She is perhaps the suitable person who was to succeed Alain Terzian.
Véronique Cayla's career has led her to the Ministry of Culture, to the direction of the CNC then to Arte and she should take the presidency of the Academy of César.
Her perfect knowledge of the world of culture and cinema, where she enjoys immense respect, should command respect after the upheavals caused by the "Polanski affair" during the last awards ceremony.
To read also: Véronique Cayla, the former president of the CNC, will direct the Academy of César
As soon as the announcement of her upcoming appointment at the head of the Caesar, a shower of praise fell on the person concerned.
“
Véronique Cayla.
A brilliant, committed, measured and unifying woman.
The perfect person to preside over the Caesars.
Elegance, culture and benevolence, I say yes,
”reacted the director and screenwriter Hugo Gelin on Twitter.
As for Gilles Jacob, ex-president of the Cannes Film Festival, he emphasized about Véronique Cayla: “
She has the advantage of being both manager and in love with talent.
This is what was needed for the Caesars.
"
To read also: Alain Terzian: "At the Caesar, I was murdered with incredible violence"
Compliments of the occasion?
Not only.
Because Véronique Cayla, 70, has garnered the respect of her peers throughout her career.
Born in Saint-Cloud in the Parisian suburbs, she graduated from Sciences Po and began her professional life in 1973 at the Ministry of Culture as an official.
A few years later, this passionate about culture became the technical advisor in charge of cinema for Jean-Philippe Lecat, then Minister of Culture, until the end of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's seven-year term.
Thanked in 1981, she left the public sphere and joined the Videothèque de Paris (which later became the Forum des images, at Les Halles), before taking the lead in 1989.
The consensus candidate
Three years later, she moved to the MK2 production group and was then appointed to the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) in January 1999. Managing Director of the Cannes Film Festival, from 2001 to 2005, she worked alongside Thierry Frémaux under the authority of President Gilles Jacob.
In 2005, she headed the National Cinema Center (CNC), a public body known in particular for its assistance in financing films.
She joined the public audiovisual sector in 2011, at the head of Arte France.
It was "
the candidate of consensus
", one indicates at the time within the chain.
Behind the scenes, it is Nicolas Sarkozy, then President of the Republic, who weighs in favor of this close to Jacques Chirac, at the time of the choice by the shareholders of Arte in October 2010.
However, far from political divisions, his mandate is unanimously: when she left in July 2020, she left a channel with audience ratings at the highest in its history.
But above all, Véronique Cayla, has succeeded in attracting a younger audience to this channel, reputed to be “
intellectual
”.
A video-on-demand platform to review programs, presence on YouTube, the Snapchat social network, Arte Radio podcasts ... The diversification, led with great speed by its president, is a success.
“
Remarkable work
”, especially in terms of “
cultural democratization
” and “
digital transition
”, declared last summer Franck Riester, then Minister of Culture and Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy.
Woman in the shadows, Véronique Cayla has never sought the light.
In
Télérama
, last June, she again affirmed as a profession of faith: "
I am not ambitious, or rather I have no personal ambition, but I have values in which I believe and a common thread, the creation.
I always had the feeling that I had nothing special to say.
On the other hand, I always wanted to support artists as well as possible.
"
