In the mythologies around Hollywood, there is the glitter of the stars of
cinema, arrangements between agents, those creators of the shadow that are
the writers, the Oscar ritual...and of course there are the majors. These are the
Olympic giants, who dominate the global film market, are
often associated with the promotion of pluralism and diversity
image is marked in the service of an American hegemony of
entertainment, in front of which some resistance of the global village
try in vain to resist by defending their cultural exception.
Yet you are living proof that these binary oppositions are
already well dated, since at the head of the international cooperation of the
of which you are the Vice President, you are
to the promotion, in the world of cinema, of the
cultural diversity.
Casablanca, The Port of Anguish, today Clint’s films
Eastwood… Masterpieces marked with the “WB” seal are
In the history of world cinema, the Warner
magic of its logo for more than 8 decades. As a personal
obviously very attached to the extraordinary catalogue of a house whose
made the world dream, and whose capacity for inspiration has irrigated
the creators of all languages and all schools.
A home you’ve been connected to since your professional beginnings
when, after your studies in linguistics and mathematics at the University
New York, you join the group as an intern in Australia and
Japan. After an impressive progression, you
reach in 1992 your current position as Executive Vice-President for
Warner’s international action.
Since then, you have adopted the adage “think globally, act locally”, in
measuring the potential of national specificities for the strategy
your group. Under the banner of diversity hides at once a
value and profitability for distribution, production and
co-production. Diversity of languages, first of all: by making you the
advocate of the «V.O. », you want to stay close to the public
that you are aiming for, while making yourself the advocate of a pluralism
better accepted on the global market. Diversity of productions
that you support, even if it means taking risks: I think by
example to Luca Lucini with his Three meters under the sky, who came
join the Italian directors you have chosen to accompany,
alongside Sergio Rubini, Carlo Verdone, or Michele Placido:
Italy will have been grateful to you, making you
Commander of the Order of Merit. In the catalogue of the Warner, you have
from Hong Kong, by adding the world’s greatest talents by
example, with Johnny To and Wai Ka-Fai for Turn Left! Turn Right! en
2003, to Pedro Almodovar for Habla con ella and La mala educación.
Richard Fox is also a great fan of French cinema. The
Directors have been able to count on your support, from Claude
Lelouch to Roman Polanski, Cédric Klapisch, Merzak Allouache, Alain
Berbérian, Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann. Here too,
you were able to focus on the diversity of genres, between films too
different than Museum High, Museum Low by Jean-Michel Ribes, Les Bronzés
3 by Patrice Leconte or Coco Channel and La Fille de Monaco
Anne Fontaine. Each time, with your teams, it’s a job
of gold researchers charged with measuring the potential of
international success for domestic productions. In the case of
long engagement Sunday of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, you have so tested
the film in Germany, Spain and Italy, to see if the graft was
likely to take on a wider scale.
For this, Warner relies on the remarkable network of its offices
that you set up, the first of which were
precisely France and Germany, and which involve from Spain,
Italy, Japan and Brazil. National productions - that the
global market professionals persist in calling “local” -
represent a growing market share, in which you
have had the flair to see a strategic opportunity for your group. The
has fully recognized this talent in you
awarding a few weeks ago, in Las Vegas, the CinemaCon
Passepartout award intended for those like you who are capable of
develop strategies in the international film market
copies.
French cinema is particularly pleased to be able to count on
major partners for whom a market approach, based on
search for profitability, is not antithetical, on the contrary, with the
promoting cultural diversity. With you, diversity is a value
in every sense of the word, hence your commitment to the
Cinéfondation, created by the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, whose
support and renewal of film creation in the
world fully join yours. As Minister of Culture
and Communication, I give, as you know, importance
the convergence between two approaches that we often want to
oppose by ease, and yet who can find the gateways
necessary to achieve a common goal: preservation and
promoting the pluralism of film creation.
For all these reasons, I am particularly pleased, on behalf of the
French Republic, to give you the insignia of Officer in order
of Arts and Letters.