The Egyptian Theater, a DeKalb landmark, soon will be seen in theaters worldwide thanks to the efforts of French film director Renan Polles.

Polles has been commissioned by the Louvre Museum in Paris to film a documentary titled “Egyptomania” on Ancient Egyptian influences in art and architecture throughout the world.

The film, when completed, first will be screened at the Louvre and then will travel to Vienna, Austria and Ottawa, Canada to be shown as part of an Ancient Egypt exhibit.

Polles first became interested in the Egyptian Theater this summer after seeing a picture of the outside of the building in a book. He then contacted Barb Kummerfeldt, executive director of the theater, through the Illinois Tourism Office and requested pictures of the interior of the theater.

“I wasn’t sure the inside was (also) Egyptian and well maintained … (and that’s why) I asked for pictures of the inside,” Polles said.

Later in the summer, Polles and his assistant, Dominique Dreyer, visited Belgium, Italy, England, Russia and the United States to scout out locations to use in the film. They arrived in DeKalb in early July and spent a few hours touring the theater, even doing a small amount of filming of the exterior of the theater. Their reaction was very positive.

When Kummerfeldt asked Dreyer what she thought about the theater, Dreyer responded, “It’s amazing, even more beautiful than the pictures.”

Apparently, they were so impressed with the Egyptian Theater that they decided to make it one of only five sites in the United States chosen to be in the film. The other sites chosen for filming are in Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose and Las Vegas.

Polles and Dreyer were in DeKalb last Monday to do full-scale filming of the theater. They brought with them two extra assistants from France and hired a Chicago film lighting crew to handle the lighting during the filming process.

All together, the filming took a full day, starting late Sunday and ending late Monday.

As they filmed the auditorium, the Cecil d’Mille’s 1926 silent movie “The Ten Commandments” played on the screen, showing scenes of slaves building the pyramids.

Kummerfeldt said he was extremely excited about the filming.

“This is not only very exciting for us at the theater, but also for all of DeKalb. We already knew that we were nationally famous, but now we find out that we are internationally famous. That’s pretty impressive,” Kummerfeldt said during the initial visit by Polles and Dreyer.

The theater was built in 1929, but through the years it slowly degenerated until it was closed in 1977. A state grant of $2.125 million funded from horse racing monies in 1982 allowed the theater to be restored to its original condition, and it reopened in 1983.

The Egyptian Theater specializes in fine arts movies, plays and concerts. It operates on a break-even budget and is funded by ticket sales, rentals to groups and individual contributions. It has been featured in a major book on movie theaters as well as three magazine articles.

During Corn Fest on Aug. 28-29, tours of the entire theater, including the stage and dressing rooms will be offered.