FERA Open letter to Greek authorities regarding Presidential Decree 85/2022 and its impact on artists and filmmakers
15 February 2023
In this open letter sent out Tuesday 14 February 2023, FERA expresses its complete support to Greek Directors, Creators and Artists regarding the Greek Presidential Decree 85/2022, which unfairly degrades the degrees of the Greek Directors and thousands of Greek Artists in general by equating them to high school diplomas, notwithstanding that the Greek Directors and Artists have graduated from Schools that had already been classified by the Hellenic State as higher education institutions.
Addressed to:
Honorable President Mrs. Katerina Sakelaropoulou
Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Honorable Minister for Culture and Sports Mrs. Lina Mendoni
Honorable Minister for Education and Religious Affairs Mrs. Niki Kerameus
Honorable Deputy Minister for Modern Culture Mr. Nicholas Yatromanolakis
Honorable Members of the Hellenic Parliament
Dear Madam President,
Dear Prime Minister,
Dear Minister for Culture and Sports,
Dear Minister for Education and Religious Affairs,
Dear Deputy Minister for Modern Culture,
Dear Members of the Hellenic Parliament,
FERA, the Federation of European Screen Directors, gathers 49 national organisations as members from 35 countries. We speak on behalf of more than 20,000 European film, TV and streaming directors, representing their cultural, creative and economic interests at the national and European level. EU law defines the screen director as the primary audiovisual author.
The median European Audiovisual author is educated to a university level reflecting the depth of thinking and understanding of the world a highly attuned artistic and intellectual sensitivity requires. Being a screen director is difficult and demands a level of mastery concomitant with higher education1.
Teaching by experienced, highly educated professionals actively working in the audiovisual industry is vital for future screen directors, and 53% of directors in Europe teach or give workshops to help supplement their median income from €19k as an author to the total of €25k.
As the organization that represents European Screen Directors in their entirety, we write to express our complete and utter opposition to the Presidential Decree 85/2022, which unfairly degrades the degrees of the Greek Directors and thousands of Greek Artists in general, by equating them to high school diplomas, notwithstanding that the Greek Directors and Artists have graduated from Schools that had already been classified by the Hellenic State as higher education institutions.
In parallel, we support the Greek Creators who for fifty years now have promoted a Public School of Audiovisual Arts on university level as an essential vector of equal opportunity and diversity.
The Greek Directors and the Greek Artists in general, have established their place among the voices of the European Cultural World: devaluing them devalues our common European cultural identity and cultural diversity.
Most respectfully,
Bill Anderson (United Kingdom), Chair of the board
Elisabet Gustafsson (Sweden), Honorary Treasurer
Eugenia Arsenis (Greece), Member of the Executive Committee
Klemen Dvornik (Slovenia), Member of the Executive Committee
Ida Grøn (Denmark), Member of the Executive Committee
Lou Jeunet (France), Member of the Executive Committee
Chiara Sambuchi (Germany), Member of the Executive Committee
Salvador Simó Busom (Spain), Member of the Executive Committee
Martijn Winkler (Netherlands), Member of the Executive Committee