How was The Guernsey Lily 2009 ?

[Dave Watterson]

From Sunday evening we may start to see people returning from Guernsey and the friendliest film festival in the world ... how was it?
- Dave

[Mike Shaw]

Absolutely brilliant! back late this evening (Monday) - so more later perhaps, but most of the films this year were absolutely amazing, with youth featuring well with some excellent movies that were stunning for content story and exectution. And of course Peter and Mary did us real proud in their inimitable style - a superb event. New fresh ideas galore in the movies - so lots learned! I'm so glad I didn't miss this one.

[Brian Saberton]

I would echo Mike's comments. I had a great weekend and saw some exceptional films, most of them new to me. The organisation was excellent and the welcome warm and genuine. Good films, good food and good company -what more could you ask!

[Dave Watterson]

Phew! I was starting to wonder if the festival had been a disaster and everyone was too polite to ...

No, I was not really. Several people have privately emailed me to say how much they enjoyed the event, but the Rouillards deserve as much public applause as we can give them!

Dave

[Mike Shaw]

They certainly do - they were everywhere, always on hand welcoming, sorting, working very hard to make the Lily one of the smoothest running and finest festivals around - and succeeding! Mary even popped up at the right moment to remind us, individually, of what meals we had ordered many months ago for the Tennerfests!

[Willy]

Yes, the Lily is still the friendliest film festival in the world. Why ? Because of several reasons. In the first place because you have plenty of time to meet friends and to talk about films and other things.

A word about the Belgian films
This year I was one of the final judges. It was a surprise to hear that only one Belgian film was in the final seventeen, knowing that some of them were among the best in Harrogate. Of course according to the BIAFF-judges. But to be honest, ... I always feel better not to judge films made by friends or compatriots. Long ago one of my students was my own daughter. Kathy still thinks that she deserved better marks. She was an excellent student, but I didn't want to show favour to her above others. Maybe I was wrong. I was not honest. My apologies, Kathy. Forgive me !

New films
As one of our friends said ... in Guernsey quite a lot of new films were shown. He is right. Also some new Belgian films were screened and I am very grateful to Mary and Peter for it. "Wives of Satan", ""Imagining", "Life is Thrilling", "The Genesis Formula", "Tamil Nadu" and "Life After the War"... I asked the filmmakers to enter their films, also the Dutchman Huub Bervoets, maker of "Sjeng" and "Justice". I did this to avoid that the Lily Festival would be a copy of BIAFF. Of course, Mary and Peter are the organisers and they must be praised. They make/made the program. They did their utmost to create diversity and to show very entertaining films.

131 films in preselection
Please, do not misunderstand me. I read the judges' comments of the Belgian films. I agree with everything and I still wonder how the judges in the preselection (131 films !) found the time to watch them and to write such excellent evaluations. I take the opportunity here to congratulate them.

Underwater films
The only Belgian finalist was Gino Rosiers. "Insects of the Sea" was made by him. Also a new film. Gino is the only Belgian filmmaker that I don't know, though he lives not far from my filmclub. He belongs to a group of filmmaking divers.

Last year one of his friends won the Lily Festival. His name was Van Belle. "Insects of the Sea" was also a new film i n Guernsey. It is certainly one of the best underwater films. I appreciated it very much. Gino showed that colourful world with all those tiny creatures and above all ... he warned us. We must try to stop pollution ! More than ever ! Otherwise that colourful underwater world will disappear;

Creatures and creativity
I know that most of these divers stay in the Far East for months and months. Some of my friends have doubts when judging their films. They say : These filmmakers dive into the sea with very expensive cameras and other equipment. They shoot the underwater creatures that they meet. Afterwards they try to find out what sort of creatures they are. They give them a name. Then they try to find some texts about them. They add them to their storyboard one after an other and find some fine music. Is there any creativity when making such a film ? Of course there is. But imagine that you go to the zoo. You shoot all sorts of colourful parrots. You add them to your storyboard etc... In fact there is not so much difference. However, I can imagine that the audience is more enthralled by the underwater world. I am sure that everybody in Guernsey enjoyed "Insects of the Sea" very much. It also created more diversity in the winners' show.

Great !
I must stop now. Sorry that I only talked about our Belgian films. I will tell you more about other thins in a following message. Anyway, Guernsey was great again. I have only good memories of the Lily Guernsey Film Festival anno 2009.

[Willy]

Mike and the Mona Lisa
I think that Mike, whose film with the Mona Lisa I enjoyed very much, said that Mary and Peter were doing everything they could to spoil the participants. Indeed, imagine that you organise such an event. Nerve-racking ! But Mary and Peter didn't show any signs of stress. It sounds like cajolery, but we must respect all our friends who take/took any responsability. Without them there would not be any international festivals.

The tennerfests were awful !
The tennerfests, however, were awful ! At home I do everything to keep fit and to lose weight. After the tennerfests I had put on some weight again. In general Belgians think that food is not so good in Britain. Actually they should attend the Guernsey festival once. I enjoyed the apple crumble and cheese cake most, but also the pork was delicious and ...

Dentophobia and Christoph Heimer
At the table of "Fleur du Jardin" I could have a chat with Christoph Heimer, the maker of "Dentophobia" and the overall winner. He is a very kind young man and he is very modest. He said something like : " I don't understand that the judges found my film the best one of the festival. Is my story more powerful than the other ones ?" He even used the word "unfair". Very strong word, but at that time Christoph had not seen the other films yet. The dinner in "Fleur du Jardin" was on Friday evening. Judging films is something very subjective and I didn't hear anyone saying that Christoph Heimer didn't deserve the Lily Trophy and the other awards. His modesty is to his credit. He forgot that his film was also very successful at Harrogate.

To be or not to be a member of a filmclub
There was also an other young man at my table. His film was not in the final seventeen, but it was very good. Maybe the following thing is a table secret : he said he is not a member of a filmclub and he thinks it is not really necessary to join a club. I gave him the advantages. Now I hope I didn't go too far saying this.

Award for most unlucky filmmaker
Maybe that's exaggerated to say so, but ... In my opinion Phil Martin's "Secrets" is fantastic and of course being a finalist twice is an excellent result. The acting in his film is really superb. Again his story is very powerful. Of course I cannot repeat all the qualities that I have written in my judges' comments, but who can deny that the emotions in this film are very strong from the beginning till the end. It is a psychological battle between a ticket inspector and a gentleman who did everything to keep his social status, even by being dishonest. He was forced to reveal his secret. Phil didn't receive any award but I am sure he will be proud having received two certificates 'finalist and special commendation". By the way I find the Guernsey ratings (commended, highly commended ...) still the best.

In a following message I will tell you a secret about Robert Lorrimer. Sometimes my messages are too long and my computer crashes.

[Willy]

The West Coast
We arrived in Guernsey on Wednesday and we had enough time to make a tour round the island together with René and Mariette Van Vaerenbergh, our Belgian friends. René is the maker of "Life After the War", a documentary about Vietnam, and "Tamil Nadu", a travelogue about India. They had never been there before. They enjoyed the West Coast. We visited some German bunkers and the "Cup and Saucer". The sea was calm and I saw Lihou Island at low tide for the very first time. Amazing ! We could go to the island on foot, but we didn't take that risk. Imagine that we had to spend the night there in the open air ! We had dinner in "La Barbarie". Also a tennerfest menu for only £15. In fact it was René and Mariette's birthday party.

Only seagulls
On Friday we went down to the South Coast. In the afternoon we still had some time to visit "Petit Bôt", a very small bay. There is only a Martello Tower and a beach. We could only hear some seagulls.

and Robert Lorrimer !
Strange ! A man was sitting on a wall. All alone ! Suddenly I noticed that he had a tripod with him. I looked at him again. I thought I recognized him. I hesitated and said : "Are you Robert ?" And yes, it was Robert Lorrimer, winner of a Guernsey Lily Trophy and the special award "best editing". At home I had a copy of "The Trap", "The Drill" and other films made by him. He gave them to me at BIAFF in Harrogate. Robert Lorrimer "in the middle of nowhere", "far from the madding crowd", at about 3-4 miles from "La Villette Hotel" in Guernsey ! What was he doing there ?

The Coin
He began to talk and talk and talk. He was very excited. He showed me his camera which was in fact a camera to take photographs with it. He had filmed himself and showed me his footage. He also showed me a big coin. Maybe it was made of plastic. I think that his next film will be called "The Coin". Location : Petit Bôt. I wanted to take him to the hotel in my car but he was waiting for a taxi. I asked Robert if he had been in that bay before. No, he said. He had found that place in Google.Earth. He could see every detail on internet. Amazing, isn't it ?

Pleasure and respect
A filmmaker who does everything himself. Even acting. A real hobbyist. I am happy that he won a Guernsey Lily Trophy and a special award. Robert was very proud when he received his certificate.

Of course, it doesn't mean that every hobbyist must do everything himself. You can also work with a team, but what Robert does/has done gives a feeling of pleasure and respect.

[Willy]

We sometimes criticize the quality of the projections at festivals. And indeed, it is very important that your film is shown on a wide screen in the best way. In Guernsey everything was perfect. All the films were on a DvD, I think.

In Belgium we are still obliged to give tapes to the festival secretary. This is done to avoid problems. I understand. Not every DvD player accepts all DvD's. A mini-DV-player accepts all mini-DV''s. But I appreciate the work our Guernsey friends have done to avoid these problems. They prepared the show very well. Maybe some will say that the ceiling was a bit low and that not everybody could read the subtitles. I think there are no hotels with low ceilings in Guernsey.