nature Reserves

The Nature Reserves have an exceptional ecological and scientific interest. They guarantee the maintenance of living environments that have become rare. There are 290 of them and they cover an area of more than 2.8 million hectares. Most of the reserves are open to the public and have the appropriate equipment.

The request must be addressed to the managing organization.