Belgian Director Michaël R. Roskam to join FERA Creative Council
29 March 2016
Brussels, March 25 2016
Following his participation in their recent “Directors in Dialogue” session at the Sofia International Film Festival, Belgian Director and President of Unie van Regisseurs, Michaël R. Roskam, is to join FERA’s Creative Council.
Chaired by Sir Alan Parker, the Creative Council is composed of some of Europe’s leading directors, offering advice and counsel to the FERA Board as well as taking part in debates on the future of the cinema and Europe’s audiovisual industries more generally.The move follows a ‘Directors in Dialogue’ session at which Oscar-nominated Roskam (RUNDSKOP, THE DROP), who is President of the Flemish Directors’ Guild Unie van Regisseurs , partnered with award-winning young Bulgarian Director Pavel G. Vesnakov to share insights on their careers to date and discuss the challenge facing young directors working in Europe today.
Pavel G. Vesnakov talked about making the leap from short to feature film in Bulgaria: “This a difficult subject for me, it’s not going smoothly, we have problems with financing films in Bulgaria, it concerns all young Bulgarian directors. The saddest thing with this, outside of Bulgaria, I sense expectations from others for my next film, but no one cares about this here besides a small community. I have German and French producers.”
Michaël R. Roskam was supportive of Vesnakov’s struggle in this crucial moment in his career, and talked about his experience working both in Europe and in the United States, pointing out how important it is to have a firm grasp of the business of film in order for directors to build sustainable careers: “In Europe, the people who get the money own the film, in America the people who gives the money owns the film. (…) Making a film is so hard, you have to be aware about business issues, you have to motivate the people with the money to invest in your film.”
FERA Chair Dan Clifton commented: ‘I am delighted to welcome Michaël R. Roskam to our Creative Council. He will bring his considerable firepower to the cause of campaigning for directors’ creative and economic rights at an important time of change in the European film and television industries.’
While in Sofia, FERA also met with its Bulgarian Member UBFM (Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers) and a representative of the Bulgarian Collecting Society FilmAutor. FERA’s Board members heard about the issues facing by Bulgarian directors on a daily basis, ranging from contractual bargaining with broadcasters and private copying levies, to the Bulgarian audiovisual landscape’s current challenges, the impact of the international tax incentive on Bulgarian audiovisual creation and the upcoming refit of the Film Industry Act.
