The Thessaloniki International Film Festival has issued a plea to for the use of geo-blocking technology to protect films and festivals in the digital era. The plea has already been signed by 18 major international film festivals.
The statement issued June 25 by Thessaloniki International Film Festival reads:
“The outbreak of the coronavirus forced many festivals to move online. In the new situation that takes shape, following the rule of geo-blocking is essential to the protection of the films, the filmmakers and the festivals.
“It is important that festivals organizing digital screenings should limit them in their country in order to protect the audiovisual ecosystem in a digital environment, and not to jeopardize the distribution of films in other countries and their screenings in festivals, movie theaters, national streaming platforms and TV channels.
“In this new environment, we call for concerted action between the festivals and the industry players. In the meantime, and in order not to further weaken the audiovisual sector, we undertake to:
1. Geo-block for the audience the online diffusion of national and international premieres. 2. Loosen, as much as possible, our rules on international premieres for films that have been recently premiered online.
The plea is signed by the following festivals:
Amiens International Film festival
Cinemania Film Festival
Film Fest Ghent
Fipadoc International Documentary Festival
Gijon IFF
International Film Festival Mannheim Heidelberg
Istanbul Film Festival
Jerusalem Film Festival
Luxembourg City Film Festival
New Horizons IFF
Noordelijk Film Festival
Sarajevo Film Festival
Seville European Film Festival
Stockholm Int Film Festival
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Thessaloniki Film Festival
Torino Film Festival
Trieste Film Festival
“We call more festivals to sign the text, in order to secure the future of films, to support the filmmakers and to ensure the sustainability of the film industry.”
Find the plea and more information here:
