Akademik

(National Film Writers' Association.) Founded in Rome in 1950, ANAC brought together directors and screenwriters with the aim of promoting cinema as a means of cultural expression. In the following years, the association was active in attempting to influence government policy regarding the industry and the management of important events such as the Venice Festival. The heated atmosphere of 1968 prompted a division in the association between those who wanted it to function along the lines of a trade union to protect the rights of workers in the industry, and who thus broke away to form the Associazione Autori Cinematografici Italiani (AACI ), and others who preferred to be part of a looser cultural association and who remained part of ANAC.

   The association continued to be active in the 1970s and became one of the founding members of the Federation Europeenne des Realisateurs de l'Audiovisuel (FERA). It also worked closely with the Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche e Affini (ANICA, National Association of Film and Affiliated Industries, now the Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimediali) to continue to lobby for a better regulatory framework for the film industry in Italy. As well as promoting the general interests of Italian cinema, the association now organizes a week of screenings and a forum within the Venice Film Festival.

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira