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News

Danish film is locked inside the cinema

23 November 2012

Never have the opportunities to reach the public been better – but paradoxically, the film industry has chosen to ignore them.

By: Annette K. Olesen, Film Director

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Danish film reviewer Ole Michelsen was famous for rounding off his film review programme ‘Bogart’ with the words: “Remember, films are meant to be seen in cinemas”. This pay-off went on to become the golden rule for film aficionados and the film industry in Denmark. The autumn is the peak season for cinemas, and this year the season has kicked off with an intense debate on the topic: Crisis in the Danish film industry. The quasi-religious immutability of the ritual is under threat; quite simply, too few people are buying admission tickets to Danish films.

Thus far, commonly held – and voiced – opinions back the conclusion that films which cannot generate sufficient cinema ticket sales to turn a financial profit are, by definition, poor films. Phew! What a relief for the distributors and cinema owners, who can wash their hands of the whole mess. And the studio execs can go back to staring fixedly at the bottom line with a clear conscience – after all, you cannot polish a turd. Everyone knows who to blame: the screenwriters, the directors and the Danish Film Institute (DFI), which considered the films significant in the first place. But no-one is taking a step back to consider whether the conclusion is really as obvious as all that. In Denmark in years gone by, milk was sold from dairy stores and delivered to homes by horse-drawn milk floats; let there be no doubt about it, if the grocery trade had been left in the hands of film distributors and cinema owners, the clip-clop of horses’ hooves would still be echoing down the streets of Copenhagen.

I would hazard the guess that the problem here is not the milk itself. The crisis is not about a shortage of narratives and ambitious screenwriters and directors; it is actually directly comparable to the current financial crisis in that those with responsibility for the financial situation have – stubborn as donkeys – refused to recognise which way the wind is blowing and order the necessary change in course. The crisis has to do with business models, communication strategies and the places where films are sold – also known as the film’s ‘windows’.

Moviegoers – our very raison d’être – have acquired new habits. They have picked them up from surfing the Net and enjoying the accessibility that we have all long become used to thanks to new technologies: direct and immediate access to news, knowledge, entertainment and other people. People are choosing to download our films illegally rather than buy them on DVD. No-one knows the exact figures, but the 27 October edition of the Danish newspaper Børsen estimated that losses on DVD sales alone have amounted to DKK 500 million over two years. It would be great to heap all the blame for this theft on the users, but if you live in a remote little village and the film you want to see isn’t being screened at a cinema within a radius of 200 km, and if you didn’t manage to make the trip to the nearest cinema on one of the two days the film was showing there, well … you’ll just have to make other arrangements. That is the entrepreneurial spirit in action. As a film director myself, I naturally cannot applaud the undermining of my own films’ financial sustainability, but I can barely contain my delight that people actually want to watch them. At the end of the day, that’s why I make them. The scale of the theft is, in and of itself, evidence that there is nothing wrong with the quality, and ordinary citizens cannot be held responsible for the fact that no-one is trying to make the films visible and legally available in a manner that suits a modern audience.

In principle, I and an author own all the rights to a film we initiate ourselves. However, we are not necessarily skilled – or interested – in either sales or distribution. Therefore, the practice in the past has been for us to transfer all rights to the studio, which was then to come up with the best life for the film, i.e. the life that generated confidence in the underlying voice, and generated income so that the working relationship could continue. Instead of having peace and quiet to work in, we now find ourselves in a situation where our films – in stark contrast to the film mediation we accepted a year ago under the header “Set film free” – are locked in cages. With all access prohibited. Here’s a little example:

All my feature films are to be found on MUBI.com – an excellent, legal Video On Demand (VOD) site. MUBI has selected films for its catalogue on the basis of love of artistic films, and currently has more than three million users worldwide. This means three million potential customers! But – and this is the bit that really hurts – if you click on my films so that you can pay to watch them, you see the following message:

THIS FILM IS NOT AVAILABLE TO WATCH IN YOUR AREA

In a reality where we who come up with stories and transform them into film are constantly feeling the effects of the lack of earnings, I find it impossible to comprehend the logic behind this message. So I have to ask: dear studio executive, my colleague, to whom have you sold my rights, thus hindering legal access to my films? The least I could expect from having transferred all my rights to you must surely be that you explain to me where you are making more money and where you are spreading familiarity with my production in a better way. Can we really grant ourselves this luxury?

Let’s just leave that question out there for the moment, ignore the dizzying opportunities of the global reality, and turn our attention back to the national clip-clop. This is where the cinema window still rules, and where it is still considered a gilt-edged government bond, whereas it would be better compared to a scratchcard.

An average Danish feature film has a budget of around DKK 16–20 million, with studio investment of around DKK 3–4 million. A cinema ticket that costs DKK 80 will bring in – after deducting VAT and the cinema owner’s and distributor’s cuts – DKK 23 for the studio. From this income, the distributor is to have reimbursed his entire investment in the launch of the film, typically in the DKK 1–2 million range, before anything at all is allowed to trickle down to the lower levels of the chain. A quick calculation in which I assume that a distributor invests DKK 1.5 million, reveals that a total of 65,104 tickets have to be sold before the studio and the investors see so much as a cent. Figures from DFI show that only 51% of all the films screened in Danish cinemas in the period 2006–2010 sold more than 65,000 tickets. This puts the studios in a particularly precarious position, because their own DKK 3–4 million is still in jeopardy, so they have to move fast.

At the same time, however, there is an agreement in Denmark between studios, distributors and Biografejernes Forbund (The Danish Association of Cinema Owners), which guarantees cinema owners four months of what is known as “hold back” on the films. During this four-month period, the film can only be seen in cinemas, i.e. it cannot be purchased over the internet or on DVD. This results in a situation where films that, for commercial reasons, enjoy no more than a 2–3-week run in cinemas are quite simply shelved for months. Yep – shelved! And all the while exposure of the film peters out, the film itself is downloaded illegally – in fact, new surveys indicate that illegal downloads spike during the hold-back period – and the law-abiding population starts to turn its attention towards new films. By way of comparison, imagine the following scenario: a new rock album has been released on the radio and played on air for a couple of weeks. For four months after that, no-one is allowed to buy or listen to it in any other digital or physical format. Ridiculous or what? Unthinkable, actually. But that is the situation for Danish films.

And the consequences are obvious. Earlier this autumn, Peter Ålbæk Jensen announced that Zentropa is no longer in a position to invest in talent development and production with devil-may-care, film-world daring. This is causing ripples. In fact, viewed in isolation, it is nothing short of a disaster. More than a few of the prominent voices in Danish film were nurtured in the creative high-risk ambience of Zentropa’s old barracks buildings in Avedøre. With Zentropa now worshipping at the altar of mainstream film, focusing exclusively on sure-fire audience magnets, you have to wonder where we are to look for the development of the voices of the future in Danish film. I am not for a moment questioning the fact that the announcement is born of bitter necessity, but I have to question the remedy chosen – because the choice represents nothing less than fatalistic acceptance of conservative and archaic business models, which seek to make the treatment permanent.

Time and time again, the potency of Danish film has proved to be conditional upon choosing the daring path rather than the (assumed) safe bet. The films are supported financially by DFI because Danish politicians recognise what everyone who works in film already knows: a strong Danish film industry is utterly dependent on investment in these films in particular. Films that investigate, move and inspire thought processes in the film world are the ones that are to pave the way for future commercial successes. What is more, no-one really knows how big an audience they could have had if in recent years they had been marketed and sold in ways commensurate with the modern age. Because no-one is trying.

Whenever the time came to negotiate for public funds, artists cried out for more cash like a religious mantra. Personally, and against all tradition, I am seriously put out when my studio contacts meekly take on the role of co-signatory of a postcard to politicians and the general population with the simple message: “send more money”. When the director of SF distribution, in a comment to the possibility of setting up digital windows – i.e. VOD – says “it’s too expensive and too much trouble”. When the president of Biografejernes Forbund suggests that cinema owners who want to screen “the little films” should receive more funds from DFI. Or when the president and CEO of Nordisk Film wants a new subsidy scheme that rewards those films that already perform best at the box office. Many Danish film directors are rapidly losing patience with studios that fail to hit out and stand up to this arrogance. We are applying for funds from DFI without involving the studios, withholding our rights, setting up our own companies and investigating digital display formats and other ways to make contact with our audience via social media. Because we want to communicate. We want to meet our audience. It is the entire industry that needs to be re-educated and to understand the communication channels and distribution options that actually reach the audience in 2011. It is complicated because it is unfamiliar and costs both time and money – but that is always the case when staking out new territory.

My postcard to the studios says: Come back from the 1990s! Start making demands on our partners, get distributors who are hungry to explore new communication channels and who believe that films can and should be made available. Drop the tired old conventions, show a little faith in the future and stop whining! It’s unbearable.

Our common sanctification of all things cinema is the smoke screen that is clouding our eyes. But we make films for the audience – not for the silver screen. And when the silver screen is no longer the primary channel – which we may mourn, but have to accept – then we must welcome new channels. Let us start to look at the opportunities and break down the barriers. And let me start by pointing one out:

In Denmark, cinemas and film are inextricably intertwined. Not simply by convention, but also in practice. According to Section 2 of the Danish Film Act, DFI is obliged to:

  1. Provide financial support for the development, screenwriting, production, launching and screening of Danish films, and to ensure distribution of Danish films.
  2. To spread familiarity with Danish and foreign films in Denmark, and to promote the familiarity with – and sales of – Danish films abroad.

So far, so good. But if you carry on reading and examine DFI’s terms and conditions for support, i.e. DFI’s own interpretation of how the objectives in the Danish Film Act are to take form in practice, then you will see that the requirements for a studio’s application for production subsidy include an obligation for the studio to supply the following:  “A distribution agreement concerning cinema distribution in Denmark.”

Note the term “cinema distribution”, because this is where the wheels really come off. DFI cannot both spread familiarity with Danish film and simultaneously cling to the idea that films MUST be screened in cinemas. These are two diametrically opposed directions in a reality where, on the one hand, cinema owners are insisting on commercial freedom while on the other, they use the “hold back” clause to make it impossible for the public to access films through other channels. When you contact Biografejernes Forbund and plead for a solution in which, as soon as a film is no longer pulling in the crowds, cinema owners pick up the phone and call the studios and tell them that the film in question can now be released on DVD or as VOD, the answer is always “never going to happen”. The reason for this is that the cinema owners are afraid that people will stop going to the cinema if they get used to being able to buy access to films immediately on conclusion of their cinema run. Clip-clop, clip-clop. This shows a sad lack of confidence in the power of attraction of the unique experience that the cinema owners have chosen for their profession. And the situation became utterly grotesque recently when cinema owners and distributors signed a joint agreement which stipulated that films can only be screened on TV 12 months after finishing their cinema run.

The preferential treatment accorded to cinemas in the subsidy terms is protectionist, anti-competitive and out of step with the modern day media reality. The films are not being made legally available to the public to the greatest possible extent – either in Denmark or abroad – despite the fact that this is a requirement that comes with funds that Danish taxpayers pay to DFI as an art institution. It is a democratic problem, and the problem gets worse and worse the farther you travel away from Copenhagen.

The Danish Film Institute needs to take a long, hard look at its own subsidy terms and completely sever the ties between film subsidy and cinema screening. Only then can the films be set free. If this should create difficulties in relation to statutory orders and preconditions, then the Minister of Culture and the conciliation board need to step up to the plate. There is no need to feel sorry for the cinemas for losing their protected status – the inventive ones that find a way to take on the challenge are sure to survive. However, there is every reason to feel sorry for Danish film if the key to the audience and, indeed, the outside world, stays in the pocket of doormen who have no intention of opening the door.

Opportunities for bringing to life the beautiful ambitions in the Danish Film Act about reaching a wider audience have never been better. All you need is a 3 Mbit broadband connection. And this has long been standard equipment in almost all Danish homes. They are just waiting for us. So bring on this crisis in its full-blown 3D version. And for heaven’s sake don’t send any more money! Let the crisis do its worst and pave the way to new ideas and new players. Danish film should be an party open to everyone – we owe it that much.

Annette K Olesen, Film Director(Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en anglais)

Never have the opportunities to reach the public been better – but paradoxically, the film industry has chosen to ignore them.

By: Annette K. Olesen, Film Director

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Danish film reviewer Ole Michelsen was famous for rounding off his film review programme ‘Bogart’ with the words: “Remember, films are meant to be seen in cinemas”. This pay-off went on to become the golden rule for film aficionados and the film industry in Denmark. The autumn is the peak season for cinemas, and this year the season has kicked off with an intense debate on the topic: Crisis in the Danish film industry. The quasi-religious immutability of the ritual is under threat; quite simply, too few people are buying admission tickets to Danish films.

Thus far, commonly held – and voiced – opinions back the conclusion that films which cannot generate sufficient cinema ticket sales to turn a financial profit are, by definition, poor films. Phew! What a relief for the distributors and cinema owners, who can wash their hands of the whole mess. And the studio execs can go back to staring fixedly at the bottom line with a clear conscience – after all, you cannot polish a turd. Everyone knows who to blame: the screenwriters, the directors and the Danish Film Institute (DFI), which considered the films significant in the first place. But no-one is taking a step back to consider whether the conclusion is really as obvious as all that. In Denmark in years gone by, milk was sold from dairy stores and delivered to homes by horse-drawn milk floats; let there be no doubt about it, if the grocery trade had been left in the hands of film distributors and cinema owners, the clip-clop of horses’ hooves would still be echoing down the streets of Copenhagen.

I would hazard the guess that the problem here is not the milk itself. The crisis is not about a shortage of narratives and ambitious screenwriters and directors; it is actually directly comparable to the current financial crisis in that those with responsibility for the financial situation have – stubborn as donkeys – refused to recognise which way the wind is blowing and order the necessary change in course. The crisis has to do with business models, communication strategies and the places where films are sold – also known as the film’s ‘windows’.

Moviegoers – our very raison d’être – have acquired new habits. They have picked them up from surfing the Net and enjoying the accessibility that we have all long become used to thanks to new technologies: direct and immediate access to news, knowledge, entertainment and other people. People are choosing to download our films illegally rather than buy them on DVD. No-one knows the exact figures, but the 27 October edition of the Danish newspaper Børsen estimated that losses on DVD sales alone have amounted to DKK 500 million over two years. It would be great to heap all the blame for this theft on the users, but if you live in a remote little village and the film you want to see isn’t being screened at a cinema within a radius of 200 km, and if you didn’t manage to make the trip to the nearest cinema on one of the two days the film was showing there, well … you’ll just have to make other arrangements. That is the entrepreneurial spirit in action. As a film director myself, I naturally cannot applaud the undermining of my own films’ financial sustainability, but I can barely contain my delight that people actually want to watch them. At the end of the day, that’s why I make them. The scale of the theft is, in and of itself, evidence that there is nothing wrong with the quality, and ordinary citizens cannot be held responsible for the fact that no-one is trying to make the films visible and legally available in a manner that suits a modern audience.

In principle, I and an author own all the rights to a film we initiate ourselves. However, we are not necessarily skilled – or interested – in either sales or distribution. Therefore, the practice in the past has been for us to transfer all rights to the studio, which was then to come up with the best life for the film, i.e. the life that generated confidence in the underlying voice, and generated income so that the working relationship could continue. Instead of having peace and quiet to work in, we now find ourselves in a situation where our films – in stark contrast to the film mediation we accepted a year ago under the header “Set film free” – are locked in cages. With all access prohibited. Here’s a little example:

All my feature films are to be found on MUBI.com – an excellent, legal Video On Demand (VOD) site. MUBI has selected films for its catalogue on the basis of love of artistic films, and currently has more than three million users worldwide. This means three million potential customers! But – and this is the bit that really hurts – if you click on my films so that you can pay to watch them, you see the following message:

THIS FILM IS NOT AVAILABLE TO WATCH IN YOUR AREA

In a reality where we who come up with stories and transform them into film are constantly feeling the effects of the lack of earnings, I find it impossible to comprehend the logic behind this message. So I have to ask: dear studio executive, my colleague, to whom have you sold my rights, thus hindering legal access to my films? The least I could expect from having transferred all my rights to you must surely be that you explain to me where you are making more money and where you are spreading familiarity with my production in a better way. Can we really grant ourselves this luxury?

Let’s just leave that question out there for the moment, ignore the dizzying opportunities of the global reality, and turn our attention back to the national clip-clop. This is where the cinema window still rules, and where it is still considered a gilt-edged government bond, whereas it would be better compared to a scratchcard.

An average Danish feature film has a budget of around DKK 16–20 million, with studio investment of around DKK 3–4 million. A cinema ticket that costs DKK 80 will bring in – after deducting VAT and the cinema owner’s and distributor’s cuts – DKK 23 for the studio. From this income, the distributor is to have reimbursed his entire investment in the launch of the film, typically in the DKK 1–2 million range, before anything at all is allowed to trickle down to the lower levels of the chain. A quick calculation in which I assume that a distributor invests DKK 1.5 million, reveals that a total of 65,104 tickets have to be sold before the studio and the investors see so much as a cent. Figures from DFI show that only 51% of all the films screened in Danish cinemas in the period 2006–2010 sold more than 65,000 tickets. This puts the studios in a particularly precarious position, because their own DKK 3–4 million is still in jeopardy, so they have to move fast.

At the same time, however, there is an agreement in Denmark between studios, distributors and Biografejernes Forbund (The Danish Association of Cinema Owners), which guarantees cinema owners four months of what is known as “hold back” on the films. During this four-month period, the film can only be seen in cinemas, i.e. it cannot be purchased over the internet or on DVD. This results in a situation where films that, for commercial reasons, enjoy no more than a 2–3-week run in cinemas are quite simply shelved for months. Yep – shelved! And all the while exposure of the film peters out, the film itself is downloaded illegally – in fact, new surveys indicate that illegal downloads spike during the hold-back period – and the law-abiding population starts to turn its attention towards new films. By way of comparison, imagine the following scenario: a new rock album has been released on the radio and played on air for a couple of weeks. For four months after that, no-one is allowed to buy or listen to it in any other digital or physical format. Ridiculous or what? Unthinkable, actually. But that is the situation for Danish films.

And the consequences are obvious. Earlier this autumn, Peter Ålbæk Jensen announced that Zentropa is no longer in a position to invest in talent development and production with devil-may-care, film-world daring. This is causing ripples. In fact, viewed in isolation, it is nothing short of a disaster. More than a few of the prominent voices in Danish film were nurtured in the creative high-risk ambience of Zentropa’s old barracks buildings in Avedøre. With Zentropa now worshipping at the altar of mainstream film, focusing exclusively on sure-fire audience magnets, you have to wonder where we are to look for the development of the voices of the future in Danish film. I am not for a moment questioning the fact that the announcement is born of bitter necessity, but I have to question the remedy chosen – because the choice represents nothing less than fatalistic acceptance of conservative and archaic business models, which seek to make the treatment permanent.

Time and time again, the potency of Danish film has proved to be conditional upon choosing the daring path rather than the (assumed) safe bet. The films are supported financially by DFI because Danish politicians recognise what everyone who works in film already knows: a strong Danish film industry is utterly dependent on investment in these films in particular. Films that investigate, move and inspire thought processes in the film world are the ones that are to pave the way for future commercial successes. What is more, no-one really knows how big an audience they could have had if in recent years they had been marketed and sold in ways commensurate with the modern age. Because no-one is trying.

Whenever the time came to negotiate for public funds, artists cried out for more cash like a religious mantra. Personally, and against all tradition, I am seriously put out when my studio contacts meekly take on the role of co-signatory of a postcard to politicians and the general population with the simple message: “send more money”. When the director of SF distribution, in a comment to the possibility of setting up digital windows – i.e. VOD – says “it’s too expensive and too much trouble”. When the president of Biografejernes Forbund suggests that cinema owners who want to screen “the little films” should receive more funds from DFI. Or when the president and CEO of Nordisk Film wants a new subsidy scheme that rewards those films that already perform best at the box office. Many Danish film directors are rapidly losing patience with studios that fail to hit out and stand up to this arrogance. We are applying for funds from DFI without involving the studios, withholding our rights, setting up our own companies and investigating digital display formats and other ways to make contact with our audience via social media. Because we want to communicate. We want to meet our audience. It is the entire industry that needs to be re-educated and to understand the communication channels and distribution options that actually reach the audience in 2011. It is complicated because it is unfamiliar and costs both time and money – but that is always the case when staking out new territory.

My postcard to the studios says: Come back from the 1990s! Start making demands on our partners, get distributors who are hungry to explore new communication channels and who believe that films can and should be made available. Drop the tired old conventions, show a little faith in the future and stop whining! It’s unbearable.

Our common sanctification of all things cinema is the smoke screen that is clouding our eyes. But we make films for the audience – not for the silver screen. And when the silver screen is no longer the primary channel – which we may mourn, but have to accept – then we must welcome new channels. Let us start to look at the opportunities and break down the barriers. And let me start by pointing one out:

In Denmark, cinemas and film are inextricably intertwined. Not simply by convention, but also in practice. According to Section 2 of the Danish Film Act, DFI is obliged to:

  1. Provide financial support for the development, screenwriting, production, launching and screening of Danish films, and to ensure distribution of Danish films.
  2. To spread familiarity with Danish and foreign films in Denmark, and to promote the familiarity with – and sales of – Danish films abroad.

So far, so good. But if you carry on reading and examine DFI’s terms and conditions for support, i.e. DFI’s own interpretation of how the objectives in the Danish Film Act are to take form in practice, then you will see that the requirements for a studio’s application for production subsidy include an obligation for the studio to supply the following:  “A distribution agreement concerning cinema distribution in Denmark.”

Note the term “cinema distribution”, because this is where the wheels really come off. DFI cannot both spread familiarity with Danish film and simultaneously cling to the idea that films MUST be screened in cinemas. These are two diametrically opposed directions in a reality where, on the one hand, cinema owners are insisting on commercial freedom while on the other, they use the “hold back” clause to make it impossible for the public to access films through other channels. When you contact Biografejernes Forbund and plead for a solution in which, as soon as a film is no longer pulling in the crowds, cinema owners pick up the phone and call the studios and tell them that the film in question can now be released on DVD or as VOD, the answer is always “never going to happen”. The reason for this is that the cinema owners are afraid that people will stop going to the cinema if they get used to being able to buy access to films immediately on conclusion of their cinema run. Clip-clop, clip-clop. This shows a sad lack of confidence in the power of attraction of the unique experience that the cinema owners have chosen for their profession. And the situation became utterly grotesque recently when cinema owners and distributors signed a joint agreement which stipulated that films can only be screened on TV 12 months after finishing their cinema run.

The preferential treatment accorded to cinemas in the subsidy terms is protectionist, anti-competitive and out of step with the modern day media reality. The films are not being made legally available to the public to the greatest possible extent – either in Denmark or abroad – despite the fact that this is a requirement that comes with funds that Danish taxpayers pay to DFI as an art institution. It is a democratic problem, and the problem gets worse and worse the farther you travel away from Copenhagen.

The Danish Film Institute needs to take a long, hard look at its own subsidy terms and completely sever the ties between film subsidy and cinema screening. Only then can the films be set free. If this should create difficulties in relation to statutory orders and preconditions, then the Minister of Culture and the conciliation board need to step up to the plate. There is no need to feel sorry for the cinemas for losing their protected status – the inventive ones that find a way to take on the challenge are sure to survive. However, there is every reason to feel sorry for Danish film if the key to the audience and, indeed, the outside world, stays in the pocket of doormen who have no intention of opening the door.

Opportunities for bringing to life the beautiful ambitions in the Danish Film Act about reaching a wider audience have never been better. All you need is a 3 Mbit broadband connection. And this has long been standard equipment in almost all Danish homes. They are just waiting for us. So bring on this crisis in its full-blown 3D version. And for heaven’s sake don’t send any more money! Let the crisis do its worst and pave the way to new ideas and new players. Danish film should be an party open to everyone – we owe it that much.

Annette K Olesen, Film Director

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HIGHLIGHTS

  • Joint letter to the European Parliament’s JURI Committee on the upcoming own-initiative report on copyright and generative AI
  • FERA endorses “Art Is Human!” manifesto for the protection of authentic creation by Canadian member ARRQ
  • FERA General Assembly 2025 in Slovenia: Spotlight on filmmakers’ safeguarding Artistic Freedom in turbulent times

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Elisabet Gustafsson

Honorary Treasurer

Swedish Film Directors, Sweden

Elisabet Gustafsson is a Swedish director and scriptwriter based in Stockholm with a foot in Paris. She just finished her documentary ”Djenné Djenno” that was shot in Mali where she meets her Swedish cousin and childhood idol, who runs a hotel in the desert. Her previous productions are however mainly fiction and her debut feature, “Krakel Spektakel” (2014), was based on Swedish classic children’s books by Lennart Hellsing. Elisabet has always had an international approach as a director and three of her short films have been international co-productions and shot in Estonia and France. Today, she’s in preproduction for a new short, “The Guinea-pig”, based on a true story about a guinea-pig who flew over the city of Stockholm in a homemade balloon. She is also developing a feature film, based on short novels by and together with the acclaimed Swedish writer and actor Jonas Karls

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Chiara Sambuchi

ExCo Member (co-opted)

AG DOK, Germany

Chiara Sambuchi was born in Pesaro, Italy. She has directed more than forty documentaries and reportages for several European broadcasters like ARD, ARTE, ZDF, YLE, RAI,. Her feature length documentary films “Wrong planet”, “Good morning Africa!”, “City of women, today”, “Lost children” were and are still presented at major film festivals around the world. She has produced and shot documentary films in post conflict regions of Uganda, in rural areas of Ruanda, in refugee camps at the European borders during the refugees’ humanitarian emergency in 2014 and 2015. Her “Lost children. Thirty thousand minors missing” has been nominated at Prix Europa 2017 for the best European intercultural television programme of the year and got the honorable mention at the Prix Media of the French “Enfance Majuscule”. Her last feature lenght documentary film “The deal” about arms of the Nigerian mafia in Europe premiered in April 2022 at CPH:DOX. Chiara Sambuchi also contributes as speaker at panels and seminars related to the topics of her work, organized by universities, European institutions and NGOs

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Klemen Dvornik

ExCo Member (co-opted)

Directors Guild of Slovenia (DSR), Slovenia

Klemen Dvornik (1977) graduated in film and TV-directing at AGRFT (The Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television) in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Until now, he’s directed more than 500 shows of various genres and more than 20 documentaries, short & full-length films and live concerts and has received nine national and international awards (best film, best documentary, student award, the audience award).He’s been working at the AGRFT since 2010.
In autumn 2017, he was appointed Assistant Professor of television directing.He is currently President of the Alliance of Slovenian Associations of Filmmakers and Chairman of Supervisory Board of AIPA, Collecting Society of Authors, Performers and Film Producers of Audiovisual Works of Slovenia.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Martijn Winkler

ExCo Member

Dutch Directors Guild, The Netherlands

 

Martijn Winkler (1978) is a writer, director and digital creative, working at the intersection of online, cross media and linear audiovisual storytelling since 2003. International and award winning productions (including two Rose d’Ors, an Emmy, a Webby, and an International Format Award at MIPCOM), often with an innovative and/or online component. His latest series Heat, a climate change thriller, was the most awarded short form drama series of 2021.
Martijn is former chairman and current board member of the Dutch Directors Guild, member of EFA and on the Advisory Board of the VU University Amsterdam, department of Arts and Cultural Sciences. He is also co-founder and creative director of production company VERTOV and head of social media and strategy at its sister company, Coebergh Communications & PR in Amsterdam.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Salvador Simó Busom

ExCo Member

ACCIÓN (Spanish Association of Film Directors / Asociación de directores y directoras de cine), Spain

My purpose for aiming to be a member of the Executive Comittee is to tighten the relations between Spanish and European directors. Our association of directors is been in the last years quite present in the developing of the laws and legal canvas of the film industry in Spain, in my opinion is time that the voice of the Spanish directors is also heard in Europe. Is been in the last years that in our country us the directors had begun to feel the belonging to a community, that is not just composed by few more known names but also a huge amount of talented directors that share a common element, the passion for telling stories.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Ida Grøn

ExCo Member

The Association of Danish Film Directors, Denmark

I’m a European who was broad up on a cross road of farmers, academics and artists from different cultures and moving quite a bit. So I became an independent documentary film director educated at the NFTS in the UK. I’ve exhibited the VR-real life video installation Keep in Touch (2008) at the National Gallery of Denmark and travelled the world with my professional debut “The Kid and the Clown” (2011). Since then I’ve made a lot of national TV, lately the tv-success “William – The Impossible Choice” (2022). My creative feature “Staybehind – My Grandfathers Secret War” (2017) created a lot of attention on Stay Behind intelligence in the broad Danish public. At the moment I’m in the development of two creative feature documentaries supported by the Danish Film Institute and an art film. Since 2019 I’ve been on the board of the association of Danish Film Directors where my focus is to expose and bring down the amount of unpaid work of film directors, and the continued existence and development of film as art form. Recently I initiated a collaboration with International Media Support to help Ukrainian filmmakers making/finishing their films in their current situation through an exchange with Danish filmmakers and production houses

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Eugenia Arsenis

ExCo Member

Greek Directors’ Guild, Greece

Eugenia Arsenis
Dr. Eugenia Arsenis, Director – Dramaturg, is the delegate of the Greek Directors’ Guild at the Federation of European Screen Directors since 2016. She has collaborated with international cultural organizations, Royal Albert Hall – BBC Proms, National Greek Television, San Francisco Opera Center, Greek National Opera etc. As a writer, her play, “Women of Passion, Women of Greece”, travelled the past few years from Australia to India and, it has been recently adapted for film.
She has directed documentaries and, she recently directed, adapted and co-produced a film adaptation of the first American play written on the Greek War of Independence. Speaker at international conferences. Lecturer at a numerous Universities and Conservatories around the world. Designer of academic programmes. She was Coordinator and Dramaturg of the Experimental Stage of the Greek National Opera and Dramaturg of the New York Center for the Contemporary Opera. She was the President of the Hellenic Center of the International Theatre Institute, Board Member of the Greek Film Center, Board Member of the National Theatre of Northern Greece and Registrar of Public Relations of the Hellenic Theatre Studies Association.
She is a Member of the Cultural Committee of the Hellenic–American Chamber of Commerce and, the Creative Director of the international forum Artivism Drives Democracy. Her education includes Dramaturgy and Directing at Royal Holloway University of London, Opera Directing at Boston University, Philosophy at University College London, Film Directing and Screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, Music Studies and, she holds a Doctorate in Philosophical Aesthetics from the University of London. Holder of numerous international scholarships among them, Fulbright Scholarship for Artists and Art Scholars.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Martijn Winkler

ExCo Member

Dutch Directors Guild, The Netherlands

Martijn Winkler (1978) is a writer, director and digital creative, working at the intersection of online, cross media and linear audiovisual storytelling since 2003. International and award winning productions (including two Rose d’Ors, an Emmy, a Webby, and an International Format Award at MIPCOM), often with an innovative and/or online component. His latest series Heat, a climate change thriller, was the most awarded short form drama series of 2021.
Martijn is former chairman and current board member of the Dutch Directors Guild, member of EFA and on the Advisory Board of the VU University Amsterdam, department of Arts and Cultural Sciences. He is also co-founder and creative director of production company VERTOV and head of social media and strategy at its sister company, Coebergh Communications & PR in Amsterdam.

Courtesy of unknown

Bill Anderson

Chairman

Directors UK, United Kingdom

 

After university Bill worked for two years on the Fulmar Alpha oil-rig in the North Sea whilst weaning himself off writing dialogue-driven TV dramas like Nailed and lurching towards telling stories with pictures. Creatures of Light, his graduation film from the National Film and Television School won the Chaplin Award for Best First Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
In a TV directing career spanning 30 years, workplace dramas include Mr Selfridge, The Mill and BAFTA-nominated Dockers (the story of their strike dramatised by a writers group of sacked Liverpool dockers, executive produced by their union for Channel 4); historical epics include Daniel Craig in Sword of Honour and Alex Kingston in Boudica (co- produced by MediaPro Studios and shot in Romania in 2002); detective dramas include the pilot of Lewis and writing and directing RTS and Prix Italia-nominated Guardians.
In stark contrast to his work on Spooks and Dr Who, Abrams Press have just published Bill’s first work of prose The Idle Beekeeper, a book about empathy (and raising bees).

 

 

Association of Film Directors (ARRF)

info@arrf.be

www.arrf.be

Verband Filmregie Österreich (Austrian Directors Guild)

office@austrian-directors.com

http://www.austrian-directors.com​


     Screen Directors Guild of Ireland

hello@sdgi.ie

https://www.sdgi.ie/

Austrian Director’s Association (ADA)

office@ada-directors.com

www.ada-directors.com

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Valeria Simonte

Communications & Office Coordinator

Originally from Italy, Valeria is currently based in Brussels and works as FERA Communications and Office Coordinator. She has previously worked as Communications intern for sustainable mobility, as well as in regional development. Valeria is passionate about cinema, art and media.

Associazione Nazionale Autori Cinematografici (ANAC)

anac@anac-autori.it

www.anac-autori.it

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/anac.autori/

Twitter: @ANACautori

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ANAClive

gaard

Guilde des Auteurs Réalisateurs de Reportages et Documentaires/ GARRD

http://www.garrd.fr

Tél. 07 85 64 10 81

Rättighetsbolaget /Fackförbundet Scen & Film

info@scenochfilm.se

https://scenochfilm.se

U2R – Union des réalisatrices et réalisateurs

contactu2r@orange.fr

https://www.union2r.fr

Swedish Film Directors (SFR)/Fackförbundet Scen & Film

info@scenochfilm.se

https://scenochfilm.se

Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD)

www.sacd.fr

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Pauline Durand-Vialle

CEO

Originally from Paris, France, Pauline has worked in film distribution and international sales. She joined FERA from her previous position as Deputy Manager in charge of European Affairs at La Société des réalisateurs de films (SRF), where she worked for five years. She is the Chief Executive of FERA since February 2014, and took over the European Audiovisual Observatory’s Advisory Committee Chair in December 2020.

ACCIÓN (Spanish Association of Film Directors / Asociación de directores y directoras de cine)

info@acciondirectores.com

acciondirectores.com

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Marco Bellocchio

Marco Bellochio began studying philosophy in Milan but then decided to enter film school. His first film Fists in the Pocket (1965) was funded by family members and shot on family property. He made a big impact on radical Italian cinema in the mid-sixties. In 1968 he joined the Communist Union, and began to make politically militant cinema such as China is Near (1967). In 1991 he won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for his film The Conviction. The Wedding Director (2006) and Vincere (2009) were both screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the latter in the main competition. Bellochio was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2011 Venice Film Festival.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Isabel Coixet

Isabel Coixet started making films when they gave her an 8mm camera as a gift for her first communion. After a BA degree in History by the University of Barcelona, she worked in advertising and spot writing. She won several accolades for her spots and finally founded her own production company in 2000, Miss Wasabi Films.

In 1988, Coixet made her debut as a screenwriter and helmer in “Demasiado viejo para morir joven”, which earned her the nomination for Best New Director in the Goya Awards.

International success came in 2003 with the intimate drama “My life without me”, a film based on a short story by Nancy Kincaid where Sarah Polley plays Ann, a young mother who decides to hide to her family that she has a terminal cancer. This Spanish-Canadian coproduction was highly praised at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Coixet has also made outstanding documentaries such as “Invisibles”, a selection of Panorama for the 2007 Berlin Film Festival, on Médicos sin fronteras or “Journey to the Heart of Torture”, filmed in Sarajevo during the Balkan War and awarded in October 2003 in the Human Rights Film Festival.

Isabel also directs Spain in a day, a collective film that shows how was a day in the life of our country, specifically on October 24, 2015, through images recorded by anonymous people through their tablets, phones or cameras. Based on Ridley Scott’s idea, “Life in a Day”, and with music by Alberto Iglesias, it premiered at the 2016 San Sebastian International Film Festival.

From Miss Wasabi Films, Coixet decides to support the production of projects by new women directors to favor the visibility of works directed by women in the world of cinema. A documentary and a short film have been produced within this initiative, as well as a fiction feature film and another short film in development.

Her first series, “Foodie Love”, explores the most essential of human relationships through the encounters of a couple and the delicacy and diversity of the food. It premiered on HBO in December 2019.

“Nieva en Benidorm” is her latest feature film. Produced by El Deseo and filmed in Benidorm during the first months of 2020, the film stars Timothy Spall, Sarita Choudhury, Carmen Machi, Anna Torrent and Pedro Casablanc. It is currently in the post-production phase.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Heddy Honigmann

Heddy Honigmann has lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1978. Since then she has made a film nearly every year, both documentaries and feature films. Music often plays a major role in her films, from The Underground Orchestra (1997, about musicians in the Paris metro) to Crazy (1999, in which Dutch Blue Helmets talk about their favorite music during peace missions) and Around the World in 50 Concerts (about the Concertgebouw Orchestra, opening film of IDFA in 2014). Honigmann was guest of honor at IDFA in 2014, with a Masterclass, retrospective and Top 10 of her favorite documentaries. In 2015 she became a member of the Academy of Arts at the KNAW and in 2016 she received the Oeuvre Award from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. Her long documentaries Crazy and Forever received Golden Calves (the Dutch equivalent of the Academy Awards). Crazy also won IDFA’s Audience Award.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Michaël R. Roskam

Michaël R. Roskam attended St. Lucas Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied painting and contemporary art, and the Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam where he graduated in 2005 with a master’s degree in script writing. After several jobs as a journalist for Flemish newspaper De Morgen and a copywriter, he directed his first short film entitled Haun in 2002. This was followed by Carlo (2004), another short film which won the Audience Award at Leuven International Short Film Festival. In 2005, he made The One Thing To Do and, in 2007, Today is Friday, based on an Ernest Hemingway short story, that was filmed in Los Angeles. Roskam made his feature film debut with Bullhead  (prod. Savage Film) which was released in 2011. In 2012 the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He was named by Variety one of the “10 directors to watch”. For Bullhead he received the Magritte Award for Best Screenplay and the André Cavens Award for Best Film by the Belgian Film Critics Association (UCC), among over 35 other international awards. In June 2012, Roskam was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Bullhead became a major critical and commercial success, while launching the careers of actor Matthias Schoenaerts and DOP Nicolas Karakatsanis, who have both become Roskam’s close collaborators. In 2014 The Drop (prod. Chernin Entertainment), Roskam’s first US-based film, was released worldwide through Fox Searchlight, featuring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, the late James Gandolfini and Matthias Schoenaerts. In 2015 he directed the first two episodes of Berlin Station, a television series produced by Anonymous Content. His next European feature film, Le Fidèle (prod. Savage Film & Stone Angels), featuring Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos, will start shooting in Spring 2016.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

Charles Sturridge

Charles Sturridge’s work includes the multi award winning adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’ with Jeremy Irons and Laurence Olivier, ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ with Ted Danson, Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. In 2000 he wrote and directed ‘Longitude’ (C4) with Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons and in 2002 ‘Shackleton’ with Ken Branagh   both winning Best Drama Serial BAFTA’s. In 2009 he directed ’The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ and the ‘The Road To Coronations Street’ which won the RTS and BAFTA awards for Best Single Drama. In 2012 he wrote and directed Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘The Scapegoat with Matthew Rhys and in 2013/14 he directed episodes of ‘Dates’ and “Da Vinci’s Demons’. His most recent production was ‘Churchill’s Secret’ starring Michael Gambon, Lindsay Duncan and Romola Garai. His films include: Runners, A Handful of Dust, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Aria, Lassie and the BAFTA winning Fairytale, A True Story.

Picture: Courtesy of Unknown

István Szabó

István Szabó was the President of FERA from 2008 to 2012. István Szabó was born in Budapest, in 1938. He was an assistant film director and later a film director of MAFILM Hungarian Film Studios until the winding-up of the company. His films have won several international film awards such as the nominations of the American Film Academy for four times for the films : ‘Confidence’, ‘Mephisto’, ‘Colonel Redl’, and ‘Hanussen’, and the Academy has nominated his film ‘Being Julia’ for best female artist. His films have been nominated twice for the Golden Globe award (Colonel Redl, Sunshine). ‘Mephisto’ has won the Academy award and ‘Colonel Redl’ has won the British Academy Award. ‘Mephisto’ has won the David di Donatello Award as well; ‘Sunshine’ has won the Canadian Grand Prize. The scripts of ‘Sweet Emma’, ‘Dear Böbe’ and ‘Sunshine’ won the prizes of European Film Academy for best screenplay. ‘The Day of Daydreaming’ and ’25 Fireman’s Street’ have won the prizes of Locarno Film Festival; ‘Father’ has won the Grand Prix of Moscow Film Festival; ‘Confidence’ and ‘Sweet Emma’, ‘Dear Böbe’ have won the prizes of Berlin Film Festival for best director; ‘Mephisto’ and ‘Colonel Redl’ have won the prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. From the enlisted films above many of them have won the prizes of Hungarian Film Critics and the prizes of Hungarian Film Week.

The Civil Society of Multimedia Authors (SCAM)

pole.auteurs@scam.fr

http://www.scam.fr/EN

Norwegian Film Makers Association (NFF)

post@filmforbundet.no

www.filmforbundet.no

100 Autori

coordinamento@100autori.it

www.100autori.it

Greek Film Directors and Producers Guild (ESPEK)

espek2@gmail.com

https://espek1.wordpress.com/

Greek Directors’ Guild

ees@ath.forthnet.gr

http://www.greekdirectorsguild.gr/

Directors Guild of Germany – Film & TV Directors Guild (BVR)

info@regieverband.de

www.regieverband.de

German Documentary Association (AG DOK)

agdok@agdok.de

www.agdok.de

Society of Film Directors (SRF)

contact@la-srf.fr

www.la-srf.fr

Unie van Regisseurs (UvR)

info@unievanregisseurs.be

www.unievanregisseurs.be

Directors Guild of America (DGA)

dgawebsupport@dga.org

www.dga.org

Collecting Society of Authors, Performers and Film Producers of Audiovisual works of Slovenia (AIPA, k. o.)

info@aipa.si

www.aipa.si

Dacin Sara

office@dacinsara.ro

www.dacinsara.ro

F©R – Filmforbundets Organisasjon for Rettighetsforvaltning

medlem@filmforbundet.no

www.filmforbundet.no

Israel Directors Guild

info@directorsguild.org.il

http://directorsguild.org.il/english/

Society For The Protection Of Audio-Visual Authors’ And Producers’ Rights (FILMJUS)

fj@filmjus.hu

www.filmjus.hu

Directors UK

info@directors.uk.com

www.directors.uk.com

Swiss Filmmakers Association (ARF/FDS)

info@arf-fds.ch

www.arf-fds.ch

Directors Guild of Slovenia (DSR)

info@dsr.si

www.dsr.si

Serbian Film Directors Association (AFRS)

darkolun@gmail.com

Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP)

biuro@sfp.org.pl

www.sfp.org.pl

Macedonian Film Professional’s Association

contact@dfrm.org.mk

www.dfrm.org.mk

Dutch Directors Guild (DDG)

info@directorsguild.nl

www.directorsguild.nl

Producers and Directors of Montenegro

office@ufpr.me

www.afpd.me

Luxembourgish Association of Filmmakers and Scriptwriters (LARS)

www.lars.lu

Lithuanian Filmmakers Union (SKL)

lks@kinosajunga.lt

www.kinosajunga.lt

Latvian Filmmakers Union (LFU/LKS)

info@kinosavieniba.lv

www.kinosavieniba.lv

Guild of Icelandic Film Directors (SKL)

skl-filmdirectors@gmail.com

www.skl-filmdirectors.net

Association of Hungarian Film Directors (AHD)

Association of Finnish Film Directors (SELO ry)

info@selo.fi

www.selo.fi

Estonian Filmmakers Union

kinoliit@kinoliit.ee

www.kinoliit.ee

Danish Film Directors

mail@filmdir.dk

www.filmdir.dk

Association of Czech Directors and Screenwriters (ARAS)

info@aras.cz

www.aras.cz

Directors Guild of Cyprus

directorsguildcy@gmail.com.cy

www.cyprusdirectors.com

Croatian Film Directors Guild (DHFR)

dhfr@dhfr.hr

www.dhfr.hr

Union of Bulgarian Film Makers (UBFM)

sbfd@sbfd-bg.com

www.filmmakersbg.org/ubfm-eng.htm

Directors Guild of Bosnia and Herzegovina

urirubih@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/urirubih/

Film Director Guild of Azerbaijan (AZDG)

info@audiovisual.az

www.audiovisual.az