Lumiere Summit Shakes Up Film Industry: Leaders Demand Gender Equality, Forge Global Declarations

The recent Lumière Summit, co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, served as a crucial forum for addressing pressing issues facing the global cinema and moving image industries. Discussions at the summit spanned from the persistent challenge of gender imbalance in key creative roles to the critical need for strengthened international cooperation against film and audiovisual piracy, highlighting a dual focus on internal industry reform and external protection.

A significant portion of the summit was dedicated to the panel titled “Safer Sets, Different Stories: Why Gender Balance Matters,” which starkly revealed the slow progress in achieving gender equality. Data presented showed that women held only 23% of key behind-camera roles last year, a mere six-point increase since tracking began in 1998. Anna Marsh, CEO of Studiocanal and deputy CEO of Canal+, emphasized that the industry should view gender balance as an investment in its future, not a constraint. She highlighted that despite 50% of film school graduates being women, only one in six directors reaches their third feature, and women directors receive, on average, 44% of the budget assigned to their male counterparts. Canal+ has committed an additional €1 million over three years to finance projects by female writers and directors, with a film about silent cinema pioneer Alice Guy by Anne Le Ny already in development.

Ben Roberts, Director General of the British Film Institute (BFI), reinforced the argument with findings from the BFI’s ‘Sight and Sound’ “Greatest Films of All Time” poll. The number of films directed by women in the top 100 rose from three in 2012 to eleven in 2022, demonstrating women’s capability in creating exceptional cinema and underscoring the tragedy of inequality. Roberts advocated for structural measures like the BFI’s Inclusion Standards and the new Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, urging international co-production partners to align on shared minimum standards. Tricia Tuttle, Berlinale Festival Director, provided her festival’s data, showing an increase from 0% women-directed films in competition in 2005 to 40% by 2025, attributing this progress to transparency. She also noted that films with greater gender balance consistently perform better commercially, lamenting the wasted creative energy women expend on justifying their work.

Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF), shared that TIFF’s programming team has maintained around 50% women for over a decade, with 35% of its 2026 selection directed by women. He credited the ‘Share Her Journey’ initiative, launched in 2017, to the belief that gatekeepers must actively champion women's work, recalling instances where women's films faced undue skepticism. Filmmaker Angèle Diabang from Senegal introduced the Mousso Institute, which she founded in 2022 to train women as cinematographers, sound engineers, lighting technicians, and editors free of charge in Casamance, decentralizing opportunities. Diabang stressed competence as a form of emancipation, ensuring women are chosen for their skill, not merely to fulfill quotas. France’s CNC has also implemented significant measures, requiring gender-based violence training for all French production cast and crew since 2021, and from 2027, will introduce a bonus-penalty mechanism linking funding to gender targets, penalizing productions with fewer than 40% women crew and rewarding those that meet or exceed this threshold. Canal+ was the first company to join the Safe Place movement, supporting victims of violence on set and in daily life. Moderator Patrick Caligiuri expressed hope that future summits would no longer need to address this panel.

Concurrently, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) played a pivotal role in discussions concerning the industry’s future and integrity. The MPA signed two critical declarations at the summit: the Lumière Declaration on the Future of Cinema and the Moving Image, and the Declaration on Strengthened International Cooperation in the Fight Against Film and Audiovisual Piracy. MPA Chair and CEO Charles Rivkin participated in two business roundtables, engaging with President Lee on Korea’s creative sector and with President Macron on strengthening ties with France’s creative sector, both sessions including MPA member studio CEOs. Rivkin underscored that the industry thrives on compelling storytelling and acts as a global force for openness, investment, and a driver of jobs and growth, emphasizing the summit's role in fostering cooperation.

Emilie Anthonis, President and Managing Director of the MPA’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region, contributed to a session on Korea’s expanding role in the worldwide film and television industry, also featuring President Lee. Furthermore, she appeared in “The Race Against Piracy: A Global Challenge,” where she highlighted the efforts of the MPA and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, in combating cross-border content theft. Anthonis welcomed the summit’s acknowledgment that protecting intellectual property and fighting piracy are fundamental to sustaining the creative economy. The MPA’s member studios include Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

The Lumière Summit thus served as a dual platform, addressing both the internal ethical imperative of gender balance and the external economic necessity of intellectual property protection, laying groundwork for a more inclusive, secure, and prosperous future for the global film and audiovisual industry.