This Tuesday, Canal+’s chief Maxime Saada repeated that he would not fund in the future films whose initiators bear “prejudice to the image” of his group, on the day after a five-year agreement with the sector.
This agreement, which provides that his company invest €980 million between 2028 and 2032 in French and European cinema, was concluded a few weeks after a sharp controversy that marred the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Following a tribune denouncing “the growing grip of the far-right” in the seventh art, which targeted Conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, a key Canal+ shareholder, Maxime Saada had stated that his group no longer wished to fund films by its signatories.
Faced with the uproar sparked by his statements in the middle of the festival, he had then defended himself from wanting to draw up a “blacklist”.
But the leader, questioned on Tuesday by AFP on the margins of his group’s results, assured that he “does not forget anything”.
“It’s 1% of the people who signed this petition. I remain on my position that if people damage Canal+’s image, we will not finance their film,” Saada insisted.
“It’s something that will be taken into account and that seems natural,” he noted, while specifying that “we have, however, never changed our policy, and we will not change it, regarding the diversity of French cinema.”
In the financing agreement presented on Monday, “we stressed on diversity, debut films, new films, new talents, animated films,” the executive emphasized.
“It will allow Canal+ to continue offering to its subscribers the greatest French, European and international films six months after their release in theaters,” the company said on Monday.
Mr. Saada praised Canal+, the leading financier of French cinema, for maintaining this “competitive edge.”
“There is significant pressure from actors who wish to move forward in the release chronology” of airing, but “I did not want to move forward further because I thought it could start to be a problem for cinemas,” he noted to AFP.
This chronology has become a major issue in an era of multiplatform services like Netflix or Disney+.
Canal+’s investments in French and European cinema will amount to €190 million from 2028 to 2030, then €205 million in 2031 and 2032.
It is the first time that such an agreement spans five years. “If we must build and evolve our offering, we need perspective, we need time, and therefore I have always been in favor of a long-term agreement,” the executive explained.
What enabled the conclusion of the agreement, long negotiated? “Producers are realizing that ultimately, the actor most interested in financing cinema, and more broadly in the future of French cinema, is nonetheless Canal+,” according to Mr. Saada.
