On May 16, a conversation was held under the title ‘Bold Movie Directors: Tell the Basic Rights of Video Authors Across the Border’ at Cinematheque Korean Film Archive (KOFA). As part of the regular general meeting of the AVACI (Audiovisual Authors International Confederation), Horacio Maldonado, AVACI Chairperson and General Secretary for Argentinian Film Directors (DAC), JK Youn and Min Kyudong, Representatives of the Directors Guild of Korea (DGK), and Kim Heejung from DGK Committee gathered to talk about the ‘fair compensation’ for the audiovisual authors.

Clause 100 Article 1 of the current copyright law in Korea states, “It is presumed that the copyright of all people who cooperated in the production of the film has been transferred to the producer.” DGK says the copyright law should also specify the right of the audiovisual authors to be fairly compensated. Director JK Youn said, “The movie directors and scenario writers in Europe and South America receive copyright fees whenever their films are screened in other countries, but we don’t. Also, in the case of My Boss, My Hero, which I wrote and directed 20 years ago, or Sex Is Zero, I have never received a penny of copyright fees, even if they have been rerun several times on the cable channels in Korea. By revising the copyright law, I want to show young movie directors and scenario writers in their 20s and 30s that they can receive definite and fair compensations if they work hard and do well with only one fine work.” 

Director Maldonado said, “If the ‘fair compensation’ is not implemented in Korea, which is leading the world’s cultural content, the audiovisual authors’ rights of the weak countries currently in effect can be recognized as false demands because the cultural status of Korea is so great in the world. If the rights of Korean film creators are protected, it’ll benefit the countries such as India, China, etc. one after another, which don’t have the video copyright law yet,” referring to the importance of Korea in the world. 

AVACI’s regular general meeting, which was held for the first time in Seoul, started on May 11 and is running until May 20 to examine the current status of the audiovisual authors’ rights and their cultural impact on the video industry in Korea. On May 20, for the last event of the general meeting, a forum for ‘The Prospect of Cultural Creative Industry and Creative Environment’ will be held at the Seoul Urban Architecture Exhibition Hall, co-hosted by DGK and JACOPS P&D Co., and sponsored by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).