Former TF1 Group CEO Gilles Pélisson Named As New President Of Unifrance

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read

Gilles Pélisson has been named as the new president of French film and TV promotional body Unifrance.

He replaces film critic and former French Cinematheque head Serge Toubiana, who held the role for three consecutive two-year terms, as well as Hervé Michel, who was vice-president of the body from 2021.

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Pélisson is the first new president to be voted in since Unifrance expanded its original cinema remit to TV, following its merger with TV France International in 2021.

The former TF1 Group CEO is also the first figure from the world of television to take on the role.

The existing executive management team remains in place with Daniela Elstner as Executive Director, Gilles Renouard as Director of Cinema, Sarah Hemar as Director of Audiovisual, Stéphanie Gavardin as Director of Communication and Digital and Axel Scoffier as General Secretary.

Other film and TV figures in the running for the president role included former National Cinema Centre (CNC) president Frédérique Bredin, former Arte vice-president Anne Durupty, and producer Marie Masmonteil, whose recent credits under the banner of her Paris-based company Elzévir Films include Before We Collapse and L’Horizon.

Pélisson was chairman and CEO of the TF1 Group from 2016 to 2023.

He stepped down from the role earlier this year after his plan to merge the audiovisual group with rival broadcaster M6 fell through, following objections by France’s antitrust watchdog.

Pélisson is one France’s most high-profile and experienced business executives.

He began his career in the 1980s in the Accor hospitality group, founded by his uncle Gérard Pélisson, spending six years working in its operations in the U.S. before returning to France.

He was Vice-CEO of Euro Disney from 1993 to 1997, and CEO from 1997 to 2000, and then  CEO of Bouygues Télécom from 2004 to 2006.

On stepping down from the TF1 Group, he was appointed deputy director in charge of media and development at the audiovisual group’s parent conglom, the Bouygues Group.

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