"Peter Rouillard" <
rouillard@cwgsy.net> wrote:
Speaking of the Oslo Festival, I was going to enter my latest
film in that festival - until I saw that the entry fee was 30 euros!! this
is a really high entry fee in my opinion, what do others think ?
I also intended to say this on the forum some time ago, Peter, but I hesitated.
I am happy that you have told your opinion now. I took part in the Oslo Festival
only once. Also at that time it was rather expensive. I remember that I won
a silver frame which is a diploma, but I didn't know what the judges really
thought about my film. Sorry for the organizers, but Biaff and Guernsey
are much better and they don't charge so much. I know that everything in
Norway is very expensive. I was there about seven or eight years ago. I had
a wonderful time in spite of the rainy days. The waterfalls were very impressive
and the fjords were breathtaking, but the fares were extremely high. It was
also breathtaking to buy a beer. Luckily I am not a beer drinker. Perhaps
the organizers of the Oslo Festival do not realize that their entry fees
are too high for filmakers from other European countries. I have seen that
there were many entries from Switzerland and Austria as well. Also these
countries are very expensive. For those filmmakers 30 euros is perhaps "a
peanut", but what do filmakers from Estonia and Slovenia think about it ?
Some days ago Urbain Appeltans told me the good news. It seems to me that
his health condition is a bit better at the moment. He still has plans to
go to Guernsey because he has already tried to find a better way to go to
Guernsey. He will decide mid-September. He knows that he can go by ferry
from St. Malo and that there are easy and cheap flights from Dinard, but
of course there is still the distance by car from Belgium to Brittanny and
the "péages" on the French motorways. Now he has found that he can go by
air from Eindhoven in Holland - which is not so far from his town - to London
and then to Guernsey. The fares are reasonable and knowing that the winners
receive at least 150 pounds sterling in Guernsey... Hopefully also the other
Belgians who have won lilies will be able to attend the most friendly festival
in Europe as Dave Watterson has written somewhere. I know that Urbain was
also asked to go to Denmark for the ceremony of the "European Championship",
but of course he can't or he couldn't go and accommodation was very expensive.
Our European festivals must be for non-sponsored amateurs in the first place.
There are also festivals for the other ones. My clubmate Douglas Boswell,
who has become a professional filmmaker in the mean time, takes part in the
other festivals now. He works for a Belgian television channel and he would
feel embarrassed to take part in a real international amateur film festival
he said. For his last film "Romance" he received 70,000 euros from the Flemish
government I remember. He spent all his money on the film (actors, catering,
equipment, etc...) and he has not become a rich man, he told me. I believe
him because he is the most friendly and honest filmmaker I have ever met.
I know that some friends on this forum don't agree with me about professionalism
and amateurism, but I can't change my opinion. Organizers of international
festivals want as many excellent films as possible in their winners show.
I understand, but it may also be very discouraging for friends who only make
films for fun. Guernsey is really exceptional ! The organizers are very generous,
perhaps too generous even. I wonder if it would not be better to give no
money to filmmakers who have won, but who cannot attend the festival or
who do not want to go to Guernsey. A festival must be for friends who enjoy
watching films, who are proud that they have won (why not ?) and who want
to make new friends.