DUBAI: Pioneering Saudi movie producer and CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation Faisal Baltyuor is representing the Kingdom’s growing role in the world of cinema and the visual arts at the Lumiere Summit in France. On Monday Baltyuor took part in a discussion titled “Easy to Criticize, Impossible to Replace: Rethinking the Festival” alongside the heads of other film festivals from around the world, including the Berlinale, the Toronto Film Festival and the Busan Film Festival. More than 200 guests from 55 countries, including Hollywood star George Clooney, gathered for the event, which takes its name from Auguste and Louis Lumiere — the French brothers considered to be the inventors of the motion picture. The summit, held in the medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, near Nice, aims to forge new alliances and spur action to support the film industry amid the threat of artificial intelligence and increasing competition from streaming platforms, AFP reported. French President Emmanuel Macron was also at the event and announced that France and South Korea would invest €1 billion ($1.15 billion) to support the audiovisual and entertainment sector. “Together we are committing €1 billion over five years to create what we have called the Lumiere Partnership, an initiative dedicated to supporting the audiovisual sector and cultural sovereignty,” he said at the event, which was co-chaired by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. According to a source familiar with the matter, €500 million will come from the French state investment bank Bpifrance and the rest from Seoul. South Korea is home to some of the world’s most celebrated filmmakers, including Park Chan-wook, who chaired the Cannes Film Festival jury this year, and Bong Joon-ho, the Oscar-winning director of “Parasite.” Macron also called for a new form of “multilateralism” to support the global film industry, which has been weakened by declining cinema attendance. “Because our works also capture something about our era and who we are and because behind every production there are creators, technicians, companies, jobs and an entire value chain, we must regain control over these major technological transformations,” he said. On AI, Macron said that “it would be a tremendous mistake” if the technology were to become a tool that “replaces, or claims to replace, authors, creators and voice actors.” The summit’s official closing panel, which Baltyuor will join, will focus on image education and the role of visual literacy in the 21st century.