UNiCA, the international amateur film body, holds an annual festival in different member countries. 2025 it will be at The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham - where we usually hold BIAFF.
Please note the dates: 17th to 22nd August
Please plan to visit.
Over 100 film enthusiasts from all over Europe and beyond will turn up.
There will be around 74 great films from various nations ... almost all of them spoken in English or with English subtitles.
The festival is staged in English with earphone translation into French and German when required. The vast majority of delegates understand English and can speak it well.
Please - all readers - consider making two trips to Birmingham in 2025:
BIAFF the weekend 25th - 27th April
UNICA the week 17th - 22nd August
The events are similar but different(!) You know the BIAFF format.
UNICA begins on
Sunday with an orientation day so that visitors can find their way around, then register and attend the opening ceremony.
Monday to Wednesday show films beginning at 9am and running to about 6pm - followed after dinner by the jury giving their first impressions of the day's films.
Thursday starts with the UNiCA General Assembly (AGM) - so for many visitors it is a free morning. In the afternoon the famous World Minute Movie Cup presents 16 sixty second films which play off against each other in pairs ... winners chosen by audience vote. That is followed by the Awards Ceremony when the jury ratings are announced and diploma and medals are given out. The day ends with the closing ceremony
Friday is for an excursion - probably to the Black Country Living Museum and I guess to an informal get-together somewhere with drinks and snacks.
Saturday is a day for free activities when visitors may choose to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Aston Hall. Wye Valley Railway etc etc
For British enthusiasts the best aim is to be there for Sunday evening through to Thursday evening. You will see the films which UNiCA member countries have chosen to represent their best work, hear the jury comments and - best of all - get to meet and mingle with film enthusiasts from all over Europe and beyond.
Plans are still being made, so keep an eye open for news on a Facebook Group called somewhat whimsically UNiCA Birmingham 2025 and from 1st January 2025 on the UNiCA official website: https://unica.movie/2025.
Please start sharing the UNICA adverts on your club website and relevant social media pages. We don't want to be preaching to the choir all the time.
Asking club members to come to Birmingham twice in a year for the purpose of watching films and meeting fellow enthusiasts is a BIG ASK. But we all know BIAFF is worth it and some of us know that UNICA is too. Don't forget this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance - literally - the last time UNICA came to Britain was in 1951.
Let's use all the persuasive power we have.
Use your camera and make more promos in video or AV.
If you can come up with witty memes let's have those as well.
Do download and use some of them on your club website or in your own social media.
Why not make some more?
Most of these were concocted by members of Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers as part of a one-minute-movie competition. I added subtitles, where necessary.
The world knows Britain for its sense of humour ...
