La belle aventure d’une nouvelle association entre un service public audiovisuel, une plateforme video mondiale et le plus grand festival de cinéma du monde se déroule sous nos yeux. Jour après jour, France Télévisions et Brut produisent, diffusent, partagent des films, des émissions, des documentaires, des reportages, des courts métrages pour célébrer cette grande fête et, surtout, la partager avec le publics, sur tous les écrans, dans toutes les poches.
C’est un plaisir collectif de faire ainsi découvrir ou redécouvrir ces chefs d’œuvre du 7ème art. Il y a encore beaucoup à faire – faire connaitre cette offre, améliorer le confort de visionnage, développer le référencement chez les opérateurs, et convaincre davantage que ce « menu gourmant » est une passerelle. Car cette offre n’est pas statique, elle se renouvelle, et on espère ainsi inciter chacune et chacun à explorer encore davantage ailleurs, en salles bien sûr, mais aussi sur le petit écran, grâce au travail passionné des consoeurs et confrères de Filmo, Universciné, Cine+, OCS, Shadowz, Carlotta, Mubi, la Cinetek, Arte, MK2Curiosity, Henri, Wildside , Jokers, Potemkine et bien d’autres encore.
C’est aussi une modeste riposte contre la morosité ambiante, une ébauche de réponse aux prophètes de mauvais augure sur la fin du 7eme Art.
I remember the day we learned Disney wanted to buy certain assets of 21CF. « Anything I should worry about, Dad ? » asked our daughter. « Nope« , I answered.
Yet this pre-acquisition period has been a true 15-month journey for both Disney and Fox employees. Discussions, questions, memories, last LA Screenings, last Fox party on the lot, team prepping and introvertions, this journey has been a mix of nostalgia, angst and hope.
As in many other parts of our industry, each individual questionned herself/himself on his/her role.
But differently from any other place in our entertainment industry, we were thousands and thousands to fear, hope and think at the exact same things during this exact same moment.
I remember DEADPOOL. Although I was already a Marvel fan, I discovered that our son was more expert than me. A year before the movie was released and became a phenomenon, he was already fully aware of everything about this film, his hero and its universe (Joining Fox that same year, I was at last able to work at the Nakatomi Plaza).
I remember THIS IS US, an authentic family drama which have you cry at every episode. I remember POSE, a creative and emotive shock, a series that was as difficult to pitch as it was touching and fascinating.
I remember HOMELAND. An Israeli format, an American drama. Carrie Mathison and Sergeant Brody became our heros with all their personal complexities.
I remember THE AMERICANS. This drama of espionage, with its nostalgic historical context, is first and foremost a story of love and family life. And the series helped to launch CANAL+ Series in 2013.
I remember TITANIC. As some other millions of viewers, I cried each time I saw it, and I saw it several times. I remember AVATAR, and how Mark was so happy to tell us at Canal+ that there was this « wonderful movie with some blue heroes » soon to be released.
Later that same year, I remember THE SIMPSONS‘ twentieth anniversary during Mipcom in Cannes. Nobody recalled that SIMPSON episode, 9 years earlier, where they envisionned that Fox would become part of Disney.
I remember SPEED with Keanu Reeves, one of the first Fox films I saw on CANAL+ in France. Long before John Wick, Reeves was wearing a bullet-proof jacket as he tried to save a bus while Sandra Bullock was driving. SPEED was all about adrenaline. That same year, I joined Canal+ when Mark Kaner, who will become my mentor and friend many years later at Fox, left it.
I remember GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946), KISS OF DEATH (1947) and many others, and how Gina Brogi at Fox (who will also become my boss and friend some years later), was happily surprised that we knew, liked and licensed the black & white features of the Fox catalogue for our French movie channels at CANAL+.