"Dave Watterson" <
forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:
If I have understood correctly a note in Czech, the Senior Forum festival
in Kromeriz last week gave its overall top award to:
"Until You Smile" by Willy Van der Linden.
"Reasons" by Alan Colegrave took third prize.
"I Just Knew" by Phil Martin got a Highly Commended.
I hope that IAC Treasurer, Ron Prosser, managed to attend the festival and
that he will let us know more about it. Among the international jury there
were Wolfgang Freier, the experienced Belgian judge and UNICA Council members;
and Erich Riess, organiser of the Festival of Nations in Austria. The standard
of assessment would, therefore, be good.
Congratulations to the three of you who are regular readers and occasional
contributors to this forum.
I am proud and I feel embarrassed at the same time. I've never seen "Reasons"
made by Alan, but I have a copy of "I Just Knew" made by Phil. In my opinion
Phil's film is the best one minute movie I've ever seen. To be honest I
think it's difficult to compare a one minute movie with a documentary, to
compare it with an animation film or with a fiction film. I remember that
Dave already suggested to organize British festivals only for travelogues,
only for animation films, only for ... etc... Last week I won gold at a
regional competition in Belgium with my "Masquerade". I was very happy with
it, also because I was not the only one who won the first prize. There were
five overall winners. There was only one gold, one silver and one bronze
winning film in the category animation films. There was one gold, one silver
and one bronze winning film in the category fiction films. "Who's Vincent
?" was first. It won the Guernsey Lily this year. There were also three
other categories : documentaries, one minute movies and travelogues. There
were about 50 films, but 5X3 films were screened in the festivity hall of
the City of Mechelen. Only there the final decision was taken : gold, silver
or bronze for each category. The pre-selections were held the weeks before
more or less behind closed doors. The filmmakers were invited and also their
clubmates and members of family ...
Once again : of course I'm very happy with my Czech first prize. It's Dave
who encouraged us on this forum to take part in that festival. I'm also happy
with the word "middle-aged".
One more thing : at BIAFF there is a seperate competition for one minute
movies. Here on this site you can read somewhere that the winning film at
BIAFF may be the British film for Unica next year . Dear British friends,
... I am a Belgian, however a Belgian with a British soul, and I have a one
minute movie for BIAFF ! Imagine that I win the one minute movie competition
at BIAFF ... ! To be honest ... I would be extremely proud to represent Britain
at Unica !
Sorry, I'm only teasing you ... My entry is just to support BIAFF. Don't
vote for it. Compared with "I Just Knew" ... I only deserve a blue seal award
for it. I mean it. I've already seen much better one minute movies than
this one. I've just made this one to show it at our local film gala and also
to please two clubmates who are the actors. But imagine that a foreigner
wins the British festival. Would you allow him to represent Britain at Unica
? I will not feel offended if you say NO ! Delicate question, isn't it ?
Anyway times are changing. I remember the Matt Busby Babes of Manchester
United in the fifties. The Charltons and the other ones were only British.
Now British teams like Arsenal have Dutch, Belgian and players of other nationalities.
But for film making that would be a bold step I think. I can't imagine that
a French speaking Belgian would represent the Dutch speaking region of Flanders
or ... no, imagine that we have a French speaking filmmaker in our local
club... ?
I'm also asking you this question because about three or four Belgians entered
the national competition in the Netherlands this year. One of these Belgians
was even the runner-up. In Belgium he was first. So he took part in two national
competitions. Will he represent Holland or will he represent Belgium ? I
don't know yet. In fact he should have taken part in only one festival :
in the Dutch one or in the Belgian one.
Willy, ... sorry, I'm William