Authors’ Rights, Copyright Law and Collective Management: the Road to a Fair Ecosystem
Audiovisual works generate value across cinemas, broadcasters, platforms and territories, yet many writers and directors receive little or no continuing share of the revenues created by their work across Europe. The gap is especially pronounced in parts of Southeast Europe, where legal recognition may exist on paper but enforcement, licensing and royalty collection remain weak or inconsistent.
This session examines the infrastructure required for fair remuneration. Effective copyright systems depend on more than legislation: collective management organisations need clear mandates, operational independence, access to licences and workable tariffs before they can collect and distribute royalties. In several territories, delayed administrative decisions, fragmented regulation and unequal bargaining power continue to prevent audiovisual authors from achieving the protections long established in other creative sectors.
Legal and institutional representatives from across the region will compare obstacles, working models and priorities for reform. What provisions are needed to recognise and enforce authors’ rights? How can collective management organisations build trust with both creators and users? And what role should public authorities play in ensuring that rights are practical rather than symbolic? The session places remuneration within a wider question of sustainability: an audiovisual sector cannot depend on original creation while leaving its authors structurally excluded from the value their work continues to generate.
SPEAKERS
Lidia Radlinska-Gutek
Head of Legal & Public Affairs Department, Union of Audiovisual Authors and Producers (PL)
Melina Alagić
General Secretary, Association of Filmmakers BiH (BA)
Gregor Štibernik
Managing director, AIPA (SI)
Kiril Gjozev
Secretary General, AZAS (MK)
Cecile Despringre
General Secretary, Society of Audiovisual Authors (BE)
MODERATED BY
TIME
August 20th, 2026
11:00 – 12:00 (CET)
LOCATION
Festival Garden
Lidia Radlinska-Gutek
Lidia Radlinska-Gutek is an attorney-at-law with over a dozen years of experience in the field of copyright law. Her experience includes working at law firms, public institutions including the Polish Ministry of Culture and the UK Intellectual Property Office, and collective management organisations. She currently serves as the head of the Legal and Public Affairs Department at ZAPA.
Melina Alagić
Melina Alagić (born in Čapljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1985) is a dramaturg, screenwriter, lecturer, and film professional. She holds a master's degree in Dramaturgy from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo and teaches Screenwriting at the International Burch University in Sarajevo.
She serves as Project Manager at the Association of Filmmakers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and as General Secretary of the Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is the selector of the BH Film Student Program at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and one of the editors of the BH Film Program, BH Film Catalogue and the BH Film Database.
Kiril Gjozev
Kiril Gjozev is a North Macedonian producer, cultural manager and copyright specialist with more than a decade of experience in the audiovisual and creative industries. He serves as Secretary General of AZAS – Association for the Protection of Audiovisual Works and President of UMPAKI – The Union of Macedonian Professional Associations in the Creative Industries, while also teaching at Europa Prima University in Skopje. His work connects film production, collective rights management, cultural policy and international cooperation. Kiril has contributed to numerous European and regional initiatives supporting creators, cultural organisations and cross-border collaboration. He is also active in global audiovisual networks and currently serves as Co-Chair of the First Presidium of the International Trade Organization for Creative Economy (ITOCE).
Gregor Štibernik
Gregor Štibernik is Director of AIPA, the Slovenian collective management organisation for audiovisual authors, performers, and producers. He is actively involved in international copyright and neighbouring rights issues through his roles on the boards of the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), the Societies’ Council for the Collective Management of Performers’ Rights (SCAPR), and the Global Audiovisual Archiving Conference (GAVA). His work focuses on collective rights management, copyright policy, cross-border cooperation, and strengthening the position of creators and rights-holders in the evolving digital environment. He regularly represents AIPA at European and international professional forums.
Cecile Despringre
Cécile studied International and European Law at the University of Paris I and holds a Master's degree in International Economic Law. After a traineeship at the Delegation of the European Commission to International Organisations in Geneva, she became the European Affairs Officer of SACD (French and Belgian Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) in Brussels in 1997. In 2001, she moved to Paris and became Deputy Director for European Affairs and Trade Negotiations of SACD. In 2006, she joined FERA, the European network of film and TV directors’ organisations as their CEO. In 2009, Cécile was contacted by audiovisual authors’ collective management organisations to set up a new European organisation to represent them with the European institutions: the SAA. Since March 2020, Cécile is the President of board of directors of Cineuropa, after having been Vice-President for several years. She is fluent in French and English and has a basic command of Spanish.