For the first time in its 26-year history, Lyon’s Festival of Lights featured a drone show.
From December 5 to 8, 2025, Allumee presented a poetic spectacle with its show *L’Éveil des Lumières*, an aerial ballet featuring 500 drones performed above the lake in Tête d’Or Park.
Artistic Creativity in the Service of Technology
“The Awakening of Light” is an 8-minute journey tracing the history of light in all its forms.
A show created by Pierre Gruner, artistic director, and his team of eight performers.
Each scene has been carefully designed to stimulate the senses and evoke emotions.
The 500 light points transform in turn into swirling galaxies and flickering flames, all synchronized to a musical soundtrack by Disjoint Square, further immersing the audience in this innovative show.
Among the most memorable scenes were the depiction of the small candles placed in windows every December 8 and the appearance of the Fourvière Basilica, recreated in three dimensions. This creative take on the city’s heritage particularly resonated with the people of Lyon.
An additional magical effect: the drones synchronize in a natural-looking way, mimicking the flight of a flock of birds. This meticulous and daring project has produced a result that is completely unprecedented in France.
An unprecedented technical feat
It was a bold undertaking: staging nine performances in a single evening with only a 30-minute interval between each show. “A major technical and operational challenge ,” revealed Xavier Chauchard, our sales director, during the official press conference for the Festival of Lights.
To ensure the success of the operation, Clément Petit, our chief operating officer, and his team implemented a special protocol.
On site, about 30 employees were assigned to the event, including the two drone pilots who took turns managing nearly 40 consecutive flights over four evenings.
The operational base was set up on Souvenir Island, in the middle of the lake, providing a strategic command post for the teams and allowing for optimal oversight of the entire aerial display.
On the ground between each performance, a second “ballet” was taking place with the same meticulous care: recharging the batteries, checking the Drotek IO Star 3 drones, loading the “dance,” and preparing for the next flight… all in just a few minutes!
The figures behind this exceptional operation set a record:
- 500 drones deployed every 30 minutes
- Nearly 40 performances
- More than 6 hours of cumulative drone flight time
- More than 60 professionals have been mobilized
- More than 200,000 amazed spectators
Public and media recognition
The public has overwhelmingly embraced this technological innovation.
The excitement was so great that on some nights the line would sometimes stretch on for over two hours!
More than 200,000 spectators came to see it—that’s more than 50,000 per night.
The show generated exceptional media coverage: France 3, BFM TV, Le Progrès, Radio Scoop, and about 50 national and regional media outlets ran stories on this premiere.
On December 4, during the premiere performance for elected officials, patrons, and some 50 journalists in attendance, the reactions at the venue attested to the show’s impact.
France Info described it as “a shower of stars and, for a moment, the feeling of being at the center of the world.”
Lyon Capitale described the show as “the production that undoubtedly generated the most buzz over the weekend in Lyon.”
At the Trophée des Lumières, *L’Éveil des Lumières* received 17% of the votes, ranking second among the audience’s favorite works, just behind *Les Malles Persanes* (23%).
Five Years of Perseverance
This historic participation is the culmination of five years of efforts to win over the City of Lyon.“Lyon has become my city; it was only natural to want to make Allumee a part of the history of the Festival of Lights,” our CEO, Édouard Ferrari, told Light Zoom Lumière.
Julien Pavillard, director of the Festival of Lights, challenged the team creatively, pushing us to go beyond a mere technological demonstration and create a true work of art.
Mission accomplished.
