# Festival Leaders Confront Growing Political Pressure at Lumiere Summit: ‘We Don’t Judge Artists by Their Passport’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/festival-leaders-confront-growing-political-pressure-at-lumiere-summit-we-dont-judge-artists-by-their-passport/
- Published: 2026-09-07T12:09:33+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-07T12:32:52+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/news/lumiere-summit-festival-panel-political-protection-1236853995/
- Topics: Art, Culture, Entertainment, Europe, Film, Geopolitics, Music, Politics, World

## Key points

- Festival leaders at Lumière Summit push back on political pressure over artists' nationalities
- Panel united Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, Red Sea and other festival chiefs
- Speakers also flagged shrinking press resources and audience-building priorities

## Summary

Festival directors from around the world gathered at the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, for a panel on Monday addressing mounting political pressure on their events. Séries Mania's Laurence Herszberg led calls for programming independence, insisting that artists should be judged by their work rather than their nationality, while other leaders echoed concerns that festivals are increasingly targeted by politicians and interest groups objecting to the inclusion of certain countries' talent.

The panel, "Easy to Criticize, Impossible to Replace: Rethinking the Festival," was moderated by MoMA's Rajendra Roy and featured chiefs from Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastián, Annecy, Mumbai, Durban, the Red Sea and South by Southwest, covering audiences, media relations and economic and political strain. Toronto's Cameron Bailey backed the call for artistic neutrality and highlighted the festival's new market and 15-year-old youth programme; Berlin's Tricia Tuttle, whose festival drew 450,000 admissions last year amid political controversy, stressed audience development; Cannes' Iris Knobloch cited 40,000 accredited participants from 140 countries; and San Sebastián's Maialen Beloki warned of shrinking press coverage undermining thoughtful film criticism.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.