France Launches IRIS, a Global Emergency Network for Independent Cinema, With an All-Star Filmmaker Council
France has launched a new international initiative to protect independent cinema worldwide, unveiled on Monday at the Lumiere Summit in Saint Paul de Vence and backed by a council of some of the most prominent film-makers working today.
The International Resilience Initiative for Independent Screens — IRIS — is a French government project spearheaded by President Emmanuel Macron and France's CNC, the national film body that funds and regulates French cinema. Its stated goal is to protect, strengthen and connect the cinemas, distributors and non-profit networks that make film diversity possible, with particular focus on regions where local film sectors are isolated, vulnerable or under threat (Variety).
The initiative comes with serious artistic firepower. Film-makers Richard Linklater, Rebecca Zlotowski, Jafar Panahi, Jane Campion, Pedro Almodóvar, Wim Wenders, Tarik Saleh and Jia Zhang-ke have signed on to take part. The broader international council adds Agnieszka Holland, Costa-Gavras, Jim Jarmusch, Tilda Swinton, Juliette Binoche, Vicky Krieps, Ira Sachs, Ruben Östlund, Kaouther Ben Hania and Thomas Vinterberg.
That is not a ceremonial list. These are directors and actors whose work depends on the independent financing structures IRIS aims to defend — the production companies, sales agents and distributors outside the major studio system that get smaller, riskier films onto screens.
IRIS is designed to act fast. It aims to establish a network able to intervene rapidly with emergency funding, expertise and international backing when an independent cinema, distributor or non-profit network is at risk. The initiative also includes a mission to bring new generations into cinemas through film education, building future audiences for independent film.
The Lumiere Summit, held at the Fondation Maeght art foundation and museum in Saint Paul de Vence, was the culmination of a broader push by Macron and the CNC for what they have called "multilateralism" around the future of film — a diplomatic framing for getting multiple countries to co-operate on cultural policy rather than each acting alone.
A second project was also on the table. The French government is working to establish the Lumiere Alliance, a network of global film commissions — the public bodies that support, defend or promote cinema and the moving image in their respective countries. The Alliance is open to any national agency or public body with that mission. It plans to host two gatherings per year: one around the Cannes Film Festival in May, and another in a different host country each year.
Macron plans to keep the momentum going. A gathering in New York on September 22 is scheduled to further discuss the IRIS plan, according to Variety.
For the independent film sector — where a single distributor closing can mean a country loses its arthouse pipeline — the promise of rapid international intervention is the part that catches the eye. Whether IRIS delivers on that promise will depend on which countries and institutions actually sign up in the months ahead.
