South Korea, France launch 'Lumière Partnership' with W1.6tr film investment

South Korea and France co-hosted the Lumière Summit, an international film and screen industry conference, at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, on Monday (local time), with both countries pledging bold investment in the film and content sector.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the summit was held to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and France and to establish the world's first multilateral response framework for the screen industry in the birthplace of cinema. The two countries plan to channel around 800 billion won ($590 million) into the film and screen industry over the next five years, leading efforts to restore the creative ecosystem in response to sweeping transformation driven by the spread of OTT platforms and advances in AI.

More than 200 government officials, company representatives, public institution staff and creators from over 50 countries gathered at the summit, where South Korean businesses and government representatives met with key players in the international screen industry to forge concrete cooperation.

At the opening ceremony, co-chaired by President Lee Jae Myung and French President Emmanuel Macron, the two countries announced the launch of the International Film and Screen Industry Investment Cooperation Initiative — known as the Lumière Partnership. The initiative commits around 800 billion won to the film and screen sector over five years, with the aim of rebuilding the creative ecosystem amid the rapid expansion of OTT services and the rise of AI.

A steering committee comprising relevant agencies from both sides, including South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and France's Ministry of Culture, will also be established to develop concrete bilateral cooperation on content production, investment and distribution.

The summit also saw a series of agreements between South Korean and international content companies and institutions. Production company SLL and MediaOne, Europe's largest media group, agreed to jointly develop localized remakes of each other's intellectual property formats for the Korean and European markets, as well as co-productions across multiple genres targeting the global market.

Naver and France's Institut National de l'Audiovisuel signed a strategic MOU to combine AI technology with audiovisual cultural heritage archives. The Korean Film Council also signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with the Motion Picture Association covering talent discovery and development, professional personnel exchange, information and knowledge sharing, and screening events.

On the sidelines of the summit, Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young met Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and officially signed a Korea-Italy film co-production agreement.

The agreement addresses the limitations of the existing audiovisual co-production framework, which required the participation of at least two EU member states, and establishes a direct bilateral foundation for film co-production between the two countries.

In his closing remarks, Minister Choi said the summit was "a historic milestone that enabled deep communication across borders through the shared language of film and screen, and built a bridge of solidarity for a sustainable future." He added that the South Korean government "will broaden creative freedom and spare no policy or institutional support as the most trusted partner and hub for international screen content production."