A former European boss of a Hollywood major to preside over the Cannes Film Festival? Iris Knobloch, who was president of Warner Bros France for fourteen years, until 2020, before expanding her duties as CEO of WarnerMedia to Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Benelux, seems to hold the rope for succeed Pierre Lescure during the 2023 edition of the festival.
She left Warner to found I2PO in July 2021, the first European SPAC (specific purpose acquisition company) dedicated to the entertainment and leisure industry, co-owned with Artemis, the Pinault family holding company, and Combat Holding, that of the banker Matthieu Pigasse (individual shareholder of the World). I2PO has already carried out an initial fundraising of 275 million euros in order to buy companies in the sector.
Recognized professional who, young, worked in the United States and knows the functioning of Hollywood studios like the back of her hand, Iris Knobloch does not confirm anything. To succeed Pierre Lescure in this unpaid position, she should first be dubbed administrator, on the quota of representatives of the Ministry of Culture, at the next festival council, scheduled for the end of March.
Risks of conflicts of interest
The current president, re-elected in the midst of health turmoil, in June 2020, has already announced that he does not intend to complete his third three-year term at the head of this 1901 law association. The presidents of the most influential film festival in the world can carry out a “tiling” with their predecessor, which had happened for Pierre Viot or Gilles Jacob. The president works in tandem with the general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, who decides on the selection of films.
the chained duck of Wednesday March 2 underlined the risks of conflicts of interest linked to such an appointment. In the statutes of this association, contrary to custom, no article obliges the directors to bring to the attention of the board any risk of conflict of interest in which they may find themselves. In any case, Iris Knobloch should make a commitment before the board not to make any acquisitions in the field of cinema through I2PO.
Similarly, it should “remove” (not participate in the vote) when the renewal of the five-year partnership signed for the first time in 2014 between the Cannes Film Festival and the Kering group (owned by the Pinault family) will be mentioned. The partnership between the festival and France Télévisions, much more important financially than that of Kering, did not trouble anyone, while Pierre Lescure is five days a week on the antenna of France 5, in the program “C à vous” . He is employed by the production company Third Eye.