The International Federation of Actors is a well-established and experienced trade union organisation.
Set up in 1952 by Equity in the United Kingdom and the Syndicat Français des Artistes-Interprètes in France, FIA quickly established itself as a reliable voice for professional performers across the world. Thanks to the early recognition by its founding members that the issues of performers would increasingly transcend national borders and would require co-operation between national performers’ unions, FIA has grown steadily over the years.
After 70 years, and with a membership spread across all continents, the Federation lived many lives and had to adapt to the many social and technological changes.
History being a great teacher, the Federation decided in 2017 to start documenting its work since the 50s. It has been a meticulous and extensive endeavour aiming at capturing the highlights of the Federation’s history. After months spent classifying documents, digging through its archives, and collecting written and video testimonies of prominent figures of the Federation, FIA was able to launch the FIA History pages of its website in 2018. Since then, the work has continued, and we are now proud to share three new video testimonies. Those testimonies from women and men having played a important role in the life of the Federation shed light on some key aspects of FIA work: co-productions, international solidarity, and the Global Union Federations (GUF).
In the first video, Jennifer Ward Lealand, President of Equity New Zealand, tells us about the 2010 major clash between Equity NZ and Warner Bros caused by the Production of the Hobbit in New Zealand and the double standards applied to performers either local or foreigner. She explains how this international boycott gave birth to the drafting of a new law – the Screen Industry Workers’ Bill – allowing for collective bargaining in the screen industry where all workers are freelancers.
In the second video called “International Solidarity”, several significant figures of the Federation – Mikael Waldorf from DSF; Jimmy Shuman, Denys Fouqueray and Catherine Alméras from SFA and John Mc Guire from SAG-AFTRA – recount their experiences of international solidarity actions led by FIA.
Lastly, in the video called “International Trade Secretariats”, Jim Wilson, former General Secretary of MEI, FIA sister organisation, tells the story of the birth of the International Trade Secretariats in the Entertainment Sector and the impact of the Cold War. If you want to learn more about this issue, read The Long Road towards Cooperation by Rainer Fattmann available on the FIA History pages.
‘FIA History’ is an ongoing project. Please contact us if you have valuable resources to share that could help us complete this exciting endeavour.
