Cannes (France) (AFP) – The head of France's biggest film producer, Canal+, said Sunday that the group would no longer work with 600 industry professionals who signed a petition against right-wing billionaire owner Vincent Bolloré.
The announcement, made at the Cannes Film Festival, is likely to send shockwaves through the European industry at the annual gathering of the world's movie elite on the French Riviera.
"I experienced that petition as an injustice toward the Canal+ teams, who are committed to defending the independence of Canal+ and the full diversity of its choices," chief executive Maxime Saada said on Sunday in Cannes.
"I will no longer work with and I no longer want Canal to work with the people who signed that petition," he added.
The petition called people to mobilise against "the growing grip of the far right" on the film industry under the influence of Bollore and the Canal+ group.
Signatories included French superstar Juliette Binoche as well as director Arthur Harari, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning "Anatomy of a Fall" in 2023 and is premiering his film "The Unknown" in the main competition in Cannes.
Emmanuel Marre, whose film "A Man Of His Time" about France's collaboration under Nazi rule, is also in the Cannes competition and also signed the petition.
How Africa helped forge French billionaire Vincent Bolloré's empire of influence
Reshaping business
The tumult mirrors similar upheaval in the media and publishing worlds where Bolloré, a conservative close to far-right politicians, is reshaping businesses he controls from television channels to publishing houses.
In a sign of Bollore's divisive reputation, the Canal+ logo was booed in Cannes at some screenings this year, including for the opening film "The Electric Kiss".
Last month more than 100 authors at the Bollore-owned Grasset publishing group, home to some of the biggest names in French literature, said they would leave after the ousting of its long-time CEO.
Bolloré's aggressive expansion into the French media in recent years has been cheered by conservatives as rebalancing what they see as long-standing left-wing bias.
The billionaire, a devout Catholic who made his money in logistics, has been frequently compared by commentators to Australian-born US media mogul Rupert Murdoch, with the Bollore-owned CNews news channel bearing similarities to US network Fox News.
