14/01/2014 - At the end of a career that forever marked the history of the Croisette, Gilles Jacob will give up the presidency of the famous event on July 1st

Today a rumour that had all the features of a scheduled induction was officially confirmed: Pierre Lescure will take over the presidency of the Cannes Film Festival from Gilles Jacob. The latter will leave a deep impression in the history of the most prestigious cinematographic event in the world, since he was appointed General Delegate in 1977 before becoming President in 2001.

The handover will take place on July 1st and Gilles Jacob will once more preside over the 67^th edition of the Festival from May 14 to 25, 2014. Thierry Frémaux was confirmed in his position as General Delegate, although no one yet knows how the duo will work out with Pierre Lescure, especially when it comes to selecting films.

Born in 1945, Pierre Lescure began his career as a radio journalist in 1965. After rapidly becoming a host in charge of programmes, he moved on to television in 1972 where he presented the news for two years. After a return to radio as Deputy Editor in Chief for RMC and Programming Director for Europe 1, he returned to television, created the show Les enfants du rock and became Programming Director for Antenne 2.

1984 marked the beginning of the adventure for a new channel whose destiny was closely linked to the funding of French cinema: Canal+. Pierre Lescure firstly became Director, then General Director in 1986, before taking the lead in 1996. Having become the General Co-Director of Vivendi Universal in 2000 following a merger between Vivendi and Seagram, he was suddenly replaced in 2002 by Jean-Marie Messier (who was soon ousted himself).

For the past ten years, Pierre Lescure alternated audiovisual, theatrical (as director and programmer for the Théâtre Marigny) and economic (administrator for Havas and Nagra, member of the surveillance council for the Lagardère group) activities. At the demand of the President of the Republic last year, he gave in a report under the title Contributions to cultural policies in the digital age and he also acted as honorary President of the Dijon Encounters 2013 organized by the ARP. During this occasion, he had notably underlined the importance of reforming the French system: “We will not escape the ongoing big bang. Cinema mechanics need time. Nothing would be more dangerous than having to adapt in a state of urgency.” Will he bring this spirit onto the Croisette? To be continued...   

(Translated from French)