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BAC Films

French film production and distribution company

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
12 min read
Source updated June 24, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

BAC Films is a French film production and distribution company. Based in Paris, the company was founded in 1986 by Jean Labadie, Éric Heumann, and Stéphane Sorlat. Capital shares of the company were re-allocated in 1988 when Vivendi took 10% followed by a 20% stake in the capital of the company, which allowed BAC Films to make major and ambitious acquisitions.

01History

BAC Films had an early success in 1990 with Sailor et Lula, a Palme d'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival. The releases of Barton Fink and Tous les matins du monde in 1991, Indochine and Le Zèbre in 1992, and La Leçon de piano in 1993 placed BAC Films at the top of the independent film distribution industry in France.

In 1994, BAC Films started diversifying its activities with the creation of a movie theater subsidiary named -Les Écrans de Paris, in association with Simon Simsi. In 1997, another movie theater business was created under the name Majestic, and the group underwent a reorganization, splitting into three: BAC Films (distribution); Majestic (movie theaters); and Séance Privée (special events). In 1998, BAC Films set up Mars Films to distribute its numerous acquisitions. Two years later, StudioCanal bought an 80% stake in the company while BAC Films retained management control. It served as the official distribution arm for StudioCanal-produced movies in France.

In 2000, the group was introduced on the stock market under the name BAC Majestic. Two years later, BAC Majestic was affected by the stock market downturn and was forced to give up its movie theater business. StudioCanal helped BAC Films by deciding that they would fully acquire Mars Films and have part-ownership of the film library, while financially supporting the company. In 2003, Millimages took a majority stake in the company. Jean Labadie was ousted in 2007, and Roch Lener succeeded him as chief executive officer.

In October 2013, the company was sold, and David Grumbach was subsequently appointed as its chairman.

BAC Films has distributed more than 500 films, 9 of which received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

02Titles

This is a partial chronological list of films released by BAC in France, with countries of origin and original titles where available:

An asterisk (*) indicates a film distributed by Mars Films.

Watch videos about BAC FilmsExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “BAC Films”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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