Copyflights. "Too many people in our country don't think that such problems exist. Ideas are stolen and no one remembers your name."
A team of journalism students from theZaporizhzhya National University, Ukraine, has won a WIPO-sponsored prize for the best short film on an IP-related issue in the international Film Your Issue contest.
Their film, Copyflights, uses paper planes to evoke both the free flight of ideas and the vulnerability of unprotected creative works to theft by the “men in black.”
As future journalists, copyright is an issue close to the students’ hearts. Team member Aleksandra Zborovskaya told WIPO Magazine that they had learned about IP the hard way, when some original scripts which they had submitted to an advertising company were misappropriated. “We made such a mistake because of lack of experience and information,” she said. “But now, as creators, we know our rights and want to warn others to be more careful.”
While noting that the use of the © symbol in the film as short-hand for all IP protection was misleading , the WIPO panel commended the film for its original creative concept, visually arresting portrayal of the issue and well crafted execution.
The annual Film Your Issue competition is run by a consortium of U.S. media companies and NGOs in order to promote awareness of global issues among tomorrow’s filmmakers.
Watch Copyflights, created and filmed by Aleksandra Zborovskaya, Maria Korniyenko, Viacheslav Malinov, Lidia Pikhteeva, Olga Kayda.