Producers' org reups Gomez

Lolafilms CEO to serve an additional two years

By JOHN HOPEWELL

Spanish producer Andres Vicente Gomez was re-elected as president of worldwide producers body, the Intl. Federation of Film Producers Assn. (FIAPF), at the org's general assembly Saturday.

Gomez, CEO of Lolafilms, will serve for a further two years. He replaced Aurelio de Laurentiis, who held the post for 10 years, in 2003.

First VP is the MPAA's Chris Marcich.

P.V. Gangadharan will serve as VP for Asia and Australasia.

FIAPF executive members are Hector Oliveira (Argentina), Von Wolkenstein (Austria), John Barrack (Canada), Fabia Buenaventura (Spain), Jean Prewitt (IFTA), Gianni Massaro (Italy), Vladimir Dostal (Russia) and Borje Hansson (Sweden).

The general assembly signalled a clear priority under Gomez's second mandate: the protection of film and TV from copyright piracy.

FIAPF is especially concerned about moves by some countries, like India and Brazil, and non governmental organizations to argue that measures to protect movie copyright are incompatible with the public's rights to access content.

The general assembly also signalled changes at FIAPF management. Director general Bertrand Moullier has ankled. He will most probably continue in the sector, based out of London. Valerie Lepine-Karnik will replace him.