18/07/2012 - Following a call from Ettore Scola, French filmmakers and film professionals have rallied to save the Roman film studios

In response to the current uproar in Italy over a project to redevelop the legendary Cinecitta film studios (read more), a French collective of film professionals has denounced this "intolerable aggression against culture" in letters addressed to the President of the French Republic François Hollande, the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, and the director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova. Its signatories include Thierry Frémaux, director of the Lumière Institute and general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Costa Gavras, a filmmaker and the president of the Cinémathèque Française, Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes Film Festival, Pascal Rogard, general director of the SACD, Jacques Fansten, a filmmaker and the president of the SACD,Laurent Heynemann, a filmmaker and the president of SACD’s film commission, Bertrand Tavernier, a filmmaker and the president of the Lumière Institue, and Serge Toubiana, the director general of the Cinémathèque Française.

The Civil Society of Writers-Directors-Producers (ARP) also launched a petition last week on the same subject. It has already been signed by Michel Hazanavicius, Olivier Assayas, Claude Lelouch, Christian Carion, Cédric Klapisch, Radu Mihaileanu, Olivier Nakache, Raoul Peck, Jean-Paul Salomé, Pierre Jolivet, AbderrahmaneSissako, Eric Tolédano, and Danièle Thompson.

(Translated from French)