France Télévisions film chief Manuel Alduy has warned that the far-right Rassemblement National’s plan to privatize public broadcasting would devastate French cinema, stripping it from one of its biggest financiers.
“There will be no more investment by public television in French feature films. And since there are not enough such films for free commercial television, there will be fewer French films produced and impoverished French films in financing,” said Alduy, who oversees cinema and international series at France Télévisions, in a message sent to Variety.
His comments come as the Rassemblement National (RN), led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, is leading polls in the run up to the 2027 presidential election (the first round of which will take place on April 18).
Like any far-right party, the Rassemblement National represents a major threat to the cultural sector. But in France, that threat is even more potent because the country’s vibrant film community relies significantly on investments from broadcasters, as well as subsidies distributed by the National Film Board (CNC) to finance films.
In its latest budget proposal, unveiled earlier this month, the party outlined plans to dismantle the National Film Board, privatize public broadcasting and slash public broadcasting funding by €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) by 2028, a cut of more than 90%, while keeping a handful of outlets, including Arte and Franceinfo, in public hands.
France Télévisions is one of the pillars of France’s film financing system, investing more than €60 million ($67 million) annually in the pre-financing of over 60 films, nearly a third of which are first or second features. Many of these movies would struggle to attract financing from commercial broadcasters, such as TF1 or M6, or even streamers, whose investments tend to be concentrated on more mainstream fare.
It’s not just French cinema that would be impacted by the loss of public television’s support. International independent cinema would also feel the blow. At Cannes this year, 81% of the movies that world premiered in the official selection were financed by France. More specifically, France Televisions co-financed seven films out of the 22-title competition. Besides French-language movies like Jeanne Herry‘s “Another Day” starring Adèle Exarchopoulos, it backed films such as Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner “Fjord,” Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden” and James Gray’s “Paper Tiger.” The CNC, meanwhile, backed 69 movies playing in the official selection. The CNC resources don’t come from taxpayers, but rather from a levy on all theatrical admissions (including Hollywood blockbusters) that are injected back into the industry — a rare, virtuous model that is envied by many film communities around the world.
France Televisions is already facing a €47 million cut ($52 million) in funding for 2027 as part of its Finance Law (setting the national government’s budget), and a further €47 million ($52 million) cut in subsidies; while lawmakers are considering plans to divert some of the CNC’s resources into state coffers.
More than 170 filmmakers, including Palme d’Or winners Jacques Audiard, Justine Triet and the Dardenne brothers, alongside Costa-Gavras, Michel Hazanavicius, Julia Ducournau, Claire Denis, Mati Diop and Agnès Jaoui, have signed an open letter published in Le Monde on Wednesday warning that the cuts could lead to 400 fewer French films being produced over five years. They also called for a new cinema law to protect the financing system and adapt it to the streaming era.
“At a time when cultural sovereignty is unanimously celebrated in public discourse, the new budget bill risks causing an unprecedented disappearance of French cinema from our screens,” the letter reads. “Fighting to preserve the work of the CNC, to restore funding for public broadcasting, or to maintain a reduced value-added tax (VAT) rate for all cultural industries means defending a system and a principle that have helped sustain a vibrant and dynamic culture in France for years.”
The letter alludes to the fact that Canal+, France’s biggest private financier of cinema, has threatened to walk away from its €1 billion ($1.1 billion) investment agreement with the French film industry if the government goes ahead with plans to double the VAT rate on pay-TV subscriptions from 10% to 20%.
The proposed tax hike, included in the government’s draft 2027 finance bill, would cost Canal+ approximately €200 million ($224 million) annually, according to chairman Maxime Saada.
Speaking on French radio RTL earlier this month, Saada said the measure would effectively void the company’s five-year agreement with French film organizations, signed in July, which commits Canal+ to invest nearly €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in French and European films between 2028 and 2032.
In their open letter, the filmmakers estimated that the collapse of Canal+’s agreement alone would result in a €750 million ($841 million) shortfall for French cinema over five years.
These threats come as Netflix, which became France’s largest private contributor to local production for the first time in 2025, is calling for a cap on investments.
Last year, the streamer invested €308 million ($345 million) in audiovisual production and cinema; and while France Télévisions remains the biggest overall backer, with €476 million ($533 million) invested across film and TV in 2025, Netflix could overtake the public broadcaster by 2030.
On the TV side, the broadcaster has been increasingly forced to partner with streamers to finance ambitious television series, but such collaborations wouldn’t work on theatrical movies due to the country’s windowing rules.
The French film community is also concerned by streamers’ rising dominance over local content production.
“Streaming platforms, mainly American, are imposing an unprecedented standardization of content. Weakening our cinema means impoverishing our French and European identity,” the open letter says.