Canal+ Chief Says Group Will Stop Working With Petition Signers

The chief executive of Canal+, France’s largest film producer, said the company will stop working with hundreds of actors and directors who signed a petition expressing concern over the political influence of owner Vincent Bolloré. Maxime Saada made the announcement in Cannes on Sunday while the film festival was underway.

He described the petition as an injustice to Canal+ staff and said he no longer wants the company to work with the signatories.

The open letter was published earlier this week and carried more than 600 signatures. Signatories included actor-director Juliette Binoche, director and photographer Raymond Depardon, French-Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, and director Arthur Harari.

The letter warned that placing French cinema under a far-right owner risked standardization of films and a fascist takeover of the collective imagination. It also raised concerns about Canal+ acquiring a stake in the UGC cinema chain, which could give Bolloré control from financing through distribution.

Bolloré owns Canal+, the production company StudioCanal, the channel CNews, the radio station Europe 1, and the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. StudioCanal has produced films including the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black and Paddington in Peru.

In a 2022 senate hearing, Bolloré said his interest in media was purely financial and aimed at promoting French soft power. After more than 100 writers left the publishing house Grasset last month in protest over his control of parent company Hachette, Bolloré wrote that the departing authors were a tiny caste and described himself as a Christian democrat.

The Canal+ logo was booed at some screenings during this year’s festival, including the opening film The Electric Kiss.