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Advocacy, Authors' Rights, News

European Parliament’s report on the situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU – Authors’ Group position

15 March 2021

The Authors’ Group is Europe’s leading Authors’ network representing hundreds of thousands of authors, including writers, literary translators, composers, songwriters, film/TV directors and screenwriters in Europe. The Authors’ Group consists of the following associations: European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA), European Writers’ Council (EWC), Federation of European Film and TV Directors (FERA) and Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE).

As representatives of authors, we very much welcome the focus of the European Parliament on the situation of our members, who are by definition the primary creators of cultural works, and we look forward to share our views with MEPs on this report about the situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU. Authors are in their vast majority freelancers who face precarious working conditions, low and unstable income, and a very weak bargaining position vis-à-vis their negotiating counterpart, as shown by a recent study on the status and the working conditions of artists and creative professionals. In 2019, an EU wide study of the income of European Screenwriters and Directors established that their median after-tax annual income from their work as authors was €19,000 (including income generated in that year from the exploitation of past work) in 2016. In addition, an internal survey with ECSA Members in 2020 has shown that 74% of music authors cannot live from the income from their artistic profession. Various national studies of the situation of freelance writers (of literature, poetry, etc.) had a falling annual income which was in 2017 around or less than €10,000.

This situation has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has a dramatic impact on our members and on many players in the cultural and creative sectors.[1] The recent EY study “Rebuilding Europe – The cultural and creative economy before and after the COVID-19 crisis”, supported by our organisations has shown that Cultural and Creative Industries (as a whole) experienced losses of over 30% of their turnover for 2020 – a cumulated loss of €199 billion – with music and performing art sectors experiencing 75% and 90 % losses respectively, €53 billion for visual arts, €26 billion for audiovisual, etc. In the meantime, a recent European Parliament study on the cultural and creative sectors in post-COVID-19 Europe states that “the real winners of the crisis are definitely streaming sites”. As many streaming platforms are booming with the pandemic, it is clearer than ever that authors are not reaping the benefits of their creative successes when their works are exploited, in particular online.

In our view, the European Parliament should support long-term solutions to both 1)  improve the remuneration and working conditions of authors and 2)  contribute to the recovery of the cultural and creative sectors and their creators:

1) Improving the situation of authors

  1. a) An ambitious, faithful and timely implementation of the Copyright and AVMS Directives

In 2019, the EU adopted the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market,[2] which includes in its Articles 18 to 23 (Title IV, Chapter 3, Fair remuneration in exploitation contracts of authors and performers) a new harmonised framework for the contractual relationship between authors and their contractual counterparts, which stems from the explicit acknowledgement by the EU legislator of the systemic weak bargaining power of authors negotiating their individual contracts.

Our organisations and the hundreds of thousands of authors they represent have welcomed this essential and historical step forward to bring fairer terms to all authors in the European Union and improve their working conditions. Yet, while the Directive must be implemented by all EU Member States by 7th June 2021, only one country (the Netherlands) has effectively done so at this stage. As a result, the positive impacts that a thorough and faithful implementation are expected to bring to authors, are still a distant promise.

We therefore strongly encourage the European Parliament – which played a key role in improving those provisions during the legislative process – to do its utmost to urge EU Member States to engage in an ambitious implementation of the Copyright Directive without further delay. Our organisations have adopted recommendations for a thorough and faithful implementation process in national legislation, consistent with the spirit of the Directive. In particular, we encourage the European Parliament to:

– Support an ambitious and effective implementation of the transparency obligation (Article 19), the cornerstone of the EU legislator’s approach to fair and proportionate remuneration. Without transparency on the exploitation of their works and revenues generated, authors cannot assess the value of their works and exercise their rights under this Directive.

– Ensure that Articles 18 to 23, including the right to a proportionate remuneration, are made mandatory at national level and cannot be circumvented by contracts. Too often, authors are forced to give away their rights and/or accept the application of the laws of third countries (e.g., US law) through the imposition of buy-out contracts. Such a practice deprives authors from a proportionate remuneration and circumvents EU law, thereby ignoring the European Parliament’s intention to improve the remuneration and working conditions of European authors. The European Commission rightly identified that “the application by platforms of what could be defined a “work-for-hire” model (i.e., the acquisition of all the intellectual property rights from the producer and/or from individual creators since the start, worldwide and in perpetuity) can “lock in” producers/talents with the platform in question.”[3] The European Parliament should seize the opportunity of this report to condemn those practices that are in contradiction with its long-standing position in favor of creators.

The recent study on the status and working conditions of artists and creative professionals rightly mentions that “the swift and effective implementation of the Copyright Directive is essential to ensure the ability of creators to negotiate and be properly remunerated for the use of their works online” and that “it would also significantly contribute to address some of the challenges that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 related crisis”. The recent EY study also recommends to “ensure a rapid and effective implementation of the recently adopted directives on copyright and related rights in order to enable creators and the wider rights holder community, as well as cultural enterprises, to better harvest the value of the online market and new modes of exploitation”.

The AVMS Directive,[4] which includes important provisions aimed at promoting European works, must also be implemented without further delay to increase the investment into European works and contribute to Europe’s culture recovery. The EU should also step up its effort to protect cultural diversity in other cultural sectors, such as music. More transparency from streamers should be required regarding their contractual practices, algorithms, recommendations and viewership data, if the EU wants to effectively protect and promote cultural diversity. Neither the DSA nor the DMA proposals includes any provisions aimed at global streamers, despite the role of gate keepers that many of them play on the market.

While the European Parliament recently called “on the Commission to work on better quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to provide a reliable and steady flow of data relating to the cultural and creative sectors and industries,”[5] we consider that those objectives can only be fulfilled by strong transparency obligations applying to global streaming services.

  1. Remove the obstacles to collective bargaining agreements.

In line with its recent resolution on the cultural recovery of Europe, which “stresses that the implementation of those directives and forthcoming legislative proposals must preserve and promote collective mechanisms to ensure adequate protection of individual creators”, we also encourage the EP to ensure that collective bargaining agreements can be a tool to improve the position of authors.

Collective bargaining agreements between authors and their contractual counterparts (publishers, producers, streaming services and others) have the potential to improve the remuneration and working conditions of authors, while respecting the different creative sectors’ specificities. Their usefulness for authors and performers to address their “weak negotiating position” has been acknowledged by the EU in the 2019 Copyright Directive.

The EP recent study on “Cultural and creative sectors in post-COVID-19 Europe recommends to a) acknowledge the right of association for all workers in the CCS, regardless of their working status, to improve their bargaining position b) introduce fair pay as a principle for (working) contracts within the Cultural and Creative sectors. We clearly embrace and support those two recommendations, in addition to considering adequate social benefits for authors in all EU Member States.

However, in some EU Member States (Ireland, Netherlands, Spain), the members of our respective organisations have been actively prevented from collective bargaining on the grounds that such bargaining contravenes EU competition law as applied in those Member States. In a few other EU Member States (such as Germany), collective bargaining is explicitly allowed. This patchy framework creates confusion and a distortion of the internal market but also discourages collective bargaining on the grounds of lack of legal certainty, since those who might subscribe to a collective bargaining agreement are unsure about the legality of its provisions.

The European Commission has recently started to tackle this issue by consulting on a potential clarification of the scope of EU competition law to enable an improvement of the working conditions of freelancers through collective bargaining agreements. Such a clarification could not only unlock collective bargaining agreements for authors but also greatly improve the working conditions of all self-employed and free-lancers in Europe. The recent study on the status and working conditions of artists and cultural and creative professionals states that “the conflict between labour law rights and competition law should be resolved so that all artists, including the self-employed, adequately enjoy freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the related beneficial outcomes”.

We strongly encourage the European Parliament to embrace this objective and advocate for an ambitious and binding regulation that would effectively ensure that EU competition law does not stand in the way of collective agreements for freelancers and self-employed.

2) Strengthen the support to European creators and the cultural and creative sectors.

In its resolution on the cultural recovery, the European Parliament “considers it fundamental to earmark for the cultural and creative sectors and industries a significant part of the economic recovery measures planned by the European institutions and to combine this with wide-ranging and swift actions in favour of Europe’s cultural and creative forces”. It also “calls on the Commission to identify whether the national financial distribution methods for cultural funding are accessible to all creators”.

As European countries are now designing their national recovery plans, those overarching objectives are more valid and legitimate than ever:

– Authors are in their vast majority freelancers who have often not been able to benefit from the recovery schemes at national level, while they were prevented to work and create. We therefore urge the European institutions and Member States to continue supporting the accessibility of funds and loans to freelance creators and avoid thresholds that prevent authors to benefit from them.

– Throughout this crisis, our sectors have been dramatically impacted from one wave to another and many cultural venues, such as cinemas or concert venues have remained closed since the beginning of this crisis. Where possible, we strongly encourage Member States to allow for a reopening of cultural venues and to take into account all evidence that cultural activities can be allowed under certain conditions.

– Together with the European Parliament, we are “alarmed by the fact that no specific amount has been clearly earmarked to directly benefit the cultural and creative sectors and industries” and we urge the European institutions and all European countries to make sure that the cultural and creative sectors “should benefit widely and quickly from all recovery funds”.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

ECSA (European Composer and Songwriter Alliance) – The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) represents over 30,000 professional composers and songwriters in 27 European countries. With 57-member organisations across Europe, the Alliance speaks for the interests of music creators of art & classical music (contemporary), film & audiovisual music, as well as popular music.

Web: www.composeralliance.org  / EU Transparency Register ID: 71423433087-91

EWC – The European Writers’ Council is the non-profit federation representing 46 national writers’ and literary translators’ associations and unions in 29 European countries, including EU Member States as well as Belarus, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and Montenegro. EWC’s members comprise over 160.000 professional authors in the text and book sector, working altogether in 31 languages.

Web: https://europeanwriterscouncil.eu/ / EU Transparency Register ID: 56788289570-24

FERA (Federation of European Screen Directors) – The Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA), founded in 1980, represents film and TV directors at European level, with 48 directors’ associations as members from 35 countries. We speak for more than 20,000 European screen directors, representing their cultural, creative and economic interests.

Web: https://screendirectors.eu/ / EU Transparency Register ID: 29280842236-21

FSE (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe) – The Federation of Screenwriters Europe is a network of national and regional associations, guilds and unions of writers for the screen in Europe, created in June 2001. It comprises 25 organisations from 19 countries, representing more than 7,000 screenwriters in Europe.

Web: www.federationscreenwriters.eu/ EU Transparency Register ID: 642670217507-74

[1] See for example, “The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Writers and Translators in the European Book Sector 2020”, with 37 recommendations to decision makers of the European Union and national governments. Link to EWC Survey on Economic Impact of COVID19   and link to the summary and selected recommendations.

[2] Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC

[3] Communication from the European Commission Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade: An Action Plan to Support Recovery and Transformation – COM/2020/784 final

[4] Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services.

[5] European Parliament resolution of 17 September 2020 on the cultural recovery of Europe

 

Download the PDF version of the Position here.

 

Photo: Marie Pierre Morel

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Elisabet Gustafsson

Honorary Treasurer

Swedish Film Directors, Sweden

Film directors and screenwriter, travels between Paris and Stockholm. At the moment, she is working with a documentary shot in Mali and a short film about guinea pig that disappeared in a parachute.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

Hem

U2R – Union des réalisatrices et réalisateurs

contactu2r@orange.fr

https://www.union2r.fr

Swedish Film Directors (SFR)/Fackförbundet Scen & Film

info@scenochfilm.se

Hem

Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD)

www.sacd.fr

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Norske Filmregissører (NFR)

nfr@filmdir.no

www.filmdir.no

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