Despite oppositions in the Board of Directors, the former European boss of Warnermedia will succeed Pierre Lescure.
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Iris Knobloch will be the first woman to chair the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. His profile both international and very anchored in business differs radically from that of its predecessors. Pierre Viot was a great state clerk, Gilles Jacob Crécière de cinema and Pierre Lescure, who will not finish his third term at the head of the festival after the 2022 edition, directed Canal +. The CEO of i2PO, a SPAC (specific acquisition company) devoted to the entertainment industry since July 2021 is also a lazard administrator and Vice-Chair of the Accor Board of Directors.
She worked for eleven years at Warner Bros in Los Angeles, then in London before preside over, from 2006 to 2020, the French subsidiary of Major Hollywood. Iris Knobloch was entrusted in October 2020 the presidency of Warnermedia in France, Germany, Benelux, Switzerland and Austria. The original German, this training counsel was received at the Barreaux of New York, California and Germany. It was elected for three years, Wednesday, March 23, the presidency of the festival during the Board of Directors by eighteen votes for, six against, three white votes and a draw.
Candidate of the Ministry of Culture, she was given favorite, but her election was not self-evident and had already provoked some swirls. Seven professional film organizations representing rooms, directors, producers and distributors complained in a letter to Pierre Lescure of a lack of transparency and dialogue in the election process. The very question of the profile selected and the fact that it has not been debated previously disrupted the opponents. To the point where the postponement of the election was the subject of a vote.
Conflicts of interest
By defending his candidacy, Iris Knobloch quoted François Truffaut: “The cinema is a perfect mix of show and truth” and recalled that Warner had funded many hexagonal films. To avoid any risk of conflict of interest, the candidate had a detailed consultation with a lawyer and committed to “delay” (do not participate in the vote) when the question of renewing the renewal of the Partnership with Kering (since I2PO is coded by Artemis, the holding of the Pinault family). In addition, it promised that its SPAC would not invest in distribution or cinematographic production or audiovisual production. This is the only administrator to comply with such constraints.
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