Over 600 French Film Professionals Sign Letter Opposing Vincent Bollore Bid for UGC

More than 600 French film professionals signed an open letter opposing a plan by Vincent Bolloré to take full control of UGC, France’s third-largest cinema chain. The letter was released on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival and was signed by actors Juliette Binoche, Adèle Haenel, Swann Arlaud and Damien Bonnard along with producers, distributors, exhibitors, filmmakers, technicians and crew.

Through his media company Vivendi, Bolloré already owns Canal+, France’s largest pay-TV company, and its subsidiary Studiocanal, Europe’s leading film production company. Through Canal+, he holds a 34 percent stake in the UGC cinema chain and has announced plans to take full control by 2028.

Bolloré’s media empire also includes CNews. The open letter states that the signatories depend to varying degrees on Vincent Bolloré’s money for our projects as well as our salaries but felt compelled to break the silence insidiously imposed on our industry.

The letter accuses Bolloré of leading a reactionary, far-right civilizational project through his television channels like CNews and his publishing houses. It warns that the UGC deal will give him an unprecedented concentration of financial power within the French film industry, giving him complete freedom to act when the time comes.

The film industry backlash follows a protest by more than 100 writers who last month quit the publishing house Grasset, another Bolloré asset. In a French senate hearing in 2022, Bolloré denied any political or ideological motive in his media acquisitions, saying his interest in the film and TV business was purely financial and about expanding French cultural soft power.