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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung used his opening address at the Lumière Summit on Monday to announce a €500 million ($581 million) film industry investment commitment by the Republic of Korea – matching an equal
pledge from France – and to make the case for AI that serves human creativity rather than supplanting it.
Speaking at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Lee ranged across independent cinema, the global streaming ecosystem, the crisis facing theatrical exhibition and the centenary of three landmark films, in a speech that was equal parts policy statement and cultural manifesto.
Korea proposed the arrangement – known as the Lumière Partnership – and France “enthusiastically welcomed” it, Lee said. “It will combine domestic investments to revitalize each country’s industry with bilateral co-productions,” Lee said, describing the goal as providing “a stepping stone for local content to venture onto the global stage.” He expressed a hope that the partnership would “extend beyond bilateral ties to reach the world, becoming a light that illuminates a fresh future for the global film and visual media industry.”
Lee placed the partnership in the context of a broader argument about local content and global reach, quoting Martin Scorsese. “The most personal is the most creative,” Lee said, attributing the line to the master director, before citing “Parasite,” director Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning” – Lee Chang-dong was present at the summit – and the series “Kingdom” and Netflix’s “Kpop Demon Hunters” as evidence of what Korean storytelling has achieved internationally.
“We must build an era where artificial intelligence develops more responsibly and in a human-centric direction, and where its fruits become equitable opportunities for everyone,” Lee said about artificial intelligence, distilling the vision from his San Francisco AI Declaration of this past July. He was clear-eyed about the obstacles. Declining employment within the industry, the cloning of actors’ likenesses and voices, unresolved copyright questions and training data disputes are, Lee said, challenges “piled high as a mountain” that AI must clear before it can fulfill a genuinely positive role. The film and visual industry, he said, “is built upon human creativity while simultaneously speaking to human emotion – more than any other industry, it is one where humanity sits at the very center.” He called on the assembled industry leaders to ensure that “AI technology can be utilized grounded in human-centric values to support human growth.”
His remarks on theatrical exhibition were grounded in Korean data. South Korea ranked first in the world in per-capita cinema attendance in 2019, with 4.3 visits per person per year. Annual admissions exceeded 200 million before COVID-19 but were cut in half last year. “We must ensure that the theater experience we remember and cherish is passed down to the next generation,” Lee said, adding that reaching younger audiences required more films worth seeing in cinemas and a deliberate effort to bring them there.
“Independent cinema is, beyond any dispute, the future of the film industry and the engine of its sustainable growth,” Lee said. “The diverse experiments conducted through independent film serve as turning points that alter existing cinematic grammar.” Korea, he pledged, would become “a steadfast partner to independent cinema” as part of its multilateral commitments.
Lee placed the summit in a year of particular cinematic significance. It marks the 100th anniversary of “Don Juan,” the feature-length film that ushered in synchronized sound; the centennial of “The Adventures of Prince Achmed,” the oldest surviving feature-length animation; and the 100th anniversary of “Arirang” by director Na Woon-gyu, which marked the beginning of Korean national cinema. The film’s theme song, Lee noted, “became the music symbolizing the soul of the Korean people.”
Lee closed by quoting the Lumière brothers on the power of communal cinema: “From those thousand people merged into one, a sort of exaltation – a collective emotion – surged forth.” He expressed a hope that the summit would be “a light that brightly illuminates the path forward for the film and visual media industry.”
