IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

The results of this year's competition are filtering out now ... what do you
think?

The new Bronze Plus and Silver Plus are intended to split up what were becoming
very large categories. Standards are rising. Are they helpful?

Naturally the judges made mistakes - we always do.

It will be easier to assess after the festival when you have had a chance
to see a lot more of the entries.

Do, please, be polite about my judging colleagues - but feel free to slag
me off if I deserve it.

Dave (brave) W.

"Dave Watterson" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

The results of this year's competition are filtering out now ... what do
you
think?

The new Bronze Plus and Silver Plus are intended to split up what were becoming
very large categories. Standards are rising. Are they helpful?

Usually I am very reticent about expressing my opinions re: judging. But
in the spirit of livening up this site, I will make a rare exception this
time.
It is very difficult at this stage to make a good argument for or against
the new categories until the full results are known and we have seen the
shows at Chesterfield. I know one or two results apart from my own via e-mail
contacts. The rumour mill is at fever pitch! I would publicly like to congratulate
the winner of the Best Documentary award, but until this is revealed.....
I can say no more.
One of my biggest gripes about the International Awards set-up (mainly due
to the fact that frustratingly, I have yet to win one!!) is that we often
have the one-hit-wonders, who only turn up for the latter half of the Sunday
show to receive their accolades and collect their prize. They have little
or no interest in seeing anyone elses films or for that matter, supporting
the IAC. Often, they are never heard from again, but no doubt an award from
an "International British Festival" looks good on a CV if they are trying
to break into the professional world of film.The "foot-soldiers" who regularly
enter films and attend the festivals are the ones who keep the competition
and the weekends going.
There is a thought going through my ever active brain which is based on what
Clint Eastwood said at the end of The Good The Bad and the Ugly. To paraphrase:
"There are two kinds of people in this world my friend; those who win International
awards and those who make entertaining films." No sour grapes involved whatsoever.
Ken.

I could not work out if the last posting from mr. Wilson was meant to be a
humorous one or a serious comment on the fine work received into our movie
competitions. Surely he cannot have forgotten the fine amateur film, "El
Torso" which won an International award several years ago. This film was
a superlative study of a one-legged tap dancer and part time bull-fighter
who engineered the death of his grandmother on the horns of a bull and then
ate her remains with a grapefruit spoon. Surely, one of the most insightful
films made by an amateur EVER!

Major Arthur Trubshaw (retired)
President, Cinema for Batley Group.

"Ken Wilson" <wilsonkenneth@granadamedia.com> wrote:

"Dave Watterson" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

The results of this year's competition are filtering out now ... what do
you
think?

The new Bronze Plus and Silver Plus are intended to split up what were
becoming
very large categories. Standards are rising. Are they helpful?

Usually I am very reticent about expressing my opinions re: judging. But
in the spirit of livening up this site, I will make a rare exception this
time.
It is very difficult at this stage to make a good argument for or against
the new categories until the full results are known and we have seen the
shows at Chesterfield. I know one or two results apart from my own via e-mail
contacts. The rumour mill is at fever pitch! I would publicly like to congratulate
the winner of the Best Documentary award, but until this is revealed.....
I can say no more.
One of my biggest gripes about the International Awards set-up (mainly due
to the fact that frustratingly, I have yet to win one!!) is that we often
have the one-hit-wonders, who only turn up for the latter half of the Sunday
show to receive their accolades and collect their prize. They have little
or no interest in seeing anyone elses films or for that matter, supporting
the IAC. Often, they are never heard from again, but no doubt an award from
an "International British Festival" looks good on a CV if they are trying
to break into the professional world of film.The "foot-soldiers" who regularly
enter films and attend the festivals are the ones who keep the competition
and the weekends going.
There is a thought going through my ever active brain which is based on
what
Clint Eastwood said at the end of The Good The Bad and the Ugly. To paraphrase:
"There are two kinds of people in this world my friend; those who win International
awards and those who make entertaining films." No sour grapes involved whatsoever.
Ken.

Come come Ken, we can't expect to win awards just because we regularly turn
up and support the movement and the IAC! I have always loudly praised the
overseas films that have helped us raise our standards and the standards
of film making in this country. To say that they are not entertaining is
simply not true, many of the recent winners, some from people whose names
you and I don't know and never hear of again, are stunning. Some not so
I agree but that applies to our films too sometimes! Not sour grapes Ken
but not so sweet either!
We will continue the discussion over a beer at Chesterfield!

Michael Slowe.

Michael Slowe wrote:
Come come Ken, we can't expect to win awards just because we regularly turn
up and support the movement and the IAC! I have always loudly praised the
overseas films that have helped us raise our standards and the standards
of film making in this country. To say that they are not entertaining is
simply not true, many of the recent winners, some from people whose names
you and I don't know and never hear of again, are stunning. Some not so
I agree but that applies to our films too sometimes! Not sour grapes Ken
but not so sweet either!
We will continue the discussion over a beer at Chesterfield!

Michael Slowe.

Hi Michael. To be fair I WAS generalising quite a bit. Over the past couple
of years in particular, there have been a few good films from "Johnny foreigner".
My point, made in a humorous-tickle my ribs-and knock me down with a feather
kind of way, was that I have always found (well NEARLY ALWAYS FOUND) that
the Saturday shows are a lot more entertaining than the Sunday ones. The
Sunday Winners show is all very worthy and polished and there is certainly
some excellent work and talent on show, but as I have written in the magazines
many, many times, a lot of the audience gets very restless and wherever we
sit, the audience "buzz" reveals that there are always the looks of bemusement
and the whispers of:
"What was that all about then" followed by a shrug of the shoulders.
I think that many of these films are structured in an entirely different
way to the way the Brits make their movies. The best of the best are always
worth seeing, but there will always be different opinions on this matter.
Ken.

"Dave Watterson" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

The results of this year's competition are filtering out now ... what do
you
think?

The new Bronze Plus and Silver Plus are intended to split up what were becoming
very large categories. Standards are rising. Are they helpful?

Naturally the judges made mistakes - we always do.

It will be easier to assess after the festival when you have had a chance
to see a lot more of the entries.

Do, please, be polite about my judging colleagues - but feel free to slag
me off if I deserve it.

Dave (brave) W.

Hi Dave,
It's amusing to read the discussions about foreigners taking part in the
British International Amateur Film Festival. Sometimes Belgians win a bronze
award at their own national festival. In England they get gold or even more.
But also the opposite is possible. Winning gold in Belgium does not give
the guarantee to be successful abroad. Everything is so personal, so subjective.
There is a very good thing about BIAFF the Brits must not forget. You always
receive a written IAC-report. It does not mean that you always have to accept
everything that is written in the report, but the tone is always positive.
This year I will not be able to attend the IAC-festival because my region
will celebrate its 50th anniversary on 23rd April, but I am already looking
forward to receiving my reports.
Kind regards from (brave) Willy Van der Linden
P.S. Hopefully there are not too many mistakes in this message. I will not
be sad if you do not want to accept it.

"Willy Van der Linden" <vanderlindenhig@telenet.be> wrote:

Hi Dave,
It's amusing to read the discussions about foreigners taking part in the
British International Amateur Film Festival. Sometimes Belgians win a bronze
award at their own national festival. In England they get gold or even more.
But also the opposite is possible. Winning gold in Belgium does not give
the guarantee to be successful abroad. Everything is so personal, so subjective.
There is a very good thing about BIAFF the Brits must not forget. You always
receive a written IAC-report. It does not mean that you always have to accept
everything that is written in the report, but the tone is always positive.
This year I will not be able to attend the IAC-festival because my region
will celebrate its 50th anniversary on 23rd April, but I am already looking
forward to receiving my reports.
Kind regards from (brave) Willy Van der Linden
P.S. Hopefully there are not too many mistakes in this message. I will not
be sad if you do not want to accept it.

It is good to see as wide a range of entries as possible and there is no
dubt that the foreign entries are an important window on the world of nc
film making. Hope that Ken will have an entry for amps so that he can be
Johnny Foreigner and the N Americans can shake their heads in wonder at what
these limeys get up to. By the way, is that the same Major Trubshaw who was
cashiered for misapropriation of the mess funds which he spent on low grade
Rank starlets?

Ned C

Thanks for getting things going, Ken ! Ken's a master script-writer and director
who knows how to tweak an audience's interest ...

Willy - good to hear from you. We are all sorry that you cannot be at the
festival this year. We will miss you. I know that I wrote at least one of
the notes you will receive from this year's judges ... which means you have
at least a Gold to add to your collection of well-earned awards. In fact
it is hard to think of your movies as foreign since you have them so beatifully
voiced in English. Besides they often deal with Britain. Of course that
chap Appletans just appeals to our internationally-famous love of doe-eyed
old men and animals!

The reason a number of foreign films get into our top rankings is because
they are great movies. Who would send a second-rate film to an overseas
festival? Especially when you think of the fees involved.

I too am keen to cheer the various winners as soon as the results are announced.

Cheers


McDave

"Ned C" <ned@ampsvideo.com> wrote:

It is good to see as wide a range of entries as possible and there is no
doubt that the foreign entries are an important window on the world of nc
film making. Hope that Ken will have an entry for amps so that he can be
Johnny Foreigner and the N Americans can shake their heads in wonder at what
these limeys get up to. By the way, is that the same Major Trubshaw who was
cashiered for misapropriation of the mess funds which he spent on low grade
Rank starlets?

Ned C

Interesting point Ned, but as we all know, we British can never be "Johnny
Foreigner".It`s one of those unwritten rules. There is a scene in:
"Monte Carlo Or Bust" (if memory serves me correctly)set at some border crossing
when the guards are about to search Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore. Peter Cooke`s
character is VERY British and he explains to Dud that they will NOT be searched,
with the brilliant line:
"Any damned fool can see we`re British". Ah, what happened to the empire??
(A.N. "They pulled it down!")
Since writing my original marginally provocative posting, I have actually
remembered quite a few movies from overseas which have been rather good.
My observations came from early visits to the IAC MOVIE** festivals where
about 90% of the winners came from France, Germany, Spain and the USA. Some
of these were very good. From vague recollections:
"Flowers for Charlie", "Domato" (? spelling) "How to Write Love Letters",
and the one about the end of the world coming in the form of a meteor heading
for Earth etc.(Title not known)And actually quite a few more.
There have also been some terrible ones which seemed to be there simply BECAUSE
they were from abroad. "They are subtitled so they MUST be good".
Unless you are fluent in the language, I also don`t think that you can judge
the quality of acting at all as you can`t assess the tone or inflection of
a phrase. The style of film making on the continent can often be very different
to ours and sometimes, unless your mind is "attuned" to a particular way
of thinking, the plot is completely incomprehensible.
Incidentally, the Major Trubshaw refered to on this site was proved innocent
of all charges.
Willy, your English is very good. Sorry that you can`t come to Chesterfield.
Headline in the Sunday papers:
"No willy in Chesterfield".
Judges note: "The reference to "Willy" is unneccesary and should be deleted".

Ken

"Dave Watterson" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

The results of this year's competition are filtering out now ... what do
you
think?
The new Bronze Plus and Silver Plus are intended to split up what were becoming
very large categories.

It wouldn't bother me at all if I got a new "Crap Plus" or "*&%$!! Plus,"
if, at the end of the day, that lead to an audience seeing my crap!

The only thing that ever has, or does bother me is a minus of audience,
for I see no point at all in creating if there is no audience to
create about it!

Albert...creating havoc.