The Pan-African Alliance of Screenwriters and Directors -APASER- officially launched its activities as a collective management society at the 28th edition of the FESPACO Film Festival, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival held every two years in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The activities began on Friday, February 24th, with a press conference at the Sopatel Slimandé hotel in the Burkinabe capital, and continued on Sunday, February 26th, with a Board of administrative directors meeting at the Fespaco Hall with the sponsorship of the International Confederation of Audiovisual Authors -AVACI-. The FESPACO Film Festival is the largest film festival on the African continent, whose stated objective is "to contribute to the expansion and development of African cinema as a means of expression, education and awareness". During the event, APASER's new website was launched, which is now available at www.apaser.africa.
The meeting brought together Audiovisual Authors from Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Madagascar. Present were the president of APASER, the Malagasy Director and Screenwriter Laza Razanajatovo; the Secretary General of the Pan-African Filmmakers Federation -FEPACI- the Malian Director and Screenwriter Cheik Oumar Sissoko; and officials from FESPACO and the West African Economic and Monetary Union -UEMOA-. The festival's historic quest to establish a market for African audiovisuals, stimulating contacts between industry professionals, explains the presence of this organization created in Senegal in 1994 that works towards the development and integration of the economic activity of its member countries.
APASER was authorized last October to operate as a collective management society for the collection and distribution of Audiovisual Authors' rights and is currently working on the establishment of the African headquarters of the AVACI Confederation in Antananarivo, Madagascar. APASER will have the support of this organization, of which its president participates as a full member of the Executive Committee.
The growth of an audiovisual author organization with 13,000 members, its launch into the continental audiovisual scene at the largest festival in its region, and its consolidation as a collective management society imply good news for Audiovisual Authors worldwide, who will soon be receiving their rights for the public dissemination of their works in the African continent.
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