The Rossellini stuff had been particularly messy because of numerous claims on the estate. I don't know the specific situation but since it has been out of legal release in the US for many years I imagine it is complicated.
A general note since Michael was also asking about a foreign film currently in release, unless a foreign film has a pretty standard owner ( Studio, indie company) chances are it is owned by someone outside the US. Depending on the film it may not be that difficult to track down ( or it may be a nightmare) but somebody does own it. This is one of the big issues re rights. There are tens of thousands of films that will take a lot of work to track down and chances are even if you do find the rights holder, they will want more money than you can afford. There is no simple answer here. It is hard enough to find a LEGAL copy of these films to show in a class but going beyond that for something like a public show or streaming is in most cases going to be more trouble than it is worth. Realistically I see no major change in this situation. Most European rights holders are fairly paranoid and or difficult on these things and they own most of the films you are going to want. There is not going to be any changes to copyright law that will make this easier. I think you are just going to have to get professors to accept that there are films they can not use. I don't really think librarians can become experts on international copyright and spend their days trying to clear a film from Gaumont ( assuming you can track one there). Obviously a number of films will become available but I think more are lost than are gained. Ironically if you go to glory years of film distribution I suspect there were thousands of more titles available for showing than you could clear now. Jessica Rosner On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Rhonda Pancoe <[email protected]> wrote: > Does anybody know who the rights holder is for Viaggio in Italia (Voyage to > Italy) by Roberto Rossellini? > > Rhonda Pancoe > Media Acquisitions Coordinator > Colgate University > 13 Oak Drive > Hamilton, NY 13346 > 315-228-7858 Phone > 315-228-6227 Fax > [email protected] > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues > relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, > preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and > related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective > working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication > between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and > distributors. > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
