French President Emmanuel Macron published an op-ed on September 6, 2026, calling for a “new multilateralism” across film, television, animation and video games. The statement arrives ahead of the Lumière Summit, which Macron is co-hosting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to discuss the future of global entertainment. Macron anchored his argument in cinema history, pointing to the Lumière brothers’ first public screening in Paris in 1895, where audiences watched 10 short films lasting less than a minute each. More than 130 years later, moving images have expanded from movie theaters to television sets, computers and smartphones, making screens the main gateway to visual culture. So, Are Screens the Problem? According to Macron, the technology itself is neutral; the real issue is how people use it and how platforms shape attention. He cited parental concerns about children’s focus, teachers competing with constant digital distractions, artists struggling to reach audiences and governments trying to regulate technology that changes faster than legislation. Macron also acknowledged the darker side of the image-saturated internet, including social media’s potential to overwhelm users and contribute to what some critics describe as a form of “cognitive war.” Still, he argued that screens have expanded access to films, ideas and cultures around the world, making the answer less about abandoning them and more about rebuilding a healthier relationship with them. The president’s central pitch is equal parts warning and challenge: society helped create today’s screen economy, so society can redesign it. With the Lumière Summit bringing entertainment leaders together, Macron is positioning cinema, TV and gaming as cultural forces that need international cooperation rather than isolated national fixes.