Expose denouncing Vincent Bollorés stranglehold on cinema: The legislator may have to question these issues, says the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival.

Thierry Frémaux recalls that in the United States, “studios cannot own cinemas.” However, Vincent Bolloré aims to take “100%” of UGC’s capital, the third-largest French cinema network, he points out.

Published on May 13, 2026 at 13:10, updated on May 13, 2026 at 14:42

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Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, observed on May 13, 2026 on France Inter, that “actors take up a lot of space” in French cinema, following the tribune published in Liberation on Monday by 600 cinema professionals who denounce the “growing influence of the far right” in cinema through billionaire Vincent Bolloré.

“The legislator may need to consider these questions,” adds Thierry Frémaux. For him, France is behind compared to the rules set in the United States: “In the United States, this is not possible. It has been impossible for a long time: studios cannot own cinemas,” he emphasizes.

In the anti-Bolloré tribune, Raymond Depardon, Swann Arlaud, Juliette Binoche, and Adèle Haenel point out that Canal+, of which Vincent Bolloré is the leading shareholder, “acquired 34% of UGC’s capital, the third-largest French cinema network, with the prospect of acquiring 100% of the shares by 2028.”

The Cannes Film Festival’s general delegate also notes that this is not the first time French cinema has protested against the business world. “It is a great tradition, I believe, in France,” he says, mentioning “the time when Costa-Gavras, Bertrand Tavernier, Gérard Oury, Claude Berri went to Strasbourg or Brussels to defend authors’ rights” and “Louis Jouvet and Jean Gabin, post-war, when protesting against the Marshall Plan that did not prioritize French cinema’s interests.”