A French petition condemning right-wing media mogul Vincent Bolloré has gained international support, with stars including Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo and directors Yorgos Lanthimos and Ken Loach adding their names to an open letter calling out what signatories describe as Bolloré’s “far-right grip” on the French industry.

A billionaire industrialist, Bolloré is the largest shareholder in French studio Canal+, which owns Studiocanal, the country’s largest production and distribution company. Canal+ is in the process of trying to acquire full control of UGC, France’s third-largest cinema chain. The petition accuses Bolloré’s media empire, including his news channel CNews, of promoting reactionary and far-right ideas and calls the planned UGC deal the equivalent of a “fascist takeover of the collective imagination.”

The petition was launched last week, on the eve of the Cannes film festival, by some 600 French film professionals, including acclaimed actors Juliette Binoche, Adèle Haenel, Swann Arlaud and Damien Bonnard. But the number of signatures has since exploded and now tops 3,500.

The petition gained strength following comments made by Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada in Cannes. Speaking at a producers’ lunch this past weekend, Saada essentially blacklisted the petition signatories, saying he didn’t want to work with “people who call me a crypto-fascist.”

The comments did not go down well. Throughout the festival, Cannes audiences have been showing their disapproval by booing the Canal+ logo at gala screenings.

The petition signatories want to raise the alarm over the unprecedented influence Bolloré is gaining over the French film industry. They fear he could use that influence to impact next year’s French elections, where the far-right National Rally (RN) party is expected to challenge for the presidency. In a senate hearing in 2022, Bolloré denied using his media empire to forward any political or ideological agenda, saying he is only interested in making money and in promoting French soft power abroad.

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