Right-wing mogul ignites culture war in French cinema

 

Right-wing mogul ignites culture war in French cinema

But French filmmakers are not ready to cut ties with controversial Vincent Bolloré.

 

By GIORGIO LEALI

in PARIS

https://www.politico.eu/article/right-wing-mogul-culture-war-french-cinema-vincent-bollore/

May 29, 2026 4:00 am CET

By Giorgio Leali

 

There’s a tradition at the Cannes film festival: when the lights go down, the audience claps and cheers when the logos of their favorite producers and distributors appear.

 

This year, there was a twist. Almost every time the logo of Canal+, the company owned by right-wing tycoon Vincent Bolloré, appeared on screen, the audience booed.

 

It was a sign that France’s bitter culture war over the hard right’s politics had reached the heart of the country’s TV and movie business.

 

Canal+ prides itself on being the largest private funder of French cinema and has long been seen as a haven within Bolloré’s media empire, insulated from the owner’s politics. But that all changed this month, when its top manager, Maxime Saada, threatened to blacklist 600 artists.

 

They had strayed into Saada’s crosshairs for signing a petition warning against French cinema’s overdependence on Bolloré, whom they label “far-right,” and to oppose his takeover of UGC, which manages hundreds of movie theaters in France and Belgium.

 

For some in the sector, Canal+’s blacklisting was an ominous sign of what could happen more broadly in the cultural sphere if the far-right National Rally wins next year’s presidential election.

 

Those targeted included Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche and artists competing at Cannes this year, such as actor Swann Arlaud, who is starring in a film about the collaborationist Vichy regime in World War II, and director Arthur Harari.

 

After the blacklist threat, 2,000 more film industry insiders added their names to the anti-Bolloré petition.

 

The furor in Cannes immediately sparked political reactions, with left-wing parties accusing Canal+ of censorship and right-wing politicians defending the company’s reaction.

 

“After literature, the censor Bolloré now wants to control filmmaking. It is unacceptable to allow a billionaire to threaten artists in this way,” said hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, threatening to dismantle Bolloré’s empire. Socialist leader Olivier Faure slammed the move by Canal+ as a sign that “the far right has never liked freedom, creativity, or public service.”

 

More diplomatically, Culture Minister Catherine Pégard regretted Canal+’s “disproportionate, to say the least” reaction to “the very real concerns that were raised.”

 

The conservative mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, slammed the artists as masochists for “biting the hand that feeds them.”

 

Canal+ declined POLITICO’s request for comment, but Bolloré’s son, Cyrille, president of the Bolloré group, brushed off fears on Wednesday that Canal+ would choose projects based on political orientation.

 

“No, there is no political project,” he said.

 

France’s Citizen Kane

The uproar has illustrated how deeply connected French cinema is to Canal+, which financed seven of the nine movies that won awards at Cannes this year, including the prestigious Palme d’Or.

 

“It is good to show some resistance to Bolloré’s takeover of the film industry. But we are sawing off the branch we are sitting on,” said one French producer, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, like others quoted in this story.

 

The ever-expanding empire of the conservative Breton tycoon, which already covers TV channels, legacy newspapers and publishing houses and is set to further expand in the cinema sphere by taking over UGC.

 

Bolloré, a devout Catholic who flies to Lourdes by private jet for an annual pilgrimage, has made his mark on the media companies he owns.

 

His TV channel CNEWS regularly airs conservative pundits warning against migrants and a pro-Russia propagandist, while legacy newspapers “Le Journal du Dimanche” and “Paris Match” have also turned right-wing since Bolloré acquired them.

 

More recently, the tycoon even fired the president of prestigious publisher Grasset, prompting an exodus of all its most famous writers, such as Virginie Despentes and Frédéric Beigbeder.

 

Big shoes to fill

While cinema industry heavyweights almost unanimously criticized Saada’s threat, they also realized they needed to take a pragmatic approach, especially as they risk a major drop in public funding should the far-right National Rally win next year’s election.

 

Seeing Canal+ as indispensable for the survival of French film, they have stressed it is better to talk to Bolloré rather than start a war against him.

 

With €155.6 million of investment in French movies in 2025, Canal+ is by far the biggest private funder of French cinema.

 

Under a three-year deal with the cinema industry, Canal+ committed to invest at least €480 million over the 2025-2027 period in a wide range of movies. In return, it has the exclusive right to broadcast movies six months after their release, while other platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and free TV channels have to wait much longer.

 

As the deal will expire at the end of next year, many in the industry fear that no one could step in for Canal+ should it decide to invest away from the French cinema or to only finance right-wing movies.

 

A second French producer said he didn’t see any imminent risk of Bolloré imposing his right-wing views on Canal+’s editorial decisions but argued that U.S. platforms such as Netflix and Disney+ are unlikely to replace Canal’s investment, at least not in the short term.

 

“There is currently no concrete alternative to Canal’s investment. There is an interdependence between French cinema and Canal+: French cinema needs Canal+, but Canal+ also needs French cinema,” he said.

 

And the rise of U.S. platforms would raise another kind of concern.

 

“The weakening of a domestic player is never really good news, because those who replace them may create value here but not reinvest it back into our economy,” said Céline Calvez, a parliamentarian from the party of French President Emmanuel Macron, while acknowledging that Canal+ is, however, more reactionary than it used to be in the 1990s, before Bolloré’s takeover. For the centrist lawmaker, the whole spat shows the importance of having strong public cinema funding, rather than leaving it to private actors.

 

Industry insiders agree that, from a business perspective, Bolloré would shoot himself in the foot should he decide to only invest in right-wing movies.

 

“In the case of Canal+, censorship or ideological bias would be particularly counterproductive,” said Laurent Creton, a professor in the economics of cinema at the Sorbonne University.

 

While airing right-wing TV programs makes sense economically, given that France is swinging to the right, cinema audiences want a diversity of movies and might drop their Canal+ subscriptions and turn to other platforms, he noted.

 

But some are not that optimistic about Bolloré’s plans.

 

A third producer said Canal+’s threats are just an appetizer for what could happen next year if the far-right comes to power and joins forces with Bolloré.

 

“It is clear that, once Bolloré also has more political power, possibly in one year, he will absolutely do what he wants, and it will be catastrophic for French cinema.”