Macron opened the Lumière Summit at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence

On 7 September 2026 the first Lumière Summit took place at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence — a meeting dedicated to the future of cinema and moving images. Its co-chairs were the president of France Emmanuel Macron and the president of South Korea Lee Jae-myung.

220 participants from 65 countries

Around 220 industry representatives from 65 countries travelled to the hill: executives from Netflix, Disney, Sony, NBCUniversal and TikTok, producers, directors and representatives of international organisations. Fondation Maeght was completely closed to the public from 5 to 7 September, and the summit programme continued until 9 September (TBM06).

The format was deliberately modelled on climate negotiations — participants called it «the Davos of cinema». The only historical precedent for such a meeting is the International Congress of Cinema in Paris in 1926.

One billion euros and the Iris fund

The main outcome of the day was the Franco–Korean Lumière partnership: one billion euros over five years to support the moving-image industry. Separately announced was the organisation Iris — €30 million for independent cinema, backed by the Dardenne brothers, Jafar Panahi, Pedro Almodóvar and Sofia Coppola (franceinfo).

The cause for concern is shared: cinema attendance has fallen by 40% in five years, and on top of that there is generative artificial intelligence and competition from the smartphone. «If we do not manage to respond effectively to these changes, a crisis is inevitable,» warned Lee Jae-myung. Macron spoke of cultural sovereignty and of how it is the moving image that is experiencing the most profound upheavals today.

Clooney arrived in a small Fiat

Among the well-known guests on the hill were George Clooney, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert and Pedro Almodóvar. Clooney arrived in a small Fiat, greeted locals and dined with Macron in the evening — it is less than a two-hour drive from his Le Canadel estate near Brignoles to Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Macron separately recalled Costa-Gavras and his many years of work at the head of the Cinémathèque Française.

It is also telling who was not at the summit: major companies working on artificial intelligence and YouTube declined their invitations.

Cinema on the coast is not sustained by summits alone: the Cannes-based studio Riviera Film Production is at the same time seeking partners at the Venice Film Festival, and Fitzgerald’s legacy on the Riviera serves as a reminder that cinema arrived here a century ago.

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Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels