Tag: European Union

Film heritage screenings – EU funding available

European Year of Cultural HeritageAs part of an initiative funded last year under the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the European Commission is gathering proposals for organising a series of at least 5 screenings between May–September this year.

The main event specifications are as follows:

1. The screening must take place in a culturally important location.

The venue could be a cultural institution or heritage site which already hosts screening events (so that they have all the equipment and experience with handling them). The screenings could take place indoors or in an open air location.
The institution managing the venue should be willing to take the bulk of responsibility for the event (in collaboration with the local film heritage institution, the Creative Europe MEDIA desks, and the contractor of the European Commission).

2. The screening may take place during local celebrations, especially linked to heritage (eg. the 100th anniversary etc.).

The screening may be followed or opened by a networking cocktail, and/or discussion with a film/cultural historian (depending on the context). Of course, the bigger the outreach and audience of the screening, the better.

3. The heritage film to be screened has to be a non-national European film.

It will be a film of your choice as your knowledge of the audience’s preferences will be relied on.

Proposals for different venues and concepts for these events are now being gathered.
Concrete suggestions of possible venues, possible dates and a rough estimation of costs are needed.

Please send questions and proposals directly to Ms Irina Sofletea (Irina.SOFLETEA@ec.europa.eu).

Deadline for sending in proposals is 20 March 2019.

The ten worst and five best amendments to the Reda Report on EU Copyright

copyright_1024x448_small17 April 2015 – The European Parliament is preparing a resolution on the implementation of the Directive 2001/29/EC, the so- called “InfoSoc Directive”. The Directive intended to harmonise certain aspects of copyright, including the exceptions and limitations to the use of copyright protected works, but it has failed to do so. The existing legal framework is also maladapted to new technologies and the increase of cross-border cultural exchange. Rapporteur is the German MEP Julia Reda (The Greens / EFA). Reda’s report calls for, amongst other things, a more user-friendly approach to copyright, better remuneration and fair contracts for authors, a single European copyright title, the harmonisation of the protection term (death of the author(s) + 50years), and the mandatory implementation of the exceptions and limitations in the member states, as well as a broad exception for research and education, which should enable cross-border collaboration and encompass also non-formal education.

As expected, the reactions were hugely controversial. The big majority of MEPs doesn’t  want to challenge the status quo of EU copyright. All in all, the MEPs have tabled 556 amendments. COMMUNIA, the International Association on the Public Domain, has published the ten worst and five best amendments.

The position of film and cultural heritage institutions is best represented by the Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake (ALDE) and the Polish MEP Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D). Schaake proposes to expand “mandatory exceptions beneficial for public interest institutions, such as libraries, museums and archives, which play a central role in facilitating online access to cultural heritage, and access to information that allows them to make protected works in their collections, that are not in commercial circulation anymore, or otherwise actively managed by their rights holders, available for online access by the public” (AM 348). Geringer de Oedenberg asks for making “uniform and mandatory all the exceptions and limitations referred to in Directive 2001/29/EC, to allow equal access to cultural diversity across borders within the internal market and to improve legal certainty” (AM 341). The vote in the Plenary is scheduled for early May.

Read the full Reda Report (all EU languages)

Copyright evaluation report explained

Background information: The Reda Report has been prepared in the context of the Commission’s initiative to revise the EU copyright rules. A public consultation, which was carried out early 2013, received 11.000 responses. This is one of the highest participation rates ever. You can access the ACE response to the consultation here.

 

Polish EU Presidency Conference on Creative Potential of Digital Archives

22 June 2011 – During the Polish Presidency in the Council of the European Union, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland organises an expert conference called “Competences in Culture” in the area of culture, audiovisual and copyright. The conference  will be held in Warsaw on 18-20 July 2011.

The conference is organised in 3 parallel sessions: Culture, audiovisual and copyright. The audiovisual section is devoted to “The creative potential of digial archives”. The aim is to exchange best practices of digital archiving, new emerging business models, as well as building workflows for digital preservation of film and audiovisual archives. 3 consecutive panels are scheduled:

I. Future of digital archives (creative potential, commercial potential and business models).

II. Reconstruction of film and audiovisual materials. Archives and film education.

III. Digital distribution of film and audiovisual materials.

For further information, please visit the conference website.