A wave of international stars including Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo and Ken Loach have joined the petition warning against what signatories describe as the “far-right grip” tightening around the industry through Canal+ and its billionaire shareholder.
Originally launched ahead of Cannes by roughly 600 French film professionals, the petition has ballooned to more than 3,500 signatures in the wake of comments made by Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada during the festival. Speaking at a producers’ lunch last weekend, Saada said he no longer wished to work with artists who signed the petition, declaring: “I don’t want to work with people who call me a crypto-fascist.”
The petition, spearheaded by the collective “Zapper Bolloré,” criticizes Bolloré’s expanding footprint in French media and entertainment, including Canal+’s planned acquisition of a 34% stake in cinema giant UGC. Signatories argue that the consolidation risks concentrating unprecedented influence over film financing, distribution and exhibition in the hands of a conservative media empire increasingly associated with right-wing editorial politics in the run up to the next presidential election in 2027.
The dispute around Canal+ has become one of the festival’s defining off-screen dramas. Le Monde reported that more than half of recent French films involved professionals who have now signed the petition.
The debate erupted earlier this week after roughly 600 film industry professionals, including Juliette Binoche and Arthur Harari (whose film “The Unknown” starring Léa Seydoux premiered at Cannes) signed the petition criticizing Bolloré’s growing influence over French media and culture, calling out Canal+‘s acquisition of a 34% stake in theater chain UGC and raising concerns over a rightward shift of the group’s editorial line in the run up to the presidential election in 2027, where the far right party Rassemblement National is a leading contender.