France has moved to strengthen international cooperation across the film and audiovisual industries following the Lumière Summit, a high-level gathering that brought together more than 200 creators, industry leaders and public decision-makers representing 60 countries, regions and international organisations.

The summit was jointly chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and took place at Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The event focused on the rapid technological, economic and geopolitical changes reshaping cinema, audiovisual production and the video-game sector.

A major outcome was the adoption of the Lumière Declaration, which received more than 120 signatures. The declaration establishes principles for a new form of international cooperation in cinema and animated-image industries.

The initiative seeks to protect the importance of creative works and their authors while encouraging innovation and maintaining cultural diversity. It also highlights the need for creators to receive fair compensation as new technologies and changing business models reshape the entertainment industry.

Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are creating significant opportunities for the creative sector, but they are also raising questions about authorship, remuneration and the future role of human creators. The summit therefore aimed to move beyond simply identifying these challenges and encourage governments and industry representatives to develop practical responses.

France also used the event to underline its ambition to remain an attractive destination for international film, television and video-game productions. The government has been working to strengthen the country’s competitiveness for overseas productions through changes to its international tax-credit framework.

The French presidency described the summit as an opportunity for the global creative community to organise around a shared vision at a time of major technological and economic transformation.

The Lumière initiative represents an effort to establish broader international cooperation around the future of cinema, with cultural diversity, innovation, creator rights and human creativity placed at the centre of the proposed framework.

The official French presidential website published the summit information and related declaration on September 7, 2026, making it the latest major press-release item identified on the Élysée’s official news listing.