Presidential 2027: French cinema calls on candidates to make the 7th art a “strategic priority”

A few months before the presidential election, four major French cinema organizations are calling on candidates on Wednesday to make the 7th art a “strategic priority”, against a backdrop of concerns raised in particular by the National Rally's criticism of the sector. “French cinema must be recognized as a strategic asset for France,” urge these organizations representing screenwriters, producers and directors, among the most influential in the country, in a manifesto sent to AFP. They call for defending the model of the French 7th art, which they consider threatened by an “ideological battle”.

“There is a risk that the far right will rear its ugly head more than usual, with violence against the cinema industry that we have never seen before,” director Pierre Jolivet, vice-president of the Society of Authors-Directors-Producers (ARP), one of the four signatories, told AFP. The RN's questioning of the functioning of the CNC and the desire to privatize public broadcasting, coupled with the indifference of the other presidential candidates, worries the filmmaker. “Culture and cinema in particular have completely disappeared from political debates,” he regrets.

At the beginning of September, however, Emmanuel Macron organized a summit bringing together the elite of world cinema in the south of France to protect the 7th art in the face of threats from AI or platforms. “But three weeks later we hit the wall in the face,” continues Pierre Jolivet, denouncing in particular the increase in VAT for Canal+ in the 2027 draft budget, which the deputies finally rejected, and the reduction in funding for France Télévisions.

These two measures hit the wallets of the two main financiers of French cinema and pushed more than 170 renowned filmmakers, including the Dardenne brothers, Jacques Audiard and Justine Triet, to sign a platform in mid-October to warn of the risk of weakening their industry, the most dynamic in Europe. The manifesto, also signed by the Independent Production Union (SPI), the Society of Film Directors (SRF) and the Union of Cinema Producers (UPC), proposes twelve commitments to defend the French cultural model.

The first point insists on the need to include “French and European cultural sovereignty” in the Constitution. This would guarantee the protection of the French cultural exception, insist the signatories, while ensuring “the guarantee of an independent public audiovisual service” whose financing would be “sustainable, independent and up to its missions”. Another priority: protecting the CNC's resources, which are based on several taxes allocated to cinema tickets or even to streaming platforms operating in France. The CNC then redistributes these resources for the benefit of creation, mainly cinematographic. The manifesto proposes reserving this aid for predominantly French or European companies, which is currently not the case.

“If there is one subject on which all parties could agree, it is that cinema, culture, cannot be bought by Americans or Chinese,” assures the president of the ARP Jérôme Enrico, who calls for protecting French culture from the laws of the market and the domination of foreign groups. For the signatories, it is urgent to “perpetuate the intermittency system” and “strengthen the media chronology”, which allows films to be discovered in cinemas before television or paid platforms. “We have the highest number of admissions in Europe and we have 40% of spectators who go to see French films, which is unique in Europe,” defends Pierre Jolivet.

According to him, cinema is “a prototype industry” and it is appropriate to finance films that do not work to produce commercial successes. “In the United States, they make 1,500 films a year, there are 300 of them that work. It’s the same everywhere,” he says. The signatories of the manifesto plan to launch a campaign of four short films broadcast in cinemas early next year.