In 10 days, the controversy surrounding Vincent Bolloré and his influence on French cinema continues to gain momentum in the middle of the Cannes Film Festival. The column published before the Festival against “the growing influence” of the billionaire in the sector has now gone well beyond French borders.
The collective “Zapper Bolloré” announced this Thursday, May 21 that it had collected nearly 3,500 signatures, compared to around 600 at the time of publication of the text in Libération last May 11. Among the new supporters are several big names in international cinema such as Javier Bardem, Ken Loach, Yórgos Lánthimos, Aki Kaurismäki, Mark Ruffalo, Walter Salles and Indya Moore. The collective also emphasizes that none of the new signatories highlighted is French.
This wave of signatures comes after comments last weekend from Maxime Saada, boss of Canal+, when he explained during the Cannes Film Festival that he did not want « plus travailler » with the signatories of the platform. “I don’t want to work with people who call me a cryptofascist.”he declared in particular.
« A two-ball pressure shot »
Initially, the column denounced above all the progressive strengthening of the Bolloré empire in French cinema, and in particular through the project to buy outUGC by Canal+, already owner of StudioCanal and a key player in cinema financing in France. The authors of the text fear a growing concentration of cultural power in the hands of the Vivendi group and accuse Vincent Bolloré of carrying a “civilizational project” reactionary likely to influence the works financed and distributed.
Since the exit of the boss of Canal+, several cinema personalities have denounced what they consider to be a form of pressure exerted on professionals in the sector. Alain Chabat thus qualified the comments of the director of Canal+ as « coup de pression à deux balles ».
But the subject also fractures the environment. In Cannes, Mathieu Kassovitz defended Canal+, believing that« no filmmaker is censored » at this point and the channel “Does his job very well so farâ€. Dominique Farrugia also showed his support for Maxime Saada and the Canal+ teams.
