17/05/2002 - Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the new French Minister of Culture and Communications, released his first official declarations from Cannes

«A champion of culture and aficionado of art, dance, theater, as well as a voracious reader». This is how Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the new French Minister of Culture and Communications, describes himself. Aillagon made his first official appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. This ex-director of the Paris Videoteque, head of Cultural Affairs and of the Pompidou Center has declared his intention to make direct contact with professionals and keep a finger on the pulse of the market before he proposing what he has defined as a «cinema therapy». The ministry, which evidently believes in a reconfirmation in spite of the upcoming change in administration, launched «a message of support and cooperation to the entire cinematic profession», emphasizing what French President Jacques Chirac had already repeatedly declared during his election campaign concerning public support for a more diversified and high-quality cinema. Tutelage of all of the arts, especially cinema, as well as guaranteeing necessary funding, are Aillagon´s principal objectives, because «an essential dimension of national culture is portrayed through cinema.»

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