Cinema as (Tangible and Intangible) Cultural Heritage

This research paper will put forward innovative solutions to strengthen the protection of cinema during armed conflicts, in particular by contending that cinema could be qualified as cultural heritage, thereby falling under the protection of the relevant international Conventions. A special testimony made by artist Sergio Iovino will be first proposed, with a view to highlighting the importance to safeguard cinema and – broadly speaking – every kind of art in wartime. Moving from the current armed conflict in Ukraine, the paper will underline the need for a reassessment of the relevant international regulations. In particular, after having secured a comprehensive definition of cinema, still lacking in international law, it will propose an evolutionary interpretation of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). The paper will then analyze the legal relations between International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and filmmaking, which remain nebulous. The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict never refers to cinema, but simply mentions “objects of artistic interest” (art. 1), and already such a definition fails to accommodate cinema’s mongrel nature and complex production process. An adaption of IHL, starting from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, will be therefore put forward in order to ensure that the art of filmmaking can enjoy legal protection in all phases of an armed conflict.