22/10/2002

Turin is where Europe really and truly extended its existing borders. Given that Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic (date of joining: September 2001), Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Cyprus are about to join the EU, it was time for the audiovisual sector to bring its legislative and economic regulations in line with community directives. Inevitably, this heightened the need for debate and comparison.
The key issue of Europe’s film heritage in light of the extension of EU will be discussed at a conference scheduled to take place in Turin on 14 and 15 November (at the end of the 20th Turin Film Festival).
The two-part conference was organised as part of the European Commission’s Cine @ days initiative, the issues under discussion will be conservation and the diffusion of Europe’s film heritage that has been enriched by the contribution from the nine new member-states. Their entry will serve to strengthen the links between the various film libraries and archives, allowing new and closer collaboration and an improved exchange of experience. Those scheduled to take part in the conference include Gabrielle Claes, the president of ACE (the Association of European Film Archives), Anne Chouchmann, head of Paris’ INA archive and Dinko Totakovic, the director of Belgrade’s film library. They will try to quantify the extent of Europe’s film heritage and lay down new strategies to raise its international profile and its diffusion. The all-important film circulation issue will be at the heart of a meeting scheduled for Friday 15 November when Francesco Maselli, the president of AIDAA (Associazione Internazionale Autori Audiovisivi), Jacques Poitrat, head of ARTE “Heritage”, film director Ildiko Enyedi and Giacomo Mazzone, the secretary-general of Eurovisioni together with other speakers, will examine and compare various countries’ experiences of circulating their films internationally and try to find new ways of meeting with the public, especially the young.
On the afternoon of 15 November, directors Andrzej Wajda and Bertrand Tavernier, Henry Ingbert, the secretary-general of Belgium’s French community, Mario Ricciardi, the president of Turin’s National Film Museum, and Jacques Delmoly, the head of the EU’s Media Programme – amongst others – will delineate the current state of Europe’s film heritage and its cultural contribution to contemporary society.