The Cannes Film Festival, traditionally a showcase for the best of French cinema, has this year become a flashpoint in the country’s deepening culture war. A fierce dispute has erupted between the French film establishment and Vincent Bolloré, the conservative billionaire whose Canal+ media group is the largest private financier of French cinema.
Hostilities began when 600 actors, directors, producers, and technicians published an open letter in the left-leaning daily Libération opposing Canal+’s acquisition of UGC, a major French cinema chain. The signatories, whose number has since swelled to around 3,500, warned of “the growing grip of the far-Right on French cinema” and argued that the UGC stake would allow Bolloré to control the entire film production chain—from financing to distribution.
Prominent names among the signatories include Juliette Binoche, star of The English Patient and Chocolat; Mark Ruffalo, known for playing the Hulk in Marvel films; Javier Bardem, the Oscar-winning actor; and Adèle Haenel, who appeared in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The letter accuses Bolloré, owner of Vivendi, Canal+’s parent group, of pursuing “a civilisational project – reactionary and far Right” through his television channels and publishing houses. It warns that French cinema faces a “fascist takeover of the collective imagination”.
The conflict escalated when Maxime Saada, Canal+’s chairman, effectively blacklisted the 600 original signatories at a producers’ brunch in Cannes. “I no longer wish Canal to work with the people who signed this petition,” Saada said. “I cannot accept working with people who call us crypto-fascist.” Rather than quelling the revolt, his comments caused the number of signatories to more than double overnight.
Adèle Exarchopoulos, whose film Garance is a potential Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, defended the signatories. “You cannot be afraid of losing your work just because you express a collective concern,” she said. Arthur Harari, director of The Unknown starring Léa Seydoux, which is also in competition, was blunter. The row, he said, exposes “the problem of having the first private contributor to French cinema in the hands of a crypto-fascist”.
The dispute underscores the strength of political polarisation in France ahead of next year’s presidential election. It touches on thorny questions about how the country’s film industry is funded at a time of growing media consolidation and tight public finances. The fight over Cannes is no longer just a culture-war spat; it is a battle over who owns the narrative in France.
Bolloré’s expanding reach across French media has unsettled critics, who accuse him of seeking to install a right-wing government by fanning nationalist narratives. His empire includes CNews (formerly Direct Matin), Europe 1, Paris Match, Le Journal du Dimanche, and the publishing house Fayard, which released a book by National Rally front-runner Jordan Bardella. Last month, Bolloré ousted Olivier Nora, head of Grasset, another leading publisher he recently bought, triggering a revolt by more than 100 authors.
But Bolloré’s defenders on the right argue that the dispute reveals a pampered, subsidised, left-wing cultural elite turning on the company that pays for its films while crying “fascism” whenever its dominance is challenged. David Lisnard, the conservative mayor of Cannes and a presidential contender, said the signatories had “bitten the hand that feeds them” and “should have kept quiet”.
Philippe Ballard, a National Rally MP and former television presenter, told reporters that behind the revolt lay “a little clique that’s all in it together”. He said: “So-called wokeism, often classified as left-wing, doesn’t like being disturbed in its little habits. If they don’t want Canal+, they just shouldn’t accept Canal+’s money. It’s as simple as that.” Ballard added that the film world had “lost the culture war” and that “when you win the culture war, political victory is just around the corner”.
The Cannes row is the latest flashpoint in Bolloré’s march through French media and culture. Bardella, the National Rally president, has argued that France’s 2027 election will be a “choice of civilisation”. Ballard dismissed claims that Bolloré was intent on censoring French cinema, citing Souleymane’s Story, a migrant drama co-financed by Canal+. “I watch the films that Canal+ co-produces, and what they’re saying doesn’t match reality. Where exactly is the danger?”
The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe, however, said fears had gone beyond speculation, citing alleged cases of works affected “in their financing, their content or their distribution”. These include two films reportedly excluded from Canal+’s main funding under the phrase: “No queers, no trade unionists.” Others have leapt to Canal+’s defence, notably Mathieu Kassovitz of Amélie, who said “no film maker has been censored” to date and the channel “does a very good job”.
Boris Lojkine, who directed Souleymane’s Story, insisted the revolt was not aimed at Canal+’s film teams. “I have no reason to complain, either individually or collectively, about Canal+’s film policy. We’ve got nothing against the Canal+ film teams, we’ve got nothing against the choices that have been made at Canal+. No, we’re raising a concern.” Signatories concede there are not yet “concrete, proven examples” of meddling in film choices. But Rosalie Brun, of the French film directors’ body SRF, said the industry was watching closely because “it could happen very quickly”. She added: “The RN is right on our doorstep in the next presidential election. The current concerns are legitimate.”
A senior French producer, speaking anonymously, said both camps risked being dragged into a political trap. “We find ourselves in the crossfire of preventive extremism against something that brings people together, namely cinema.”
The stakes are high because France’s film funding system is unique. Canal+ is legally obliged to invest part of its revenues in French cinema. This year it will spend €160 million (£135m), co-financing roughly half of all French films, including 49 at Cannes and 13 in competition. That arrangement is a cornerstone of France’s “exception culturelle”, the state-backed model that has helped make the country one of the world’s leading film powers.
Ballard said the National Rally supported “audiovisual sovereignty” and would not abandon French cinema. But he argued that France’s national film board, the CNC, which helps finance and regulate the industry, was “a clique” and a world of “cronyism” that required a total overhaul. Critics of the National Rally see a paradox in a supposedly patriotic party taking aim at one of France’s flagship soft-power industries. Lojkine said that if the National Rally came to power and implemented such plans, “it will be a fight”. Cinema, he said, was “part of France’s soft power” and “the greatness of France. It would be stupid to dismantle that.”
Source: The Telegraph News