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SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors

Regional seminar on audiovisual authors' rights in Central and Eastern Europe

18-19 November 2025, Skopje Events
Photo: Pavol Svantner

Following the success of our first regional seminar in Belgrade (2023), AIPA, ZAPA and the SAA, in partnership with AZAS, are co-organising a second gathering. The focus is on empowering collective management organisations (CMOs) in Central and Eastern Europe so that screenwriters and directors can receive fair remuneration for the use of their works.

CMOs are an essential part of the creative and economic ecosystem that supports the continued existence of an audiovisual industry and the empowerment of authors to tell unique stories.

Event details

When: 18-19 November 2025

Where:  Skopje, North Macedonia (Skopje Marriott Hotel – in person only)

Contact us if you are interested in participating, as attendance is by invitation only.

This seminar in Skopje aims at helping regional authors, CMOs, and policymakers:

  • Understand copyright as both an economic and cultural driver in the audiovisual sector.
  • Learn from established SAA members about building strong copyright systems.
  • Explore pathways toward authorship recognition, protection and sustainability.
  • Network with peers and experts from across the region.

Programme overview

18 November (afternoon)

'Authors, Rights, and the Power of a System'

  • Opening speeches: framing the stakes and hope
  • Panel: When copyright works and when it doesn’t
  • Panel: The author’s journey: from script to payment through copyright infrastructure
  • Panel: Sustainable audiovisual environments, what does it look like?

19 November (morning)

'Skopje call: Building an ecosystem for the region'

  • Panel: Recent developments: best practices and regional challenges in collective rights management
  • Panel: Building the Western Balkans ecosystem
  • Closing Remarks and Joint declaration

The SAA plays a key role in the region fostering exchanges between the CMOs, Intellectual Property Offices, national, European and international institutions. We provide a secure forum for learning, advancing best practices, and building the networks that strengthen authors' rights across borders.

The conference is hosted by AZAS, the organisation for the collective management of copyright and related film rights in the audiovisual sector in Macedonia. Its mission is to protect Macedonian authors, producers, and performers, and to ensure a fair, efficient, and transparent application and distribution of their collective rights.

Members

  • ZAPA

    Związek Autorów i Producentów Audiowizualnych

    Poland

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