Kenneth Glad
A corporate media deal has intensified concerns about concentrated power in the film industry. The dispute now stretches from festival screenings to the wider cultural world.
Canal+’s move toward greater control of UGC has become the center of a growing fight in French cinema, writes The Guardian.
The company has taken a minority stake in UGC, with a possible path to full ownership from 2028.
UGC has 55 theaters in France and Belgium, making it one of the country’s largest cinema chains.
The concern about owner Vincent Bolloré’s media power has turned into a direct confrontation with French filmmakers.
Control of the chain
For filmmakers, the fear is that one group could gain influence over too many stages of cinema: Financing, production, distribution, theatrical release and later broadcast.
That concern led more than 600 film figures to sign an open letter as Cannes began, according to the British newspaper. Signatories included Juliette Binoche, Raymond Depardon, Sepideh Farsi and Arthur Harari.
The letter warned that “leaving French cinema in the hands of a far-right owner” risked “not only the standardisation of films, but a fascist takeover of the collective imagination”.
Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada rejected the criticism in Cannes. He called the petition “an injustice toward the Canal+ teams, who are committed to defending the independence of Canal+ and the full diversity of its choices”.
He then said: “I will no longer work with and I no longer want Canal to work with the people who signed that petition.”
The remark escalated the dispute between Canal+ and filmmakers who depend on major industry backers.
Wider backlash
Bolloré’s media holdings include Canal+, StudioCanal, CNews, Europe 1 and Le Journal du Dimanche.
StudioCanal has backed recent films such as Back to Black and Paddington in Peru, The Guardian reports.
The same concern has already hit publishing. Euronews reported in April that 115 Grasset writers said they were leaving the house after the removal of chairman Olivier Nora, linking the crisis to Bolloré’s influence through Hachette.
Those authors said: “We refuse to be hostages in an ideological war that seeks to impose authoritarianism everywhere in culture and the media.”
The dispute also surfaced inside Cannes venues. The Canal+ logo was booed at some screenings, including before the festival’s opening film, The Electric Kiss.
Bolloré has denied political interference. According to The Guardian, he told a 2022 French senate hearing that his media investments were financial and tied to French cultural influence.
After the Grasset revolt, he wrote in Le Journal du Dimanche that critics were “a tiny caste who think themselves above everyone else”. He added: “As for the attacks concerning my ‘ideology’, I’m a Christian democrat.”
Sources: The Guardian, Euronews, Le Journal du Dimanche
