Lee, Macron launch global film, audiovisual investment initiative

President Lee Jae Myung and French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday committed 500 million euros ($581 million) each to support the two countries' film and audiovisual industries as the sector navigates sweeping technological and structural changes.

The two leaders unveiled the Global Film and Audiovisual Industry Investment Cooperation Initiative, dubbed the Lumiere Partnership, while co-chairing the inaugural Lumiere Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France. Set to begin in 2027, the plan amounts to roughly 800 billion won in investment from each country over five years.

The Lumiere Summit marked the first international summit devoted to cinema and the moving image. Discussions centered on how changing audience habits, the rise of global streaming platforms and the rapid advance of artificial intelligence are reshaping cinema, television, animation and video games. Participants also examined how the value created by moving images can be generated, shared and sustained over time.

In his opening address, Lee pointed to several challenges confronting the industry, including the crisis facing movie theaters following the COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of streaming services.

He also cited the threats and opportunities posed by generative AI, including its impact on jobs, the replication of performers’ likenesses and voices, copyright and training data.

Lee stressed the need to sustain independent cinema and content diversity while finding ways for local content industries and global streaming platforms to coexist and grow together.

He cast those pressures as both risks and opportunities, calling on industry leaders to turn the rapid transformation of the media landscape into a source of new growth.

Against that backdrop, Lee underlined that South Korea would “take the lead in creating local content that can resonate with humanity across the barriers of borders and language,” announcing the launch of the investment initiative with France.

Lee further said Seoul would play “a responsible role so that coexistence and mutual prosperity between the local and the global can become the foremost principle of the film and audiovisual industry worldwide.”

“To that end, I would like to announce here today the launch of the global film and audiovisual industry investment cooperation initiative for the prosperity and mutual growth of the film and audiovisual industry,” Lee said.

Lee said the partnership, proposed by South Korea and embraced by France, was intended to extend beyond investment in each country’s domestic industry.

Along with efforts to revitalize their respective film and audiovisual sectors, the partnership “will lead to joint investment and co-productions between our two countries, and will serve as a solid stepping-stone for local content to advance onto the global stage,” Lee said.

“I hope this partnership will go beyond the bilateral relationship and expand across the world, becoming a light that brightly illuminates a new future for the global film and audiovisual industry,” he added.

Cheong Wa Dae explained the initiative is designed as a flexible partnership and will allow participating countries to use independent funds to prioritize support for their own local content companies, with cooperation expected to expand over time into areas such as joint productions.

Lee framed the industry’s upheaval as part of a recurring pattern in which technological change does not necessarily wipe out what came before.

“Each time a change came about, it was assumed that the new would replace the old, but this has not always been the case,” Lee said. “Continuous innovation and sterling creativity have been the key to turning crises into opportunities.”

Lee stressed that “the future of the film and audiovisual industry will be even brighter if we build a healthy ecosystem rooted in mutual growth and coexistence.”

As a broader outcome of the summit, participants adopted the Lumiere Declaration on the Future of Film and Audiovisual Works, laying out global principles for governments, creators and industry players as technological and structural shifts transform the sector.

The declaration calls for protecting human-centered creation and intellectual property rights while safeguarding diversity and creative independence, sustaining the theatrical ecosystem, defending artistic freedom and ensuring fair compensation for creators.

Around 200 people from some 50 countries attended the Lumiere Summit, including culture ministers from around the world, representatives of international organizations, film and audiovisual industry executives and experts, as well as directors, actors and other creatives.

Macron formally invited Lee to co-chair the summit and proposed a state visit to France during the French president's state visit to South Korea in April, which marked the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.