UNICA, not BENELUX

A forum for sharing views on the art of film, video and AV sequence making as well as on competitions, judging and festivals.
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Willy
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Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:42 pm
Location: Antwerp Belgium

UNICA, not BENELUX

Post by Willy »

The Benelux Film Festival took place from Wednesday to Sunday in the City of Ostend (Belgium).
There were 71 entries. The films were shown in a mixture of three main categories : information films, fantasy films and fiction films. The president of the judding panel was Guido Haesen from Luxembourg. He was assisted by 6 other judges. One of the was Urbain Appeltans, winner of the Daily Mail Trophy some years ago.
The festival secretary was Louis Meulders. He is 86 years young and he is still very energetic. Also Julien Loncke, the president of the international competition.


I think that the organisers were very pleased with everything. Everyday there was a "full house", which is exceptional these days and knowing that outside the sun was shining all the time. The films were of a very high standard. The screenings were excellent.

The overall winner was "Sjeng" made by the Dutchman Huub Bervoets. Last year I encouraged him to take part in the Lily Festival. He was second. Now he has made his film shorter. Huub deleted the chapter with the notary. This was a very good decision. Huub received 200 euros from the festival comity, but also the medal from His Majesty King Albert II and the Bronze Mermaid, offered by Louis Meulders, the festival officer. Louis himself received a standing ovation for all the work he had done.

Among the cineasts we noticed Rony Claus, Magda Verbist, René Roeken ,Willy Lang, Jef Caelen, and other ones.

"Guernsey, I Love You ! received a special award for the special approach of a tourist film (story in story). It was a gift by the the Flemish Vice-President of Minister of Tourism. Most Flemish Ministers give presents to the organisers.

The organisation was perfect. There was a large audience every day. The ceremony was stylish : a podium. On the left and right flags of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Europe, West-Flanders, the City of Ostend. The screenings were perfect. Everybody could see everything very well in the auditorium of the Astrid Hotel. There were lots of awards offered by the authorities (money, books, medals, trophies, etc...) The programme and palmares were well-printed. You already received the printed results just after the proclamation, et..

It's a pity that next year the Benelux Festival will not take place in the Netherlands because of the recession. And in Luxembourg there won't be a Benelux Festival either, because Unica will take place in the City of Luxembourg (August 2011) The opportunity to attend it again, because it is not so far from my house.

An other good thing about the last Benelux Festival. After the ceremony a glass of wine or fruitjuice was offered to the filmmakers and judges. They could have a chat about the films. I talked to Urbain Appeltans. He said that my voice-over was not necessary in the film "Guernsey, I Love You ! " The actress could have said everything. Three voices ... that's too much. I appreciated Urbain's point of view. Now I must also be careful when talking about judges'critics. One friend said that some months ago I was very offensive on this forum about the judges'critics. If this is right then I would like to apologize and keep my mouth shut when such a thread appears on this forum. I am the man who appreciates the work of judges most.
Willy Van der Linden
ned c
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:39 pm
Location: Dammeron Valley USA

Re: UNICA, not BENELUX

Post by ned c »

Hi Willy,

Thank you for your news about the Benelux Film Festival.

Regarding your final paragraph, I cannot remember any of your posts that have been offensive. Discussion of judging and judges is an essential part of this forum, as an occasional judge I know I do get it wrong sometimes and I am happy to discuss the problems of judging and writing the reviews.

ned c
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Dave Watterson
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Location: Bath, England
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Re: UNICA, not BENELUX

Post by Dave Watterson »

Hi Willy

The comments on judging you made, which might be considered strong, were in the topic: "Judges critiques - a criticism!" where you went through some of the things said about 'Guernsey I Love You'.

I don't think any British judge would consider those remarks offensive.

There is a view that film makers should not answer back. I do not go along with that. I think it is probably not a good idea to explode angrily in speech or writing when you receive comments ... but having allowed yourself time to cool down, then why not?

The only problem is that many readers of a letter in 'Film & Video Maker' magazine or of this forum, may not have seen the film in question. That means they cannot draw a balanced conclusion. Think of Mr. Bridges letter in FVM about comments on one of his films ... which had been seen by fairly few people.

- Dave
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