Amendments to  RA law on cinematography contradict 15 international and domestic legal acts - Armenian Filmmakers` statement

ArmInfo. Amendments to the RA Law on Cinematography contradict more than 15 international and domestic conventions and laws, as stated by Armine Anda, Chairperson of the Animation Film Guild, during a press conference.

She noted that the draft law posted on e-draft states that the current regulations contradict the European Convention on Co-Production, but fails to specify which provisions do not comply with international standards. The head of the Guild also addressed the state's assertion that under the proposed changes, it will only finance those films where it owns both property and author's rights. "Firstly, you can't assign yourself copyrights, only property rights. And this is already a violation of all conventions and the law on copyright," Armine Anda stated.

In turn, Tigran Arakelyan, the head of the Association of Animation Film Companies, noted that the proposed amendments to the law would impede a number of successes that the Armenian film industry has recently achieved. Highlighting the so-called inconsistency of the current law, Arakelyan emphasized that the presented bill does not specify what exactly is not in line with the law. The amendments proposed by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, according to legal experts, lack proper legal justifications. According to the head of the Association, the innovations completely alter the logic of the law on cinematography, which was not even discussed with industry representatives. "A project like this should be withdrawn and in the future, if there is a desire to make any changes, this should be done through joint efforts," he said, noting that in addition to the fact that the innovations limit all possible freedoms, they will also jeopardize new projects and create obstacles to the development of international cooperation.