22-02-2021

EU Filmmakers welcome initiative to bring Artistic Freedom in focus at EU-level

    Today, the event “Media and artistic freedom under attack - Europe has to act” organized by the S&D  Group in the EU Parliament brought much-needed focus on a worrisome trend of undemocratic  interference in the media and cultural sectors in Europe.  

    As an organization representing filmmakers at European level and advocating for their cultural,  creative and economic interests at national and European level, FERA welcomes this initiative which  sheds light on the absolute need to ensure creators’ artistic freedom in 21st century Europe, without  which European filmmakers’ unique yet diverse creative voices would cease to exist.  

    Attacks on filmmakers’ artistic freedom range from individual cases to situations where censorship  affects entire local audiovisual ecosystems. FERA has observed an upward trend in both types of  cases challenging local creative communities: such a threat to the EU cultural diversity can no longer  be ignored.  

    Director, FERA Chair and the Chair of Slovenian Federation of Filmmakers’ Guilds Klemen Dvornik  said during the event “Freedom of expression is essential for a fearless observation of the world and  for its truthful translation into artistic work. That’s why cultural funding systems should not be affected  by political changes – yet in Slovenia, public funding for the audiovisual sector remains unstable with  no sustainable solution in sight.” 

    Freedom of artistic expression requires artists and the cultural and creative sectors at large to be  independent and free of any governmental censorship, political interference or pressures from non state actors. In the audiovisual sector, this entails autonomy from political authorities’ influence and  independence of expertise from ideology when assessing or commissioning projects.  

    We call on the European Union to acknowledge the growing pressure on our common EU democratic  standards in the field of media and artistic freedom by setting up a formal monitoring framework to  document related infringements, in order to inform and assess concrete EU-level action in the near future. 


    Background Information 

    Below you can find a list of artistic freedom cases that FERA has worked on: 

    • FERA French member SRF Pays Tribute to Lokman Slim
    • FERA Joins Forces with International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) • FERA Statement: EU Filmmakers Standing In Solidarity With Their Faroese Colleagues Facing Censorship
    • EU organizations support Slovenian film community facing disastrous governmental pressure as public film funding is blocked
    • Urgent Call for the Release of Hajooj Kuka
    • FERA co-signs open letter on EU democracy action plan and freedom of artistic expression • FERA Statement: EU Filmmakers Join in Support to Budapest University of Theatre and Film Arts’ Students and Senate
    • European Filmmakers Appeal to Support the People of Belarus

    • FERA in EFA CLOSE UP #6: Directors Making Noise In Brussels And Beyond

    Last modified on 23-02-2021
    Published in Press releases
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