French film industry at risk from the far right, say actors and directors

More than 600 cinema figures have said the growing influence of the far right on French cinema production risks turning into a “fascist takeover of the collective imagination”. In an open letter published in the newspaper Libération to coincide with the opening of the Cannes film festival , they said the billionaire Vincent Bolloré ’s dominant position in French film production and distribution threatened the independence of the industry. The actor-director Juliette Binoche , the director and photographer Raymond Depardon and the French-Iranian film-maker Sepideh Farsi were among those who wrote: “By leaving French cinema in the hands of a far-right owner, we risk not only the standardisation of films, but a fascist takeover of the collective imagination.” Juliette Binoche was among the 600 signatories of the open letter to the newspaper Libération. Photograph: Laurent Hou/Hans Lucas/AFP/ Bolloré, a conservative industrialist, has a powerful media empire, including the channel CNews , the radio station Europe 1 and the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, and is close to figures on the far right. Politicians on the left have attacked CNews for giving a platform to reactionary voices they say have aided the rise of the far right. The Paris prosecutor’s office last month opened a legal investigation into racist comments on the channel against the mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko . The channel denied racism. …