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From Hollywood heavyweights and festival chiefs to exhibitors, broadcasters, streamers, heads of state and industry figures from more than 60 countries converged at a historic site in the south of France, where pine
trees, sculpture gardens and sun-drenched terraces offered a postcard-worthy backdrop to timely conversations about an industry in upheaval.
The Lumiere Summit gathering on Sept. 7 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence — a famous site in France’s medieval history — took its name from the Lumière brothers, the French inventors who pioneered cinema in the 1890s. The first of its kind assembly was hosted by two world leaders with an interest in asserting their influence in entertainment on the world stage: French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
For Macron, the stakes go far beyond the film and television business. The event was meant to rally forces as creative industries reckon with the rise of social media platforms, the transformative promise of AI and tumultuous global political landscape. It’s no accident that France and South Korea were motivated to flex some muscle in a business traditionally dominated by the U.S. Both countries have tangled with President Donald Trump over tariffs and security concerns in recent months.
Some concrete declarations regarding trade were unveiled at the held on the stunning grounds of the Fondation Maeght art foundation and museum complex. The discussions were held in a setting packed with priceless works by some of the 20th century’s biggest names (Braque, Calder, Chagall, Kandinsky and Miró, to name a few), which added weight to conversations about difficult issues, from the impact of social media scrolling on youth to concerns that the business model of YouTube et al is fundamentally undercutting art.
Macron didn’t hold back in suggesting that social media platforms that rely on revenue-sharing agreements with users are a danger to the centuries-old model in which artistic works are commissioned with financing support upfront from patrons or platforms. He also pointed to the rising tide of political censorship that threatens creative freedom and artists who push boundaries.
“We have to be ready to resist because this model is what has been created over decades by a lot of artists, by the states and the different governments. It’s extremely important and I really believe it’s part of our DNA,” Macron told Variety at the summit.
The summit had the feel of a diplomatic event — complete with sword-bearing members of the Republican Guard lining up along a narrow red carpet to announce Macron’s arrival and a large delegation that accompanied South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung.
Macron also nodded to the rising tide of political pressure being applied to arts and cultural institutions in Europe, the U.S. and beyond.
“If there is a debate or if it is threatened by some populist parties or some extremes, we have to resist because I think it’s part of what we are. Culture and art is part of what France is. It’s part of our soft power outside and it’s a very important economy as well,” Macron said.
That belief — that culture is simultaneously an economic force, a source of soft power and something that requires active protection — became the thesis for the gathering, the first of this scale in a century. Macron and Lee Jae Myung emphasized the urgency of the need to act as AI tools and
A number of initiatives were unveiled at the event, notably:
** A pact between France and South Korea to build up film, TV, animation and gaming creative sectors, backed by $1.1 billion in investment. 2026 marks 150 years since France and Korea began diplomatic relations.
** The IRIS initiative (International Resilience Initiative for Independent Screens) that brings together several dozen filmmakers and industry leaders into a coalition deigned to help support specialty and art house theaters worldwide.
** An effort to create a world congress of state film commissions and related entities that will meet twice a year in an effort to shore up the future of independently financed films.
** A proposal to accelerate preservation efforts on behalf of vintage films in danger of being lost to film degradation.
** In a response to the AI boom, 120 of the Lumiere Summit’s 200 participants endorsed a declaration that pledged to prioritize human creation, copyright and cultural diversity in the artistic process.
If there was one common thread that cut across the conversations held about the future of filmmaking, exhibition and changing audience tastes, it was the impact of the unprecedented volume of content that now washes over consumers. Macron and Lee Jae Myung spoke passionately about the need to pay more attention to “the quality of images” that we are exposed to.
For Canal+ Group chairman Maxime Saada, that question has become increasingly pressing “in the face of AI” and the enormous success of TikTok and other social platforms. “People have never had access to so much content, they have never watched so many things and spent so much time watching,” said Saada, who recently made a five-year deal with French film guilds to invest $1.1 billion in French and European cinema starting in 2028. “But there is some kind of worry about what they’re watching, and the quality of what they’re watching.”
Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, said the impact of AI makes the question of “image literacy” particularly urgent. Rather than rejecting the technology outright, she argued that the industry should establish clearer ways for audiences to understand how what they are watching has been made. “AI isn’t all bad. We don’t want to take innovative tools away from storytellers and filmmakers, but I do think that it’s incumbent upon all of us to focus on this idea of disclosure,” she said. “So we all know what we’re looking at.”
Thierry Frémaux, Cannes Film Festival chief, stressed that instruction in media literacy is crucial. “Education for children, for the new generation, for what they have to know about history of cinéma and the history of images, because so much of what they know comes from the internet,” Frémaux said.
For CNC president Gaëtan Bruel, the provocative topics and concerns raised about the long-term effects of online media gave them a good starting point for meaty discussions. Macron appointed Bruel to run France’s national film body in spring 2025. Almost immediately, he asked him to begin organizing a summit devoted to the future of cinema and the moving image. Bruel said the idea grew out of Macron’s concern about “the darker side of our image-saturated civilization” and the increasingly urgent question of how societies relate to screens.
Another possible source of concern may have been U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to impose a 100% tariff on all foreign-made films.
“We could see that many of the industry’s old dividing lines had become obsolete, yet the industry had not fully drawn the consequences,” Bruel said. “We wanted to create a genuinely global framework, not simply for discussion, but for thought and action.”
Bruel proposed the Fondation Maeght — France’s first foundation dedicated to modern art — as an intentionally unconventional setting. “The place did not call for convention-center panels; it called for conversations, in the sculpture garden, on the terraces and among the artworks.”
Organizers arranged nearly two dozen panel sessions throughout the day, letting participants choose among six smaller conversations at several points during the day, while leaving room for informal chats in the gardens.
During the outdoor lunch, Macron sat alongside Brigitte Macron amid a mix of political and entertainment heavyweights including Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Dana Walden, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman, George Clooney (fresh off his Venice Golden Lion honor), Paramount Skydance’s Andy Gordon, Mediawan co-founder Pierre-Antoine Capton, Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch and CJ Group’s Miky Lee in gardens of the Fondation Maeght.
Guests ate beneath the trees at long tables set among the foundation’s stone walls and sculptures, making the gathering feel at moments more like an unusually high-powered Riviera garden party than an international policy summit.
But beneath the conviviality, the conversations reflected a degree of anxiety about where the industry is heading. For many of those attending, perhaps the clearest takeaway was how similar the problems confronting very different corners of the industry have become.
Netflix’s Sarandos, who didn’t take part in a panel but participated in a private meeting with Macron and other studio heads, left the summit with a feeling that more such collaborative efforts are needed to steer electronic media into its next century. Despite different business profiles, the industry’s largest conglomerates have much in common. “Everyone has the same problems. Everyone has the same challenges, and the more we can get together, the more creative we can be about the solutions,” Sarandos told Variety.
“We live in a time of multilateralism in almost every aspect of our lives, including in the arts,” he said. As regulators weigh updates to the EU’s audiovisual regulations, which could impact how Netflix does business on the continent, Sarandos stressed the need for a level playing field between broadcasters, streaming services and video-sharing platforms such as YouTube.
YouTube is highly viewed but not subjected to any French production investment obligations because it is not a producer of original content per se. Netflix does face French regulatory curbs on how it operates in the country. Asked about the YouTube effect in France and elsewhere, Sarandos told Variety, “We should all compete on this level. We compete with everyone on the TV screen. So if they’re on the TV screen, they’re a competitor.”
Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, similarly pointed to the significance of bringing together industries and cultures that increasingly face the same technological and economic disruption.
“Yes, we’re in the Hollywood film industry, but we are a global industry,” Langley said. “To be able to come together with different cultures and different countries to tackle some of the biggest challenges that we know we’re going to be facing even more as the future unfolds — whether it’s with AI, new technology, or just the disruption in general — I think it’s very important.”
The need for YouTube to start directly investing in content was raised at several points throughout the day, notably by Macron in his opening speech. TF1 boss Rodolphe Belmer opined during his panel that “YouTube has established itself on the TV screen and is already capturing a significant share of the TV advertising market without carrying comparable local investment obligations” as broadcasters and streamers. YouTube’s revenue-sharing model was directly called out by the two heads of state as a threat to the artistic community.
Canal Plus Group CEO Anna Marsh said the distance some guests had traveled underscored that urgency. “You can really feel an outreach from all sorts of executives, whether we’re producers, distributors, exhibitors, channels, pay, free, digital,” Marsh said. “There’s a common goal to tell better stories, to engage audiences, and to make sure also that the young generation remain as passionate as we are about content that matters and content that will stand the test of time.”
For SXSW festival artistic director Peter Debruge, one of the more unusual aspects of the summit was seeing that spirit extend even to organizations that typically are ruthlessly competitive.
“This is such a competitive industry, and I think that this whole event brings together people who are usually rivals, who are fighting for the same eyeballs, the same box office dollars,” he said. Debruge sat on a panel with other heads of festivals who set up a WhatsApp group to continue the conversation beyond the event. He said that even though they remain rivals, they all share the same goal which is to showcase “risky movies or audacious auteur work.”
Anonymous Content CEO Darren Walker echoed Saada’s concerns. “We’re overwhelmed with images,” Walker said. “That doesn’t mean that we are smarter, better informed, or that we’ve experienced more joy and enjoyment because of that.” For Walker, there’s an important distinction between volume and value. “It’s not just about the volume. More importantly, it’s about the quality and the consistency of excellence,” Saada said.
Langley said AI had made the concept of image literacy particularly important to teach in schools. Rather than rejecting the technology outright, she argued that the industry should establish clearer ways for audiences to understand how what they are watching has been made. “AI isn’t all bad. We don’t want to take innovative tools away from storytellers and filmmakers, but I do think that it’s incumbent upon all of us to focus on this idea of disclosure,” she said. “So we all know what we’re looking at.”
Lynette Howell Taylor, producer and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said she was encouraged to hear that human-created storytelling remains the focus of every conversation about technology. “No matter who you’re talking to, they come back to the power of storytelling. They continue to say it’s about human storytelling.”
Macron’s full-throated defense of protecting cultural distinctions also reverberated through discussions about local production, artists’ rights and freedom of expression.
Metropolitan FilmExport co-founder and president Victor Hadida said “placing culture at the center of all our concerns is a huge step” because culture lies “at the heart of our societies — and indeed, of our very conception of democracy.” He pointed out the summit’s focus on independent production, movie theaters, distribution, cultural heritage and education, while pointing to the economic case for supporting culture as well. “Culture itself is becoming a driver of growth,” Hadida said.
Anonymous Content’s Walker likewise said one of the messages he was taking away was “the importance of elevating and exalting and rewarding artists and standing with them,” particularly amid what he described as growing authoritarianism around the world and threats to artists.
Moroccan filmmaker and producer Nabil Ayouch struck an even more urgent note, citing his concern about the state of democracies and the erosion of freedom of expression. “That’s why we absolutely must be very vigilant about the need to strengthen the circulation of creative works. When we consider younger generations, media literacy, and just how important it is for young people to have very open minds about art given the state of the world, and in light of the major challenges that lie ahead,” he said, before adding, “We must encourage films to travel by all possible means, including through cinemas.”
Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, France Télévisions head of channels and programming, meanwhile, saw the summit as evidence that France’s recent efforts to bring together global alliances around cultural and creative industry policies is gaining traction with other countries.
“The Americans are involved. That’s a real success for the French government,” Sitbon-Gomez said. “I remember a few years ago when we weren’t even on the radar.” The executive pointed to France’s audiovisual tax credit and France 2030 investment plan as part of a strategy that had helped make the country a stronger production hub. “I think we have a French industry on the rise, one that’s capable of exporting its products, and this is recognized by international players,” he said.
Sitbon-Gomez’s point about American involvement carries more historical weight than it might first appear. The last time France tried to convene the world’s film industry with comparable ambition was almost exactly a century earlier, in the autumn of 1926, when the Congrès international du cinématographe met in Paris. The event is remembered in industry lore for Hollywood’s chilly response to France’s initiative. At the time, which was also a moment of upheaval for filmdom as talking pictures replaced silent films as the norm for high-end films, American players kept their distance rather than cede ground to the French on leading the film business. That the biggest names in American film and streaming instead made the trip to the south of France for this summit says something about how much the balance of power, and America’s stake in a multilateral conversation about the industry’s future, has shifted.
The question of how locally rooted films and programs can travel internationally produced some of the summit’s most concrete conversations.
Sang-Hyun Yoon, CEO of Korea’s CJ ENM, said he met with executives from Canal Plus and France Télévisions about bringing more French content to Korean audiences and more Korean programming to France. “It is difficult to build meaningful global collaboration through the power of content alone,” Sang-Hyun Yoon said. “We also need stronger collaboration among local platforms. If local platforms can work together in this way, I believe that these partnerships between platforms will become another very important element in taking content across borders and accelerating its globalization.”
The debate around theatrical and streaming distribution also surfaced throughout the day.
Exhibitors in France are for the most part opposed to collaborating with streaming services due to the country’s strict windowing rules, but Laure de Boissard, Pathé Cinémas’ managing director, said French cinemas could find opportunities to work with platforms on selected films, pointing to titles designed for the large screen. She cited Netflix’s upcoming “Narnia,” which was shot for IMAX, as an example of a film that could potentially have a short special theatrical release in France without delaying its streaming debut. But she said Netflix appears “to be closed off by principle to discussion.” “I find that a bit of a shame,” she added.
De Boissard was also cautious about the IRIS initiative aimed at art house cinemas. As Pathé is a vertically-integrated French group, she wondered if it would still qualify as independent circuit. “What does ‘independent’ actually mean?” she asked. “Especially since no one around the world has the same definition. There are very different systems. There’s already a lot of inequality. We shouldn’t let this exacerbate it.”
For Cinema United head Michael O’Leary, meanwhile, theatrical exhibition is entering what he described as an “opportunity phase.” “For the first time in a number of years, the industry is on its front foot,” said O’Leary. “I visit a lot of small, one-screen theaters in rural areas, and the technology is the theater owner standing in the lobby when people come in and talking to them about how their summers are going, how their mother’s doing,” he said.
Andy Gordon, chief strategy officer and chief operating officer for Paramount Skydance, said what distinguished the summit was Macron’s insistence on what should happen next. “I thought it accomplished what President Macron was after. I thought it opened a lot of conversation,” Gordon said. “And as always, he ends every discussion with a follow-up plan, which is unique and special.”
Frémaux, meanwhile, said the gathering shouldn’t be viewed as an end in itself. “The best outcome for this day is not to forget this day,” Frémaux said. “And in one month, two months, one year, to remain faithful to what we all said, and think about it, in order to be ready for the future and for this summit to have a legacy.”
Yet, the test now is whether the momentum can outlast Macron’s presidency. He is set to leave office in May, and the far-right Rassemblement National — a party with little enthusiasm for culture — is leading in polls ahead of the 2027 election. But for now, organizers have at least secured a marker of continuity — a second Lumière Summit is slated to take place in Greece next year, a first sign that the initiative is intended to survive beyond a single event, and beyond Macron himself.
Naman Ramachandran contributed to this report.
