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Screenwriters and directors on copyright reform

Screenwriters and directors call on European Parliament to put authors at heart of copyright reform

A delegation of audiovisual authors and their collective management organisations from across Europe met Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg to discuss copyright package ahead of the announcement of the winner of the European Parliament’s LUX Film Prize.

With the European Parliament about to start discussing the European Commission’s copyright package proposals, SAA and FERA brought screenwriters and directors from across Europe. During their meetings with MEPs, they encouraged them to change the rules to achieve two main objectives: ensure that authors are fairly remunerated when their works are seen; better support the circulation and promotion of European audiovisual works.

The delegation also met the teams of the three LUX Film Prize finalists (My life as a Courgette by Claude Barras, Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade and As I open my eyes by Leyla Bouzid) present in Strasbourg for the awarding of the 2016  LUX Film Prize on 23 November. The European Parliament’s cinema prize provides distribution support through subtitling in the 24 official European languages, an essential element of a films’ circulation across Europe.

The delegation was made up of SAA members from Croatia (DHFR), France (SACD, La Scam), Germany (VG Bild Kunst), Poland (ZAPA), Slovenia (AIPA), Spain (SGAE, DAMA) and the United Kingdom (ALCS, Directors UK) as well as Members of FERA’s board of directors from Germany, Slovenia and France. The authors in the delegation included:

  • Julia Altares (Amar en tiempos revueltos), Spain
  • Christophe Andrei (Plus Belle La Vie), France
  • Karolina Bielawska (Mów mi Marianna), Poland
  • Peter Carpentier  (Wie es Bleibt), Germany
  • Carlos Clavijo (Gernika), Spain
  • Klemen Dvornik (Kruha in Inger), Slovenia
  • Dariusz Gajewski (Obce Niebo), Poland
  • Anne Georget (Festins Imaginaires), France
  • Virginie Linhart (Lundi en Histoires - Manuel Valls : Le Matador), France
  • Jobst Ötzmann (Tatort), Germany
  • Di Redmond (NOKSU), UK
  • Tom Roberts (Company of Soldiers), UK
To download the press statement: click here.