Kroes: European film heritage should be available online

The European film heritage is at this time hardly digitized, and this has to change. That’s the opinion of the Commissioner, ict, Neelie Kroes. They prepare European legislation that can change, but EU member states would now need to take action.

According to the European Commission is at this moment still only 1.5% of European film heritage is digitized, so let the Commission know, in a statement. “It is ridiculous that our film heritage is invisible in the twenty-first century is invisible,” says european Commissioner for ict, Neelie Kroes in the statement.

Kroes says ‘determined’ to make old films available online and will look at how European rules to help with this. Kroes is going to look at the problems that copyright poses for the digitization of the cultural heritage.

The copyright applies to seventy years after the death of the last surviving author. That is not always clear who was responsible for a particular piece of film, in combination with the long-term problems: it is not clear who will be asked for permission for digitisation.

The European Commission warns that a large part of the film heritage may be lost if not digitized, such as with many silent films happened. It would only be 10 percent of the ravages of time have survived. Kroes recommends that EU member states are, therefore, not to wait for European regulations, but to take initiative, according to a spokeswoman for Kroes. The movies would, for example, can be made available through Europeana, a European database for museummateriaal. Sweden and the United Kingdom would already set a good example.