Lumière declaration on the future of cinema and the moving image.

We, representatives of Countries, Regions, International Organizations, leaders of the film, television and gaming industries, creators, talents, festivals and cultural institutions from across the world, gathered in Saint-Paul-de-Vence on 7 September 2026 for the Lumière Summit, convened under the co-chairmanship of the President of the French Republic and the President of the Republic of Korea, stand at a pivotal moment for the moving image.

As artificial intelligence transforms the conditions of creation, as audiences discover new ways to engage with stories, and as audiovisual experiences become an increasingly important part of our lives, the choices we make today will help ensure the value of the moving image continues to grow, culturally as much as economically. We recognise that this value engages the future of our industries as much as the future of our societies.

With these opportunities also comes a shared responsibility. Across our different roles, markets and cultures, we are connected by a common interest in a thriving and diverse audiovisual ecosystem. Building on what unites us, we lay here the foundations of a multilateralism of the moving image. It rests on two convictions: first, that the issues which affect us all are best addressed through cooperation; and second, that every party - States, companies, creators and institutions - has a legitimate and important role to play in this shared endeavour.

To this end, we adopt the following principles and, each within our respective roles and competences, commit to act upon them.

1. We place works at the centre. Moving images are a common good: a vehicle for emotion, memory and knowledge, for individual emancipation and collective transformation, for shared culture. At a time when the supply of content has never been more abundant, ambitious and intentional works remain irreplaceable. They shape imaginations, convey shared narratives, open new perspectives on the world, give rise to the intellectual properties of tomorrow and create lasting cultural and economic value. The future of our industries will be defined by the works we choose to create and support.

2. We refuse to reduce images to the attention they capture. How societies, and young people first among them, engage with screens is a fundamental question, for the vitality of our sectors as much as for the development and wellbeing of future generations. Professional creators, producers, and distributors invest in the development, production, and stewardship of stories with a commitment to quality, responsibility, and accessibility for audiences. Where images are created, curated and distributed by those who answer for them, audiences find not only compelling stories but environments they can rely on. As digital technologies evolve, we reaffirm that the attention of an audience is not a resource to be captured, but a trust to be honoured.

3. We invest in creation and its renewal. The vitality of the moving image depends on its capacity for renewal: new voices, new talents, new stories, new intellectual properties, new technologies and new business models. This requires environments that reward creators’ experimentation and creative risk-taking. Public support can play a vital role by enabling risk-taking and early-stage development, complementing the commitments of broadcasters, platforms, distributors, and other private partners. The capacity of creators and producers to develop their works over time is a condition of this renewal, as is the emergence of the next generation of professionals. Those who benefit from the distribution and exploitation of works have both a responsibility and a direct interest in the next generation of creation.

4. We defend the diversity of works. The diversity of works, across budgets, languages, genres, formats and geographies, is not a constraint on competitiveness; it is its foundation. Cultural diversity allows a plurality of stories, cultures and perspectives to flourish, and strengthens the vitality, resilience and attractiveness of our creative ecosystems.

5. We recognize the audiovisual industry as an engine of economic growth. Alongside its important cultural and social value, the audiovisual industry is a powerful engine of economic growth. It drives investment across a broad range of businesses, creates jobs, cultivates a highly skilled workforce, fosters innovation, and generates an important economic activity. We commit to promoting a competitive and sustainable audiovisual ecosystem.

6. We seek to promote discoverability. In an environment of abundance, ensuring that works can be discovered, circulate in a balanced manner across venues and platforms, and reach their audiences has become as essential as their creation. We are equally mindful of the new opportunities and challenges posed by agentic artificial intelligence and the possible advent of a world in which access to works would increasingly be mediated by automated agents. We recognize the importance of distinctive works being visible and accessible to audiences.

7. We reaffirm the enduring value of the theatrical experience. Cinema offers a unique way of turning a creative work into a collective experience, creating a sense of occasion that helps to build community, as well as cultural and economic value. Sustaining theatrical exhibition is a shared interest across the sector. Diversity needs cinemas in order to thrive; cinemas need diversity in order to fulfil their cultural, economic and social role.

8. We build works and creative universes that travel. Stories now move across formats and borders. International co-production diversifies risk, enriches works and binds our ecosystems together; cross-media creation extends universes and brings them to new audiences. We will deepen cooperation and exchanges between established and emerging markets, share expertise and support the creative capacities of every territory, so that the diversity of the world’s stories finds its way onto the world’s screens.

9. We protect works against piracy. Piracy erodes the value of creation, the remuneration of creators and the financing of future works. When creation is not rewarded, it cannot be renewed. We commit to strengthening international cooperation to combat piracy in all its forms.

10. We embrace technology while protecting intellectual property. Cinema was born from the encounter of technology and art, and artificial intelligence can strengthen creativity, innovation and the circulation of works - provided it becomes a driver of creation. Human-created works remain the foundation of our creative industries and the source of the stories, characters, and cultural experiences that inspire and educate audiences worldwide. Human creation should always remain at the heart and foundation of works. Respect for intellectual property is foundational for the moving image industry’s viability.

11. We defend the freedom to create. Freedom of creation is a condition of the vitality and diversity of the moving image. In many parts of the world, creators continue to face political, economic or social pressures that threaten their ability to create and to be heard. We support the development of international networks of solidarity that protect endangered voices and uphold the conditions necessary for artistic expression.

12. We advance gender balance, safety and inclusion. Because the moving image sector has the power to shape and to change representations, our industry must be exemplary in the exercise of that power. The sector has the power to shape how we see ourselves and the world. The richness of the stories we tell depends on the diversity of those who create them. We will work to ensure that everyone can contribute fully to our industries in safe, fair and inclusive environments.

13. We recognise the urgency of safeguarding the world’s moving image heritage. Only a fraction of our common moving image legacy has been preserved to date, and we have entered the critical period for the conservation of physical archives, whose elements degrade inexorably over time. This heritage is an irreplaceable legacy, in which our stories, our languages, and our collective identities are inscribed. Its safeguarding demands sustained investment and international solidarity among governments, archives, foundations and philanthropies, so that every country can pass its memory on, alive and visible, to future generations.

14. We support more sustainable production solutions. We will work toward developing best practices, flexible standards, and practical tools for the design and implementation of sustainable production, distribution and exhibition.

15. We make image education a literacy for the twenty-first century. Just as previous centuries pursued universal literacy in the written word, the age of images demands an equally ambitious commitment to image literacy. Image education builds independent judgement, fosters a healthier and more active relationship to screens, opens the way to encounters with ambitious works and prepares the renewal of audiences on which our common future depends. It finds its privileged home in the cinema: one of the last places where individual screens are switched off and where we learn, again, to watch together. We support the launch, with UNESCO and partner countries, of an international initiative to recognise image education as a universal ambition and promote it, starting from early education programmes, worldwide.

We agree to remain collectively engaged with these questions and to review together the progress achieved.

Two hundred years after the first photograph, and one hundred and thirty years after the Lumière brothers’ first public screening of the Cinématographe, the Lumière Summit opens a new chapter: the moving image now has the beginnings of a global governance - a multilateralism meant to grow, through new initiatives, new partners and future gatherings.

Adopted at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 7 September 2026.