Isabelle Huppert becomes the first woman to preside over the French Cinematheque

This is a first in the institution's history. Elected by the board of directors last Monday, Isabelle Huppert officially took office as president of the Cinémathèque Française this Thursday, July 2nd, for a three-year term running until 2029. At 73, she succeeds the Franco-Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras, 93, who had led the institution since 2007. No woman had ever held this position before her. The board of directors, which includes directors Mia Hansen-Løve and Arnaud Desplechin, also appointed Olivier Assayas and Claire Denis as vice-presidents, and Alice Winocour and Nicolas Philibert as secretaries.

More than 150 films and an international career for the new guardian of cinematic heritage

A two-time César Award winner, for La Cérémonie in 1996 and Elle in 2017, Isabelle Huppert boasts over 150 films and television series to her credit, working alongside some of the biggest names in world cinema: Claude Chabrol and Maurice Pialat in France, Michael Haneke in Austria, Michael Cimino and Otto Preminger in the United States, Marco Bellocchio and Marco Ferreri in Italy, Andrzej Wajda in Poland, and Hong Sang-soo in South Korea. She is taking the helm of an institution founded in 1936, located in the Bercy district of Paris, which preserves 50,000 heritage films, nearly a million documents, and thousands of pieces of equipment, three-quarters of which are funded by public subsidies.

An institution weakened by controversies and a harsh report from the Court of Auditors

The Cinémathèque Française is going through a difficult period. The screening of Last Tango in Paris in late 2024 sparked a major controversy due to a rape scene filmed without the consent of actress Maria Schneider, forcing the institution to withdraw the film. In February 2025, a report by the Court of Auditors criticized the institution's "outdated" statutes and "a governance characterized by a form of insularity," pointing to inadequate management in light of its preservation and distribution objectives. The Cinémathèque is also scheduled to open a branch in Marseille in early 2027, in the neighborhood where actor Yves Montand grew up.