INSTITUTIONS / LEGISLATION Europe
by Cineuropa
– Several professional organisations from across the continent are speaking out on the issues of the cultural exception, Agora EU, independence, the AVMS Directive and generative AI
At the initiative of ARP – Civil Society of Authors-Directors-Producers and the SRF – Society of Film Directors in France, ARPI in Belgium, 100 Autori, ANAC (National Association of Italian Filmmakers) and the Writers Guild Italia in Italy, the ARAS (Association of Czech Film Directors, Screenwriters and Script Editors), the Portuguese Association of Filmmakers (APR), the Directors Guild of Cyprus and the Estonian Association of Audiovisual Authors, an open letter by European filmmakers has taken a stand in light of the crucial upcoming decisions concerning cinema and the audiovisual sector set to be made in Brussels and Strasbourg.
“We will remain extremely vigilant regarding all of the issues that concern and mobilise us: guaranteeing a cultural legal framework for cinema and the audiovisual sector, in accordance with the Treaty of Lisbon and the fundamental principle of cultural exception; maintaining directives as regulatory tools; ensuring, through Agora EU, a budget greater than that of MEDIA, with earmarked and protected funding dedicated exclusively to independent film and audiovisual creation, and to the circulation of these works throughout Europe; securing a definition of independence that excludes any capital ties with broadcasters or content publishers, as well as any company controlled and/or majority-owned by non-European capital; obtaining an ambitious revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), by strengthening quotas and establishing fairness among all broadcasters and content publishers; and urgently regulating generative AI in order to protect the value and integrity of our rights, one of the richest raw materials of our continent.
“At a time when the world is facing multiple crises, it is essential that the free and diverse voices and images of European creators be defended and guaranteed by our European institutions through active and ambitious cultural policies.”
