Between Canal+ and the concerns of French cinema, the Minister of Culture chooses not to choose

In recent days, the cinema industry has been in turmoil. And it’s not (only) because of the Cannes Film Festival. More than 2,000 professionals from the sector, including many well-known actors and directors such as Juliette Binoche, Adèle Haenel, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Swann Arlaud, signed a column in Libération protesting against Vincent Bolloré’s influence on the seventh art.

The artists who signed the petition refuse that “Imagine us” are massively captured by the Breton billionaire, who is in the process of buying UGC, and who is leading an undisguised crusade in the service of the extreme right. “Do we want to take the risk that tomorrow we will only be financed for propaganda films serving an ideology?”they write.

Without delay, Maxime Saada, general director of Canal+ (leading financier of French cinema) responded, assuring that he no longer intended to work with the signatories of the platform. A bomb dropped in the middle of the Cannes Film Festival, which worried many technicians, producers, filmmakers, programmers, editors and actors.

Pégard et la response « disproportionnée» de Canal

Opposite, the Minister of Culture was surprised by her silence. For many days, Catherine Pégard did not speak out on this major standoff and therefore refused to reassure professionals who were singled out for having only used their freedom of expression. An attitude already adopted in April, when the historic editor of Grasset, Olivier Nora, was dismissed by Vincent Bolloré.

Catherine Pégard had to come out of her reserve this Tuesday, May 19, questioned in the National Assembly by the deputy of La France insoumise Sarah Legrain. In a difficult balancing act, the Minister of Culture promised to have “heard the emotion and concern expressed in the cinema sectorâ€ensuring that “Culture is the place for debate”. “I regret the response, at the very least disproportionate, to the very real concerns that were expressed.”she defended.

But immediately, the owner of the rue de Valois added that the cinema should not either « être instrumentalisé à des fins politiques ». “We must not play the games of polemics which weaken one of our greatest successes by attacking, week after week, pillars accused of being at the service of a political ideologyâ€. And there, we don’t really know who she’s talking about. Mobilized actors? Or Vincent Bolloré?

Pégard déplore « les excès de tous bords »

We have the beginning of a response when, a few seconds later, she ardently defends Canal+, a group which has “One important place” in French cinema since it finances almost one in two films. “It contributes to the diversity of our cinema that we must collectively ensure”she adds.

Still at the Assembly, the socialist deputy Céline Hervieu asked him « jusqu’où » she counted “Laisser prosperer l’empire Bolloré”mobilized for the victory of the extreme right in the next presidential election. Catherine Pégard responded with nothing other than the need to “Rediscover the paths of dialogue”. “Our cinema is capable of bringing people together, well beyond invectiveâ€a-t-elle affirmé.

Better: when the ecologist Jérémie Iordanoff questions him about “the mortal danger that hangs over us all” and point “the guilty tetany of the government” faced with the Bolloré offensive, the Minister of Culture prefers to talk about artificial intelligence and foreign investments, visibly embarrassed to take a clear position. “Excesses on all sides seem dangerous to me.”she concludes. We will not know if the government intends to act against the threats made by Canal+. In the meantime, the platform continues to attract new signatures.