Cinema: the CGT Spectacle wants "amplify the movement" after the anti-Bolloré forum and the threat of boycott of Canal+

The CGT Spectacle calls Monday May 18 on franceinfo “amplify the movement” after the publication last week of a column critical of Vincent Bolloré, signed by 600 cinema professionals, against a backdrop of tensions with Canal+. Guest of franceinfo, Salomé Gadafi, deputy general secretary of the CGT Show [Fédération nationale des syndicats du spectacle, du cinéma, de l'audiovisuel et de l'action culturelle (FNSAC-CGT)]signatory of the forum, reacts to the position taken by the boss of Canal+, Maxime Saada, who announced on Sunday that he no longer wanted to work with all those who signed the text. “We have absolutely no regrets and on the contrary, we call for amplifying the movement and having more and more signatories”she declared.

The column, published in Libération Monday May 11 and signed by actors, directors, screenwriters, technicians and associations, denounced “the growing influence of the extreme right” in cinema through Vincent Bolloré, key shareholder of Canal+ and who is already the subject of a revolt in publishing led by some 200 authors published by Grasset. “The CGT Spectacle and its unions have been warning for many months about the worrying control of billionaires who promote the ideas of the extreme right and who try to impose their revisionist culture”, pursuit of Solomoné Gaddafi.

“On the contrary, we are relieved, in fact, that professionals in the sector have launched this forum,” she adds, calling for broader mobilization: “We are calling for more and more people to sign”. The union official specifies that “the platform does not concern the Canal+ teams”, more “take aim at Bolloré who is a far-right person and who promotes far-right ideas.”

Salomé Gadafi also warns against increasing concentration in the culture sector.

“We absolutely must unite to prevent him from taking over all of our sectors. He has the media, the theaters, now cinema, from financing to distribution.”

Salomé Gadafi, deputy general secretary of the CGT Show

à franceinfo

The anti-Bolloré forum was particularly alarmed by the Canal+ group’s desire to seize the entire capital of UGC, the network of cinemas of which it acquired 34% in September. The famous Parisian concert hall L’Olympia is also owned by the Canal+ group. Vincent Bolloré is also the owner of several media outlets, notably CNews, Europe1, JDD. “If Bolloré decides to pursue an ideological and censorship policy, he has the means to do so”warns the deputy general secretary of the CGT Spectacle.