The directors’ rights provision applies only to films made after 19 December 2005. The Australian Copyright Act protects both films made by Australian citizens and residents, and foreign films where the maker is a citizen or resident of a country which is a party to an international copyright treaty. In practice most countries are now members of the Berne Convention, the UCC Convention or the WTO, and therefore most foreign films will be protected under Australian copyright law.
Foreign directors will therefore be entitled to claim the directors’ copyright in the same way that Australian directors may assert their claim.