First World Conference of Screenwriters

The first World Conference of Screenwriters will take place in Athens, Greece during the 6 & 7 of November 2009.

The Conference will bring together all of the member Guilds and Unions of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe – who initiated the project – and the members of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds.

Two hundred representatives from 30 guilds around the globe are expected to attend the meeting: they will be representing over twenty thousand writers worldwide.

During the two days of the conference the delegates will focus on the following topics:

• The environment for production
• Distribution of creative content
• The role of multinational conglomerates
• The writers' response.

Additionally a number of debates on related topics will take place over the course of the conference.

Among those already committed to be present will be Guillermo Arriaga (Golden Lion for the Burning Plain, Golden Palm for Best Screenplay for Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for Babel, as well as several awards for 21 Grams, Amores Perros), Mateo Gil (Oscar for Mar Adentro and several awards for Abro los ojos, Vanilla Sky, Agora), Vincenzo Cerami (Oscar for La Vita e Bella and several awards for Porte Aperte a.o.), Marcos Bernstein (Golden Bear and Golden Globe for Central do Brasil), Milcho Manchevski (Golden Lion for Before the Rain and several awards for Dust and Shadows), Paolo Sorrentino (Jury Prize in Cannes for Il Divo), Sergio Sanchez (Goya for Best Original Screenplay for The Orphanage), Stefano Rulli (several awards for La Meglio Gioventu, Mio fratello e figlio unico a.o.), Guy Hibbert (Sundance Screenwriting Award 2009 for Five Minutes of Heaven), Razvan Radulescu (several awards for The Paper Will Be Blue and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), Mark O'Halloran (several awards for Adam and Paul and Garage), Srdjan Koljevic (several awards for The Trap and Red Colored Grey Truck).

Countries represented include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America.

The Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild will be sending delegates to this historic conference, to participate and discuss the important issues that face screenwriters around the world.