Her name may not be familiar to the general public at a time when the world’s most popular celebrities are walking the red carpet. Yet, since 2022, Iris Knobloch has served as president of one of the biggest events in cinema: the Cannes Film Festival. The 79th edition begins on May 12.
Born in 1963 in Munich, Iris Knobloch is the daughter of German politician Charlotte Knobloch. At the time, the young woman does not turn naturally to cinema but to law. She studied law at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and obtained her doctorate there, while also completing a Master of Laws degree at the University of New York. While she was a lawyer at Norr, Stiefenhofer & Lutz and O’Melveny & Myers in Munich but also in the USA in Los Angeles and New York, her career took a new turn in 1996.
A long career at Warner Bros
At the age of 33, Iris Knobloch took her first steps in cinema with Warner Bros, a company specializing in film production. After 10 years in several management positions, she is appointed president of Warner Bros France. She achieved a masterful feat by distributing the film at the 5 Oscars, The Artist, with Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. In 2020, she took over as president of Warner Media for France, Germany, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland.
In 2021, the businesswoman founded I2PO, an acronym for “Iris, Pinault, Pigasse, Organisation”, alongside the Pinault family and banker Matthieu Pigasse. The company takes the form of a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), which is created solely for the purpose of raising funds on the stock exchange to acquire or merge with another private company. In 2022, the entertainment company merged with Deezer.
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Featured photo : Iris Knobloch © Olivier Vigerie – Cannes Festival
