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My club at UNICA

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:26 am
by Willy
With pleasure I can tell you that 5 members of my club will be at UNICA on Thursday.
Zeist is only 130 kilometres from us, Koninklijke Filmclub Heist. Vera and I will stay at Zeist for 4 days.
We are looking forward to it. We hope to meet many British friends. Will you be there?

Re: My club at UNICA

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:38 am
by Dave Watterson
Well I should be there!

Hi WIlly - it will be good to meet you, Vera and some members of one of your clubs (!) in Zeist. Thursday has a long lunchtime, though Jan and I will be with the members of the "Friends of UNICA" organisation for much of that. But between the films there are many other long pauses with time to talk over a tea/coffee/beer ...

Dave

Re: My club at UNICA

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 5:15 pm
by Michael Slowe
Willy, you should know by now that Big Dave is a very important guy and it is always very difficult to steal a couple of minutes with him at these events.
No offence I hope David?

Re: My club at UNICA

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 1:07 am
by Willy
No problem, Michael! I had a nice chat with Dave and Jan at Zeist. We had a chat about all kinds of everything. In particular about UNICA next year in Birmingham. I told Dave and Jan that if will risk my life and go by air this time. You know that I am afraid of flying, but next year I will be 74. I have already had a very colourful life with ups and downs. So if the plane falls into the North Sea I will accept it and I will thank our Lord for having given me enough inspiration, energy and creativity to make 50 or more fiction films, one minute movies, documentaries, etc... and moreover the audience seemed to have enjoyed and appreciated most of them.

We also talked with Dave and Jan about BIAFF in Stratford Upon Avon. A good choice I think. I was there when my son and daughter were little children. That was 35 years ago. Everybody in the world knows that William Shakespeare was born in Stratford. We could visit his house again. I am really looking forward to attending BIAFF 2019 in Stratford, but I also hope that I will be able to finish my newest movie by the first deadline. It would be nice to go there together with some clubmates. They were also at Unica. The Belgian contingent was big. We only fear that it will not so easy to pass the Customs next year, because of "Britain's Splendid Isolation". I hate stupid queues. But of course it is useless to worry about it at this moment. We'll see what happens.

By the way … I have watched wonderful movies at Unica. I enjoyed them all, but I loved the Polish one, called "The Dam", most. Also the French one "The Spruce and the Bark Stripper" and "From one Shore to Another". Hungary was quite a surprise. Its "Blue Hour" was captivating from the beginning till the end. I also enjoyed "On the Train", a very pleasant German fiction film in sepia colour. Of course there were other interesting movies, but it was strange that there were only a few documentaries and almost no cartoons. Times have changed!

Very positive: the excellent screenings, the impressive film hall (it was easy to read the subtitles), the tea and coffee facilities, the restaurants nearby, the clean shopping street, the friendliness of the Dutch people, the sight of men, ladies, boys and girls riding on a bicycle, the bells of the clock tower in front of the Figi Hotel, etc... etc... And for me the possibility to have tea together with some British friends.

Re: My club at UNICA

Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 8:01 pm
by Dave Watterson
No offence taken, Michael ... things can get hectic at UNICA and as one of the most recognisable folk there, I am frequently collared by delegates.

But Jan and I made time, of course, to catch up with Willy and Vera. We escaped to a Thai restaurant a few doors away from the Figi Hotel, which was the main venue.

More when I am awake ... at the moment that feels as if it could be weeks away!