AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.An A-list gathering in the French Riviera aimed to serve as a rallying cry for a sector threatened by YouTube, TikTok and artificial intelligence.Listen · 5:51 min Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Lee Jae Myung of South Korea chaired the “Lumiere Summit,” about the future of cinema, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, on Monday.Credit...Pool photo by Valery HacheSept. 7, 2026When France played host to a United Nations climate conference 11 years ago, it could credibly claim that the fate of humanity hung in the balance. It made no such claims on Monday, when French officials gathered people from around the world to discuss the crisis in the global film industry.Yet some of the language was familiar. At a time when Netflix, YouTube and TikTok are draining viewers away from movie theaters, and artificial intelligence is altering how movies are made, the threats to cinema are existential and demand a multilateral response, the event’s organizers said.“We have never watched so many screens, and yet, by watching everything, we run the risk of ending up seeing nothing at all,” said President Emmanuel Macron of France, who chaired the conference along with Lee Jae Myung, the president of South Korea, which has become a film power in recent years.Macron announced initiatives to educate young people about cinema, preserve aging film stock, save independent theaters and pour resources into domestic film industries. France and Korea each pledged 500 million euros ($580 million) to support filmmakers in their countries.Whether the president’s call to collective action will be heeded was far from clear. Entertainment companies tend to go their own way, and even the Paris climate accord was later abandoned by President Trump (twice).Much of the day was a kind of Davos for the Cannes Film Festival set. Executives and artists held forth about the many challenges to the industry, against the backdrop of a medieval village perched above the French Riviera. Among the 250 or so attendees was the actor George Clooney, the director Costa-Gavras, and senior executives from Netflix, the Walt Disney Company and NBC Universal.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT