Iris Knobloch, who was recently re-elected for a second mandate at the Cannes Film Festival, was awarded the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters medal by the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, at a ceremony on Sunday.
The intimate ceremony, held at the Palais des Festivals, gathered Knobloch’s husband, brother, niece and Cannes general delegate Thierry Fremaux, alongside powerful entertainment industry figures such as Kering boss Francois-Henri Pinault, Tarak Ben Ammar, Vivendi’s Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Metropolitan FilmExport’s Victor Hadida, among others.
Knobloch, who previously headed Warner Bros. in Europe, became the first female president of Cannes in 2022.
In her speech, Knobloch said she and Dati had a lot in common. “We both have foreign roots and French wings,” Knobloch said. “And we made careers in a men’s world, we were outsiders in very closed circles, and we’ve had that need to prove ourselves, again and again, perhaps more than others, and we also have a deep faith in the emancipatory power of culture,” she said, adding that she owes that faith to her parents. “I was born in Munich, a country where rigor is a rule, and memory is a pillar,” she said.
Knobloch also spoke about the founding of the festival in 1939, on the eve of WW2’s outbreak. “The first edition of Cannes did not take place until after the war, in 1946. That date is also a founding date for me, because a few months earlier, my father was liberated from Auschwitz after going through hell.”
She said “standing here today at the head of this festival is like coming full circle. It is honoring its memory and affirming that life, creativity and freedom always prevail. It is a reminder that culture, in dark times, has always been our best refuge and our most powerful weapon of resistance. My family experienced this first-hand,” Knobloch said.
Dati, meanwhile, paid tribute to Knobloch’s dedication to “strengthen the role of women in sectors where they are still under-represented.” “Being the only woman around the table has never fazed you or held you back,” Dati said. “But what I admire about you, is that you fight very hard battles, but always with gentleness, kindness, calmness and serenity.”
Dati also noted Knobloch’s long history with Cannes even before she became president. In 2011, when she was at Warner Bros., she presented “The Artist” in competition. Directed by Michael Hazanavicius, the black-and-white silent movie about Hollywood’s Golden Age, had been turned out by every studio. “The script for ‘The Artist’ had been rejected by everyone, except you,” said Dati. “This risk you took incarnate your professional engagement, the audacity of the festival and your political sense.”