Billionaire media mogul Vincent Bolloré casts a long shadow over Cannes film festival
Politics and cinema compete at Cannes as French film giant Canal+ blacklists hundreds of industry figures who petitioned against its right-wing owner’s growing creative control.
It’s a sign of the times that no major international cultural event seems to be complete any more without an accompanying culture war. At the Venice Biennale, conflict has arisen over Russia’s return to the event. The current hotbed of discontent? The south of France, where the Cannes Film Festival is taking place.
While many have been talking about Garance and the 12-minute standing ovation that it received over the weekend, the headlines are being hogged by another story that has nothing to do with who is wearing what on the Croisette or which film will snag the Palme d’Or. Instead, the talk is about billionaire industrialist and media tycoon Vincent Bolloré. To the left, he’s a pantomime villain who associates with the far right and is leading France down a retrograde path. Bolloré prefers to call himself a “Christian democrat”, interested in media as a business opportunity rather than for ideological reasons.
On 11 May, a day before the festival opened, more than 600 French industry figures signed an open letter condemning the sweeping “Bollorisation” of film and media, citing a potential “fascist takeover of the collective imagination”. Bolloré’s investments are large, spanning Vivendi (where he is a majority stockholder) and his own holding, Bolloré Group. His portfolio includes Canal+ and Studio Canal – the premier private financier of French cinema – as well as rabble-rousing news channel CNews, Europe 1 radio, Sunday weekly Le Journal du Dimanche and publishing behemoth Hachette.
Backlash to the open letter came on Sunday, when Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada said that he would no longer work with anyone who signed it. Many signatories were reportedly troubled by Canal+’s acquisition of a 34 per cent stake in UGC last year, which operates one of France’s main cinema chains. Bolloré and his clan are accused of tightening their grip on both the production and the distribution of film in the country.
Yet evidence of an ideological takeover in French film is scant, even if it feels as though someone is taking a wrecking ball to the industry. But there are concerns that this could change if the far right wins big in France’s next legislative elections. Just yesterday, CNews commentator Pascal Praud was telling people to watch L’Abandon, which premiered on 13 May, about a controversial drama about a teacher murdered by an Islamist.
Fears over Bolloré’s level of creative control are also based on the current turmoil at Grasset, a Hachette imprint that has long been seen as a bastion of France’s intellectual spirit for its championing of major historical and contemporary thinkers. Some commentators and writers have reportedly linked the ousting of long-term CEO Olivier Nora last month – as well as a change in the publisher’s editorial line – to Bolloré’s reactionary agenda. More than 200 authors have since quit or refused to write another book for Grasset in protest.
Whether film becomes embroiled in such an existential fight remains to be seen. But wouldn’t it be nice to get back to talking about what’s taking place on screen rather than off it?
