French cinema industry urges 2027 presidential candidates to make film a strategic priority, Digi Mart USA News (France): Four major French film organizations are calling on candidates in the upcoming presidential election to make cinema a “strategic priority,” amid concern over criticism of the sector by the National Rally (Rassemblement national). In a manifesto sent to AFP, the groups, which represent screenwriters, producers and directors, state that French cinema must be recognized as a strategic asset for France.
The signatories call for defending the French film model, which they say is threatened by an “ideological battle.” Pierre Jolivet, director and vice president of the Société des Auteurs-Réalisateurs-Producteurs (ARP), one of the four signatories, told AFP there is a risk that the far right will gain more ground, with a level of hostility toward the film industry unlike any seen before.
Jolivet said the National Rally’s challenge to the operation of the Centre national du cinéma (CNC) and its plan to privatize public broadcasting, combined with what he described as indifference from other presidential candidates, worry him. “Culture and cinema in particular have completely disappeared from political debates,” he said.
Jolivet noted that in early September, President Emmanuel Macron hosted a summit in southern France bringing together leading figures of global cinema to protect the art form from threats posed by artificial intelligence and streaming platforms. “But three weeks later we hit a wall,” he said, citing the increase in the value-added tax (VAT) on Canal+ in the 2027 draft budget, which deputies ultimately rejected, and a cut in funding for France Télévisions.
These two measures directly affect the two main financers of French cinema and prompted more than 170 prominent filmmakers, including the Dardenne brothers, Jacques Audiard and Justine Triet, to sign an open letter in mid-October warning of the risk of weakening what they describe as the most dynamic film industry in Europe.
The manifesto, also signed by the Syndicat de la production indépendante (SPI), the Société des réalisatrices et réalisateurs de films (SRF) and the Union des producteurs de cinéma (UPC), proposes twelve commitments to defend the French cultural model. The first calls for enshrining “French and European cultural sovereignty” in the Constitution, which the signatories say would protect France’s cultural exception and guarantee an independent public audiovisual service with stable, independent funding adequate to its mission.
Another priority is safeguarding the resources of the CNC, which rely on several earmarked taxes on cinema tickets and on streaming platforms operating in France. The CNC then distributes these funds mainly to film production.
The manifesto proposes reserving these subsidies for companies that are majority French or European, which is not currently the case.
Jérôme Enrico, president of the ARP, said that if there is one subject on which all parties could agree, it is that cinema and culture should not be bought by Americans or Chinese, and he called for protecting French culture from market forces and the dominance of foreign groups. The signatories also urge making the intermittent employment system permanent and strengthening the media chronology, which allows films to be seen in cinemas before television or paid platforms.
Jolivet argued that France has the largest number of admissions in Europe, with 40% of spectators going to see French films, which he called unique in Europe. He also described cinema as a “prototype industry,” saying films that fail at the box office must be funded to produce commercial hits.
“In the United States, they make 1,500 films a year, and 300 of them work. It’s the same everywhere,” he said.
The signatories plan to launch a campaign early next year featuring four short films shown in cinemas.
