Garance Filmmakers Call Bolloré Backlash 'Impetuous'
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- Hugo Sélignac, a producer on "Garance," called the petition "a huge waste" and "impetuous," warning it creates "a sort of blacklist" that filmmakers will now have to navigate.
- Producer Alain Attal defended Canal+, saying producers "never come under attempts to influence us" over the past 10 years and calling the situation "very upsetting."
- Director Jeanne Herry praised Canal+ as central to her career, describing the French cinema system and the company as "a marriage based on love."
- The "Time To Switch-off Bolloré" open letter, launched on Cannes' opening night, was signed by 600 cinema professionals including Juliette Binoche and 2026 Palme d'Or contenders Arthur Harari and Bertrand Mandico.
- The letter specifically targeted Canal+ Group's acquisition of a 34% stake in French production, distribution, and exhibition major UGC, with an option to buy it outright by 2028.
- Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada responded at the group's annual producers' lunch, saying he would no longer work with any petition signers and calling the letter "an injustice" toward Canal+ teams.
- Letter organizers (Zapper Bolloré) fired back, calling Saada's stance "intimidation tactics" and asking publicly whether Canal+ can still be called independent from "the far-right billionaire."
Why it matters: With 600 signatories on the anti-Bolloré letter and Canal+ CEO Saada vowing to freeze out any of them, the dispute has escalated from a petition into a direct standoff. The Garance filmmakers' defense of Canal+ — voiced by people who directly benefit from its financing — exposes a real fault line in French cinema over Bolloré's expanding footprint, now anchored by a 34% UGC stake with a 2028 buyout option.
