Far-Right Privatization Plan Would Cut French Film Funding by 90%

France Télévisions invests more than €60 million ($67 million) a year in over 60 French films. Manuel Alduy, the broadcaster's cinema and international series chief, says the far-right Rassemblement National's plan to privatize public broadcasting would end that support — and gut French cinema with it.

"There will be no more investment by public television in French feature films," Alduy said in a message to Variety. "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."

The Rassemblement National (RN), led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, leads the polls ahead of the 2027 presidential election, whose first round falls on April 18. Earlier this month the party unveiled a budget proposal that would dismantle the National Film Board (CNC, France's state film funding agency), privatize public broadcasting and cut its funding by €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) by 2028 — more than 90%.

Why does public broadcasting matter so much here?

France finances its films through a mechanism many countries envy. Broadcasters pre-invest, and the CNC hands out subsidies funded not by taxpayers but by a levy on every theatrical admission — including tickets to Hollywood blockbusters — recycled back into the industry.

France Télévisions is one pillar of that system. Nearly a third of the 60-plus films it backs annually are first or second features, movies that commercial broadcasters like TF1 or M6, and even streamers, tend to pass over in favor of mainstream fare.

The reach extends beyond French-language cinema. At Cannes this year, 81% of the films that world-premiered in the official selection were financed by France. France Télévisions co-financed seven of the 22 competition titles, including Jeanne Herry's "Another Day" with Adèle Exarchopoulos, Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner "Fjord," Ryūsuke Hamaguchi's "All of a Sudden" and James Gray's "Paper Tiger." The CNC backed 69 films across the official selection.

What does this change for filmmakers?

The pressure isn't hypothetical. France Télévisions already faces a €47 million ($52 million) funding cut for 2027 under the Finance Law, plus a further €47 million cut in subsidies, while lawmakers weigh diverting CNC 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 — signed an open letter published Wednesday in Le Monde. They warn the cuts could mean 400 fewer French films produced over five years, and they're calling for a new cinema law to protect the financing system and adapt it to streaming.

"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 Canal+ wildcard

The letter also targets a second threat: Canal+, France's biggest private film financier, has threatened to walk away from its €1 billion ($1.1 billion) investment agreement if the government doubles VAT on pay-TV subscriptions from 10% to 20%.

That hike, in the draft 2027 finance bill, would cost Canal+ roughly €200 million ($224 million) a year, according to chairman Maxime Saada. Speaking on French radio RTL, Saada said the measure would void the five-year deal signed in July, which commits Canal+ to nearly €1 billion in French and European films between 2028 and 2032. The filmmakers estimate its collapse alone would leave a €750 million ($841 million) shortfall over five years.

The streaming squeeze

The timing is awkward. Netflix became France's largest private contributor to local production for the first time in 2025, investing €308 million ($345 million) — yet it's now calling for a cap on investments. France Télévisions remains the biggest overall backer at €476 million ($533 million) across film and TV in 2025, but Netflix could overtake it by 2030.

The broadcaster has increasingly partnered with streamers on ambitious series, though France's windowing rules (which stagger a film's release across theaters, TV and platforms) make that impossible for theatrical movies.

The letter's signatories name the broader worry: "Streaming platforms, mainly American, are imposing an unprecedented standardization of content. Weakening our cinema means impoverishing our French and European identity." With the RN leading polls and the 2027 finance bill under debate, French cinema's funding model now depends on political fights it can't fight alone.