🥐 French Cinema on the Brink of Chaos

Subsidies are set to be cut by €47 million in 2027, with falling advertising revenue and inflation shrinking the broadcaster’s overall budget by an estimated €90 million. Coming on the heels of an €80 million budget sequester in 2026, the move has been denounced by independent producers’ guilds (SPI, USPA, AnimFrance) as a “brutal social shock” that threatens irreparable harm to the audiovisual sector.

Industry leaders point to a stark contradiction: the cuts follow closely on the heels of September’s Lumière summit, where President Emmanuel Macron hailed the creative industries as vital to national sovereignty. Delphine Ernotte Cunci, President of France Télévisions, warned that curbing public expenditure effectively surrenders the market to American and Asian streaming giants. Under such conditions, she cautioned, French films and series will end up greenlit, funded, and written in the US and China.

The government maintains that the austerity measures are necessary to curb national debt, which is projected to reach a record 121.7% of GDP by 2027. Guilds, however, argue that stripping funds from public broadcasting is counterproductive. France’s audiovisual sector currently accounts for 260,000 jobs and €12 billion in added value—outstripping both the automotive and textile industries. Every euro of state investment generates €2.40 across the economy, returning €0.50 directly to public coffers in tax revenue.

Analysts estimate the new round of cuts will hit 700 production companies and trigger the direct loss of nearly 10,000 jobs. This comes on top of the 10,000 positions already wiped out since 2023 amid a broader downturn in commercial TV commissions and declining international sales of French content.