UNICA

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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John Simpson
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UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

How does UNICA work, as far as UK films being shown? Are some of the best UK films from BIAFF selected or can any filmaker enter a film into the UNICA Festival. I suppose we would want the very best UK amateur films to be selected and also have the filmakers say something about the films put in on behalf of the UK . Which UK films are being put in this year?
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Dave Watterson
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Re: UNICA

Post by Dave Watterson »

The national organisation for each country (in UK that is The IAC) chooses the programme of films to represent the country. Each country has about 45 minutes.

IAC usually chooses from among the best in BIAFF. The IAC's UNICA representative, Alan Atkinson, makes the choice with advice from others who have attended previous UNICA festivals. The criteria apart from quality will be how accessible is a film to an audience from around the world? Can it be sensibly subtitled ... I usually finish up adding subtitles in French and German because those languages plus English are the official UNICA ones. The programme should be balanced with a range of film types ... and above all we try to have some "typical British humour" which goes down extraordinarily well with other countries.
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Howard-Smith
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Re: UNICA

Post by Howard-Smith »

I was lucky enough to have a film selected for UNICA about 4 years ago, ‘Like a Bullet’ starring the late Simon Hawkins. This was awarded 4 stars at BIAFF but it didn’t win anything at UNICA and received a pretty harsh review. Nevertheless it was an honour to have had it included in the UNICA programme.
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John Simpson
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Re: UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

UNICA sounds similar to the traditional Filmmakers Club format on an International scale. Where the winning films from the year are gathered together and then entered into interclub competitions. Weymouth and Frome have one called the Ridgeway Cup. All the changes in technology over the years must have meant the club film makers needed to keep up to speed in ways of exchanging films.
The latest advance in technology is vertual film clubs and online film competitions. UNICA sounds a perfect candidate for this, Google Translate could also be used. But there again is there an appitite for competition? Competitions are popular on TV but the competitors are already winneres by being picked for the show and they will be aware that they are really actors hired to entertain others.
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Dave Watterson
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Re: UNICA

Post by Dave Watterson »

You touch on a point that has been much discussed during the pandemic ...

A great many people, like Howard, argue vehemently in favour of real events, where you watch films with an audience. The ambience often adds a lot. I once watched a press-show of a riotous commercial comedy film in a huge cinema with fewer than 10 people present. A few months later I watched the same film in a small film club with maybe 50 people packed into a small hall. Chalk and cheese!
BUT
with so many people now watching films online, commercial film makers are gradually adapting and designing their films for household or individual audiences.

[As an aside this is not the same as the argument in favour of large screens. I use a home cinema set up where the image is about the same size as I would get from a seat about 10 rows from the front of the screen in a cinema. The pictures dominates most of my field of vision. I was therefore happy to watchNo Time to Die and Dune on that set-up with an audience of three.]

However for film makers I believe there is an important social element in real clubs/festivals. They validate what we do. We know that we are not alone. Remote meetings on Zoom are much better than nothing, but they lack that physical presence. Each festival has its own atmosphere. The late-lamented Red Carpet Screenings in Basingstoke had an enviable record for making working contacts. This encouraged the modern approach of forming a group with the appropriate skills to make a particular project, then forming a new and probably different group of people for the next one. BIAFF and UNICA major in providing chances to talk to other film makers, argue kit/techniques/aesthetics ... and the value of Red Bull or schnapps to refresh crews!

They all reaffirm the notion that films are made for audiences ... whatever their size.
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John Simpson
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Re: UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

Yes I agree that film festivals on zoom or zoom and YouTube/Vimeo is not ideal. And I agree that personal contact and chat at a live show seems as important as the films. For me watching videos on YouTube without the pressure of having to get back to a zoom meeting is good. I also like most club meetings even if the projection goes wrong and we cannot show films - just meeting together has value.

What about Film Festivals, probably including UNICA, (I know very little about it!) People mainly enter films into festivals in the hope that they will be a stepping stone for them to get into the film industry. As I have said before I don't believe this is what the IAC should be about. I think we should celebrate amateurishness without trying to ape commercial films, entertaining films can be made without huge budgets. There is nothing wrong with big budgets but there are plenty of independent film festivals for such films. Filmmakers could then look back at their catalogue and say: "These are films I made as an amateur, these are films I made crowdfunded, and these are films I made commercially." Amateur film making and BIAFF would still have its place especially perhaps for year 10. 11. & 12 school pupils. If the festival was promoted amongst that age group. :D just ideas!
Michael Slowe
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Re: UNICA

Post by Michael Slowe »

I think that there is too much talk about the size of budgets for film making. I don't think that it really helps all that much when there is money spent on a production. Obviously a James Bond film needs an enormous budget for all the travel, stunts and stars, but the documentary and short film genre depends on ideas and imagination much more than money. I have just had a five minute or so film given a number of awards at semi pro festivals which cost nothing and was mainly shot from an upstairs window in my London home!

John, why differentiate between 'amateur' and professional? We are all film makers and rely on the same human gifts(?) and have an equal chance of making a good film.

Sorry if the general thread of these posts is not on this subject, but John did raise it. UNICA's films are all non commercial but I'm sure have widely varying budgets.
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John Simpson
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Re: UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

Michael Slowe wrote: Mon Feb 07, 2022 10:51 pm
John, why differentiate between 'amateur' and professional? We are all film makers and rely on the same human gifts(?) and have an equal chance of making a good film.
IAC, BIAFF and UNICA are exclusively for amateur film makers. Need for a level playing field and all that!
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Dave Watterson
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Re: UNICA

Post by Dave Watterson »

People mainly enter films into festivals in the hope that they will be a stepping stone for them to get into the film industry.
I let that go at first, but it has been preying on my mind. It sounds like a piece of wisdom handed down in a club by some older member. But it does not ring true to me - especially in regard to festivals, which cater mainly to amateur or non-commercial movie makers.

I believe that for many film makers the motivations are:
  • to get their film seen by a wider audience
  • to compare their work with a group wider than their friends and club colleagues
  • to hear or read criticism from judges they may not know
  • to receive certificates or prizes
Those who have a clear intention of getting into the industry would tend to avoid association with "amateurs" and would seek out festivals whose award-winners might attract the attention of industry people.

Festivals like BIAFF and UNICA accept films from people like film students, whose degree films are often delightful, powerful and thought-provoking ... but which are extremely unlikely to be bought up for distribution.
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John Simpson
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Re: UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

When talking about all film festivals, of which there are hundreds, and I would still hold that my original assersion is true. It is great that people want to get into the TV & film industry, it is a huge industry with many many jobs, and it is good that the IAC can play its part in that.
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John Simpson
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Re: UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

Thinking about it more it seems in the last 20 or 30 years traditional film clubs and the IAC have prodominantly a place for retired people, some of which are coming out of TV or film industry or related teaching posts, and that's fine; they will not want to use Film Festivals as a stepping stone into the film or TV industry.

Young people making films are a different matter, and I am sure that nearly all of them intend use film festivals as a stepping stone into the film industry and that would be for the whole group who took part in making the film.
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Howard-Smith
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Re: UNICA

Post by Howard-Smith »

Suddenly I find that the forum has come out of hibernation!
I don’t agree that the majority of filmmakers use other festivals as a stepping stone to get into the professional film industry. Yes, many do, but the hugely successful Birmingham Film Festival had around 900 entries, almost 30o of which were shown at The Millennium Point Cinema on a 70 ft wide screen. It was a pleasure to see 5 of my films screened there. I attended showings over two days and my impression was that the mix of amateur and professional films was about 50/50. It was such a pleasure to attend this live event in November in contrast to 18 months of Zoom shows.
John Simpson asked if there really is an appetite for film competitions. Speaking for myself the answer is a resounding YES. Competitions give me the incentive to make films and I value having the awards and prizes there to aim for.
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John Simpson
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Re: UNICA

Post by John Simpson »

There are not many film festivals down here in Dorset, but the ones I have attended Perbeck Film Festival, B Side Festival and others in Bournemouth just seem to have student films, basically showcaseing their work, and are mainly attended by students and their families and tutors. These festivals often have a raucous fantastic atmosphere!
Most humans are competitive and it is rewarding to have ones efforts recognised. Even YouTube does this by issueing plaques.

Silver: When you reach 100,000 subscribers.
Gold: When you reach 1,000,000 subscribers.
Diamond: When you reach 10,000,000 subscribers.
Red Diamond: When you reach 100,000,000 subscribers.

YouTubers are keen to show their plaques, and subscriptions could be seen as a "Peoples Vote" for channels and content - a new less competitive way, but still gaining recognition
Michael Slowe
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Re: UNICA

Post by Michael Slowe »

As always, Dave has it spot on. The reason for entering the more open Festivals, has to be our desire to compare our work with films other than the IAC and Club output. As to judges comments, these are not often available, but having a wider audience certainly is, although the Covid restrictions have limited the much sought after inter action between film makers and the live audience.
As a matter of personal interest, I was amused to see that someone who recently featured in one of my documentaries, has been exhibiting a poster in Hampstead advertising the film on You Tube! The title of the film is linked to his business which he likes to publicise.

Howard-Smith is fortunate that the Birmingham festival was live, next year it might well include his name in the publicity!
ned c
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Re: UNICA

Post by ned c »

The gap between professionals and amateurs is more imaginary than real; here we have DOCUTAH open to "film makers" the only separation is a for students. I know that a number of non-professional (amateur if you prefer) films have been screened here including entries by contributors to this Forum. We make films for an audience and we like to get the audience reaction; in too many cases the comments of judges rather than a wider group. As Dave pointed out aspiring professionals do not want to be associated with an "amateur" festival or organization, no matter how you spin it the words "amateur" and "film" together are interpreted as "inferior; of poor quality, inept".

I like the Zoom meetings where films can be discussed by a disparate group; as the digital age expands accelerated by the Pandemic I expect that "on line" will be the norm.
ned c
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