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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Single legal regulation needed to preserve heritage

Belgrade, 16 March 2012

Minister of Culture, Media and Information Society Predrag Markovic today stressed that single legal regulations and technological presuppositions are crucial for the preservation of audiovisual heritage.

Opening an expert conference “Protection and preservation of audiovisual heritage in south-eastern Europe”, Markovic underlined that in order to preserve the audiovisual material, south-east European states should also have a similar model of institutions which should be non-profit making and ensure equal access to all.

The Minister said that it is needless to speak about the importance of preserving film heritage as collective memory, noting that a proper way to preserve this material should be contemplated.

Through partnership with France, preparations for the formation of a single institution for the preservation of film heritage are under way, he added, recalling that our heritage is divided into three parts which are kept at the Film News, the Radio Television Serbia and the Yugoslav Film Archive.

This heritage must be categorised, united and made technologically available to all. Namely, it should not be simply material held in a warehouse, but living material that can be shared without profit.

Markovic noted that digitalisation of audiovisual heritage is a challenge of its own, adding that €2 billion are needed for this to be accomplished on the territory of Europe.

The event gathered experts from Montenegro, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, France and Serbia, while representatives of Austria and the Council of Europe were present in the observer status. This is the second of the two expert conferences preceding the annual conference of ministers of culture of south-eastern Europe scheduled for 20 April, which will officially end Serbia’s presidency over the Council of Ministers of Culture of South East Europe, which it took over from Romania in April 2011.