Lyon's classic-film market puts Greece and Taiwan in the spotlight
Old films get their own business week in Lyon next week.
The International Classic Film Market, known as the MIFC, will hold its 14th edition on Oct. 13-16 alongside the Lumière Film Festival, according to Variety. It is a marketplace devoted entirely to classic and heritage film, meaning restored older titles that are bought and sold for re-release in cinemas, on disc and on streaming platforms.
The market forms part of Lyon's Lumière Festival, which is run by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux, Variety reported. The venue is changing too. The MIFC is moving from the Institut Lumière to the Grand Hôtel-Dieu in Lyon.
Greece is this year's country of honour. Taiwan gets its own dedicated Focus.
The Greek spotlight comes with money behind it. Greece is rolling out a €750 million ($840 million) Greece On Screen plan that supports production and distribution and funds preservation, digitisation and restoration of film heritage, Variety reported. The festival programme adds context with a retrospective titled 'L'Âge d'or du cinéma grec', or Golden Age of Greek cinema, according to the Festival Lumière.
The interest in library titles is widening. Major groups such as Studiocanal and Warner Bros. have created dedicated catalogue labels, separate divisions that manage and exploit older films, Variety reported.
The wider Lumière Festival brings the public-facing side. Guests listed for the 2026 edition include Zhang Ziyi, Agnès Jaoui, Todd Haynes, Nadine Labaki, Tsui Hark, Robert Eggers, Abel Ferrara and Caleb Deschanel, according to the Festival Lumière. The closing screening is Joel and Ethan Coen's The Big Lebowski. There will also be a special screening of Tigre & Dragon in the presence of Zhang Ziyi.
Collectors get their corner as well. Lumière 2026 includes the 8th edition of the Salon du DVD et Blu-Ray, the DVD and Blu-Ray fair, according to the Festival Lumière.
What makes this stand out is the pairing. One half is trade deals for films made decades ago. The other is a city festival with stars, retrospectives and physical discs still on the table.
