South Korean President Lee Jae Myung used his opening address at the Lumière Summit on Monday to announce a €500 million ($581 million) film industry investment commitment by the Republic of Korea – matching an equal pledge from France – and to make the case for AI that serves human creativity rather than supplanting it. Speaking at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Lee ranged across independent cinema, the global streaming ecosystem, the crisis facing theatrical exhibition and the centenary of three landmark films, in a speech that was equal parts policy statement and cultural manifesto. Korea proposed the arrangement – known as the Lumière Partnership – and France “enthusiastically welcomed” it, Lee said.
He was clear-eyed about the obstacles. Declining employment within the industry, the cloning of actors’ likenesses and voices, unresolved copyright questions and training data disputes are, Lee said, challenges “piled high as a mountain” that AI must clear before it can fulfill a genuinely positive role. The film and visual industry, he said, “is built upon human creativity while simultaneously speaking to human emotion – more than any other industry, it is one where humanity sits at the very center.” He called on the assembled industry leaders to ensure that “AI technology can be utilized grounded in human-centric values to support human growth.” His remarks on theatrical exhibition were grounded in Korean data.
South Korea ranked first in the world in per-capita cinema attendance in 2019, with 4.3 visits per person per year. Annual admissions exceeded 200 million before COVID-19 but were cut in half last year. Lee placed the summit in a year of particular cinematic significance.
It marks the 100th anniversary of “Don Juan,” the feature-length film that ushered in synchronized sound; the centennial of “The Adventures of Prince Achmed,” the oldest surviving feature-length animation; and the 100th anniversary of “Arirang” by director Na Woon-gyu, which marked the beginning of Korean national cinema. The film’s theme song, Lee noted, “became the music symbolizing the soul of the Korean people.” Lee closed by quoting the Lumière brothers on the power of communal cinema: “From those thousand people merged into one, a sort of exaltation – a collective emotion – surged forth.” He expressed a hope that the summit would be “a light that brightly illuminates the path forward for the film and visual media industry.”
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