Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux quashes exit rumours

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Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux has taken the unusual step of posting a statement on the film festival’s official website denying he is on the verge of leaving his post in response to growing rumours that he was considering a tempting job offer from the private sector.

Rumours have been rife in the French media and among industry professionals on the festival circuit - in Rotterdam and Goteborg - that Frémaux was about to step-down as head of the Cannes Film Festival and the Institut Lumière in Lyon after being headhunted by a major French media and entertainment company.

They coincided with the festival’s first announcement of 2016 that Mad Max director George Miller will preside over the jury of the 69th edition (May 11-22) and appear to have stemmed initially from a short report on Tuesday (Feb 2) on a local Lyon website which suggested that Frémaux had been approached by either Canal+ or telecommunications company Orange, which is currently expanding its cinema activities.

Frémaux confirmed in his statement that press reports that he had received a “professional offer” were “accurate” but added that the proposal had been made several weeks ago.

“After lengthy consideration, I have decided not to accept the offer and to continue in my position with the Festival de Cannes, as well as at the Institut Lumière Institute in Lyon, serving the audiences, artists and professionals of the worldwide film industry,” he said.

Frémaux thanked Frédérique Bredin, Pierre Lescure, Bertrand Tavernier, presidents of France’s National Cinema Centre (CNC), the Cannes Film Festival and Institut Lumière respectively for their advice in the matter as well as Audrey Azoulay, cultural adviser to the presidential Elysée Palace, and Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb.

“Even if I feel some regret in turning down the opportunity that has been offered to me, it is with full confidence in the future of public cultural action that I maintain my commitment to my present duties,” he continued in his statement.

“I wish to express my deep gratitude towards those who have paid me the compliment of believing that I could support them in their endeavours. I am not saying “no” to them, but I am continuing to say “yes” to the world’s greatest film festival, and it is my desire to continue to work towards its promising future, just as I wish to pursue the continued development of the Institute and the Festival Lumière,” he concluded.

Frémaux, 55, was appointed managing director of the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, having initially joined as artistic director in 2000.

Alongside his Cannes duties, he is also the head of Institut Lumière in Lyon, which was set up in the house of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière in the early 1980s to celebrate and preserve all aspects of film-making.

Frémaux, who hails from Lyon, first worked at the body as a volunteer before being officially appointed to its staff in 1983 and then rising to the role of artistic director in 1995 alongside its film-maker president Bertrand Tavernier. Aside from expanding the organisation’s film preservation and heritage work, Frémaux also spearheaded the launch of its annual cinema heritage festival which began in 2009.

On taking up the post of artistic director at Cannes in 2000, he negotiated a deal under which he could continue to work for both Cannes and Lyon at the same time.

The information that has appeared in the press recently about my having received a professional offer is accurate, although this proposal was made several weeks ago. After lengthy consideration, I have decided not to accept the offer and to continue in my position with the Festival de Cannes, as well as at the Institut Lumière in Lyon, serving the audiences, artists and professionals of the worldwide film industry.

The interest that was shown towards me certainly did not leave me indifferent, and I also recognise that credit for this is also due to the collective efforts that we carry out together, in the teams that I am proud to manage. Even if I feel some regret in turning down the opportunity that has been offered to me, it is with full confidence in the future of public cultural action that I maintain my commitment to my present duties.

I wish to express my deep gratitude towards those who have paid me the compliment of believing that I could support them in their endeavours. I am not saying “no” to them, but I am continuing to say “yes” to the world’s greatest film festival, and it is my desire to continue to work towards its promising future, just as I wish to pursue the continued development of the Institut and the Festival Lumière.

I also extend my warmest thanks to everyone who has spoken out over recent days and whose messages have guided and aided me in my reflection, in particular Frédérique Bredin, Pierre Lescure, Bertrand Tavernier, all three Presidents of the CNC, the Festival de Cannes and the Institut Lumière, as well as Audrey Azoulay, Cultural Adviser to the Elysée Palace, and Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon.

Thierry Frémaux