Director Justine Triet made history at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night by winning the Palme d'Or for her film "Anatomy of a Fall" and becoming the third woman to win the award. But she also marked the event by launching an attack on the French government's policy on culture and pensions during a committed speech on stage.
She denounced the way in which the executive had "shockingly denied" the protest against the pension reform. "This domineering power scheme, increasingly uninhibited, is breaking out in several areas," she added, believing that the government was also seeking to "break the cultural exception without which I would not be here today."
Asked about his remarks this Sunday, Justine Triet acknowledged on franceinfo a speech "a little provocative" and recalls that she spoke on his behalf, but reaffirms his opinion.
Fear of a "spirit of profitability"
The director explains that she really fears in the future a stronger "spirit of profitability" of cinema in the allocation of public aid, which could harm independent cinema, while "people around the world envy us this non-profitability of films. It's something very valuable."
"I have a place in this system and I can't come here, having the floor, without also thinking about others, those who come behind," she says, "I manage to edit my films. I think of this generation that is coming. It's very delicate."
She also explains on BFMTV that she had the chance to do "almost everything" what she wanted for her film, and be "the product of this cultural exception, my career is made of that. " "I couldn't not talk about it."
See alsoPalme d'or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, who is Justine Triet, filmmaker of intimacy?
But after a "very special year in France, I couldn't not talk about the situation." For the director, it was "important" to launch a speech on these subjects on Saturday evening, "Cannes has always been the place where you could express yourself very freely on this and I thought it was important to have this word".
His speech on Saturday provoked a lot of reaction from the political class. The Minister of Culture said she was "stunned" by this statement, declaring that "this film could not have seen the light of day without our French model of film financing."
On BFMTV this Sunday, Rima Abdul Malak reiterated her disagreement with Justine Triet, pointing to an "ideological background of the far left" in her speech and highlighting the aid granted to the cinema by the government. The minister points to a speech that she considers "ungrateful and unfair".
On the left side of the political class, the director's speech was rather applauded.