After a busy (and very rainy) November, I am happy to be writing to you with good news from the international stage and Bulgaria - showing that persistent advocacy and close collaboration with partner organisations are keys to success!

In the month of October, I first travelled north from Brussels to Finland, and later to a less cold Serbia. Now, I am writing to you from France, where I am stopping for a few days rest before I am continuing my travels in early November to Switzerland, Bulgaria and Austria. Let me share a few words about my journeys.

In September, we enjoyed Brussels 'Indian summer'. We welcomed the EU Parliament's clarification on EMFA Article 20, we published the SAA position on AI, discussed the Status of Artist with members, met with our Board of Directors and more. 

After the summer, the SAA will take on where it left of before the summer break. We will continue our work following the development in the EU Parliament with the Artists’ Status, European Media Freedom Act, Artificial Intelligence and the European elections 2024. Read Cécile Despringre digest of SAA’s activities during the month of July.

In June, we proudly expanded our Board of SAA Patrons with 3 new Patrons. Our key activities have been our networking lunch with MEPs that we organised on the occasion of the LUX Audience Award, issuing a statement and inviting authors' perspectives on AI, and joining forces on the European Media Freedom Act. 

Among our many activities in May, we welcomed new Patrons, attended meetings and networked during the Cannes Film Festival and we shared updates about the implementation of SatCab II and the Copyright Directives. 

In April we greeted 4 new SAA Patrons, participated in the European Parliament’s consultations on the implementation report of the Creative Europe programme and the EU framework on artists’ status, as well as its draft report on the European Media Freedom Act. I went to Prague for the European committee of CISAC, and we continued supporting our members with legal advice and EU level data for their national advocacy for authors’ rights.

In March, we promoted audiovisual authors’ rights at the international level, both with an online event with our Latin American colleagues and participation in the WIPO meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in Geneva. We also met with SAA members in Brussels for our general assembly meeting and partnered for the screening of a Swedish documentary film linked to the Swedish Presidency of the Council. This is all the diversity of activities that I love at the SAA.

In February, we were back to the Berlinale, we closed the SAA 2022 accounts and prepared our upcoming General Assembly meeting. We welcomed filmmakers from Romania, Slovenia and Croatia to our Board of Patrons and organised an online event with authors and experts from Latin America and Europe on audiovisual authors’ rights.

This is my first monthly digest. Whether you are a policymaker, filmmaker or other professional in the cultural and audiovisual sector, I hope my chronicle about the SAA’s activities may be valuable for you to get an insight into our work in support of audiovisual authors’ rights in Europe.