The First International Congress of Cinematographers
During the weekend of November 13th and 14th the first Congress of Cinematographers about the authorship rights for cinematographers was organised in Huelva.
For a very long time European cinematographers have been dealing with this issue. They have been acting through IMAGO to work towards a legislation on the recognition of co-authorship for the long feature films they work on.
This recognition has not yet been granted in most European countries.
The Congress in Huelva created a new horizon to the future of Directors of Photography. It is obvious that the work of a cinematographer should be considered as an individual artistic creation and therefore to be recognized as such by law.
From now on we need to convince legislators, not only at a national level but on the international scene as well, that it is unjust not to grant such recognition to those who create the images and substantially contribute to the artistic mood of the film.
At our congress 28 countries were represented by their national societies. Several elaborate statements were made by legal advisors specialized in author rights legislation. Many aspects were discussed amongst cinematographers, still photographers, representatives of collecting societies and directors.
At the end of the congress a new declaration was produced, following the one from Torún of 1999. It is to be considered as a very important document. You can consult it on this website ( click on Authorship).
All the documents issued during the past years are an important tool to work nationally with legal advisors and collecting societies. They support the issue of authorship for cinematographers and may eventually convince legislators of the recognition of the DoP as the creator of images. It is important for each national society to fight for the authorship rights.
The congress was organized by the Spanish Cinematographers Association AEC (Asociación Española de Autores de Obras Fotográficas Cinematográficas.), together with the 30th Huelva Iberoamerican Film Festival, Director Porfirio Enriques AEC, and IMAGO, the European Federation of Cinematographers.
Tony Costa – Portugal
Vice-President IMAGO
