Hello everyone,
There are many prejudices in our society – there is no shortage of them: male gender, skin colour, religion, social background, sexual orientation…
Prejudice and discrimination are not brushed aside; they may never be as strong as when we no longer see them, when we think we have defeated them.
I share with you this warning from Charles Peguy that I make my own and that I try to keep, always, in a corner of my head: “There’s something worse than having a bad thought. It’s having a ready-made thought.”
These ready-made thoughts, these intellectual laziness, these positions of comfort, let us fight them: it is our individual responsibility.
Let us fight what feeds these ready-made thoughts: it is our collective responsibility. Let us fight prejudice, let us fight stereotypes, let us fight discrimination, injustice and violence – moral, verbal and physical.
No part of our society is spared.
They are domestic violence, public violence, digital violence, professional violence. No one is spared, no one is immune. And the world of culture is no exception.
And yet, yes, we want to imagine that culture escapes what we denounce as being vile, low, disgusting, banal. Because this world of culture that we love shares, here in Cannes, Avignon, Hollywood, Venice, Bayreuth, Bastille, this world we have idealized. Dangerously placed on a pedestal. We expected this idealized world of culture to be at the forefront of the awakening of consciences, at the forefront of social struggles.
So scandal, stupor, revolt. But the terrible thing is the revelation of a case, the denunciation of a pig? No, the worst thing is the other revelation. The “everyone knew”, the description of an omerta, of an idealized world that does not escape the law of small environments, vile behaviors where each holds the other, cooperates the other, intimidates the other.
Today, I pay tribute to all the women and men who broke the silence. All those who spoke. All those who spoke and offered it to others.
All those who drive away violence, including what it would be banal, less serious. Yes, those who refuse pay inequality, which is not harassment but discrimination. Those who reject professional inequality that is not rape but a regression. Those who refuse inequality in the face of awards and honours, which is not a slap in the face but a denial of talent.
I salute the courage of those who, beyond denunciation, beyond words, are committed to ending the scandal.
We have a responsibility, a shared responsibility: intransigence.
The hardest part remains to be done. The revolution has not yet taken place. A wave has risen I fear the lull, the oblivion. Beat the iron while it’s still tin. Let’s make Weinstein an opportunity for cinema, a chance to become avant-garde, a forerunner, a chance to be revolutionary.
A revolution is irreversible.
This revolution remains to be done, in society as a whole.
The cinema must succeed.
I consider that it has a particular responsibility, because that is where the detonation occurred, but also because it conveys images that resonate with society.
Each of us, each of you, has a role to play.
Each has its share of responsibility to take.
My ministry is his.
I decided to act. I decided to use all the levers at my disposal. Without delay.
Act against realities that are unworthy of our cultural model. Of our model of society.
I will be organizing “Assises de l'égalité femmes-hommes dans le cinéma”, with representatives of the sector, and making concrete commitments.
These Assizes will take place in Paris at the end of June, over two and a half days.
A number of personalities have already agreed to participate and lead round tables, and I want to thank them.
The list will grow. Join us. Get involved. Help us. Together, let us embody the mobilization of French cinema.
These Assizes should allow us to discuss concrete measures to be taken around six major axes: training; equal pay; the prevention of harassment; access to management positions; the fight against stereotypes; and the promotion of parity through regulation.
The aim is to reach a “Charter of Equality between Women and Men in Cinema” signed by professionals.
Adherence to this Charter and the commitments it will define will be a condition for the award of NQF aid.
At the same time, I hope that a “bonus” system will be put in place to support films whose teams are exemplary in terms of parity.
Finally, I will create an endowment fund in France to support young women filmmakers from around the world.
How many testimonies of producers and directors who illustrate the absurd statistical truth: in France, the average budget of a film made by a woman is 2.6 million euros against 6.5 million for a man’s film. A 60% gap. A shame for private funders. A shame for public institutions.
This endowment fund, which will bring together the competition of the State and private patrons, will accompany women directors in the development and production of their films.
Those are my commitments.
However, my ministry will not make the revolution alone. Modesty and lucidity oblige.
Your commitment, the commitment of the sector is essential.
Festivals like Cannes have a key role to play.
Women are less successful today, which affects their visibility and their chances of success. But it is not clear how many files they file.
Festivals have a duty to set an example in the composition of their juries.
They also have an effort to be transparent about the selection processes.
There is undoubtedly a mechanical effect: knowing that women are under-represented in a number of occupations, they are less selected – I would remind you that in France, only one film in five is directed by a woman.
But there is a lack of data on selections.
The Cannes Film Festival is committed today to signing a «Charter of international film festivals». A charter that must live and collect other signatures. A charter that commits its signatories to transparency on the files submitted and on the selection mechanisms.
The signatory festivals also undertake to achieve perfect parity in their governing bodies by the end of their mandate.
I really want to salute this initiative very, very warmly.
Finally, I call on each of you to take your part in the revolution before us.
This fight for equality and diversity belongs to us.
By being uncompromising.
By fighting stereotypes of all kinds, words, gestures, prejudices that are not worthy of French cinema.
By contributing to talent renewal. By giving a chance to those who do not have a conventional profile.
By inspiring vocations, too, where they remain shy, where they do not assume themselves.
By accompanying young people who are far from the world of cinema, who do not dare.
By intervening in schools, centres, associations, to encourage young people to try the adventure.
Tell them it’s for them, for them. Also for them. For those who will bring something different.
For those who will nourish the diversity of aesthetics, looks, comments that make the richness of French cinema.
Dear friends,
Let us not make the mistake of believing that the essential has been done. The most difficult, the most decisive is before us:
To translate into action what germinated in consciences, on the one hand: to bring about the revolution for good.
And on the other hand, avoid the backlash, fight against the risk of reversibility: resist the reactionary pressures that will soon be heard; combat the temptation to go back.
Don’t give in.
Act every moment. To change the game.
Thank you for your commitment.