IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Think this a great idea!

Having done a spell of judging in the past, and as you say Dave I may make comments to a film maker that I would not want in the public domain would need some thought before publication.

It would be great to see a selection of BIAFF films on this website with the judges comments alongside. I have found that judges comments can help the film maker a great deal. Yes there are judges that don't foster the idea that the film being commented on is someones 'baby' and should be handled in the same manner!!!

thankfully they are now becoming rare...

definately got my vote to publish comments!

Here's my hope for the future. The winning entries in BIAFF are loaded on a DVD(s) with a precis of the judge's comments and sent out to the membership. We don't need every detail of the comments, an overview will give us a sense of how the judges see the film. In addition to the winners a small selection of non-winners with comments would also be helpful.

OK, a lot of work to create the DVD master with movies and text but once done easily duplicated and easy to distribute. At some time in the near future it will all go on the Internet but we still want to see the "big picture" so at present DVD is the route.

Here at AMPS we are not holding a Festival this year, the first time for many years. Why? Cost, both to the organization and the members. In the past we have held the Fest in California and members have come from the East Coast and Canada but in this economy this is no longer possible.

So, the need for an alternative method of viewing the results is essential. We are making the usual compilations for members and suggesting that they use them as a basis for a local, one day Festival. Invite all interested parties it could deliver a positive response and attrract newbies.

ned c

Or is the notion that the comments should circulate with DVDs of the winners?

YES.

Peter C

Dave Watterson wrote:In another thread, Peter Copestake picked up on an idea of Ned Cordery's which I think deserves its own thread...

Ned says:-
Circulating DVDs of the winning entries would be a great extra as part of the benefits of membership.

I agree; what about circulating the judges comments? Perhaps we could then see what they do and understand their awards.
Peter C.

Of course not all judges might feel that way and as technically the crits are the copyright of their authors we would have to obtain their permissions.

How would a film maker feel about such comments being public?
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- Dave

Think twice before writing something
I would not mind at all. People may know what I think about the films that I have seen. It makes me think twice before writing something. It is always possibible that I am a bit impulsive one moment. That's human. Therefore I admit it also may be a bit risky to make the written comments public.

What happens at UNICA ?
But what happens at UNICA ? The judges tell you in public what they think about the films. That's very courageous. In one of our regions the critiques are read on the stage at the proclamation ceremony. But the general the tone is very positive. The audience at the festival are happy and so are the filmmakers.

British critiques are best
In general I admire the judges' comments. They are always very positive. Especially the British ones. Mine are very long. That's my nature. My messages are always epics. And so are my films. I have already told you many times : Goethe wrote : "In der Beschränkung Zeigt sich der Meister". In Guernsey 2009 practically all judges were "Meister". I was not. Though, I use the Dutch style of writing critiques. There are different chapters in my comments : theme, storyboard, commentary, soundtrack, acting, emotion, .... As English is not my mother tongue it is also important that the filmmaker knows that his film was clear enough to my foreign ear and eye. We also have a different culture. For instance films made in Eastern Europe have a different atmosphere.

Controversial films in Guernsey
In Guernsey there were films that were controversial in the eyes and ears of the audience. In Belgium and certainly in Holland these films would not be controversial at all. Mary Rouillard sent me a newspaper article. I read that one of the VIPS found some films a bit daring.

Do not attack historical facts that are right
However I sometimes tear my hair when reading something. In particular when an historical fact in a documentary is criticised. History is one of my hobbyhorses. That's one of my favourite topics. I enjoy research. Sometimes it takes more than a year before making a film... and then you must read some nonsense in the critiques.

AMPS-DVD's excellent
Circulating judges'comments without the permission of the judge and without the DVD's is not good I think. I appreciate the initiative of AMPS. I have already received loads of DVD.'s, also compilation DVD's. In Belgium they also do, but you must be a good friend of ... to have your film added to the compilation DVD. Anyway, I already enjoyed the AMPS-DVD's very much and so did my clubmates. Excellent for interesting clubnights. Together with the judges' comments would even be more interesting, but then only with the permission of the filmmakers and judges.

At Cheadle Hulme last Saturday we were told how good the judges comments were and that some were several pages long but of course we don't get to hear or read those comments which would have been really valuable to us having just seen the films. Maybe they could be put on this website?

I think Judges comments should be circulated. Infact, on my website (www.fraught.net) i have already started adding judges comments to the pages relating to my various films. Still got a long way to go, but some are there.

Dave says:-
Jan and I would be happy to put crits up online ... but we would want both the writer of each crit and the film maker concerned to agree first ... which is a lot of admin work.

This could be part of the conditions of entry, perhaps.

Peter C

Dave Watterson wrote:
Or do we take the other tack and say we might use the crits for those films which can be viewed on the website in "Bijou BIAFF" [http://www.theiac.org.uk/central/biaff2 ... biaff.html] where anyone can see them?

Dave

I don't know it all ! And you ?
I was a final judge in Guernsey. I don't mind if my crits would ever be viewed on the website, but of course only if the filmmakers themselves would agree with it. As an introduction we could always add the following sentence : Nobody may think he/she knows it all. Nobody has a monopoly on wisdom. Critics don't have a monopy. Filmschool students don't have a monopoly. The best (non-) professional filmmakers don't have a monopoly. Filmmaking is not like exact sciences. It is - or should be - a medium of art. It is something very personal and very subjective. Once a filmschoolstudent said to me with determination that a shot must have a length of minimum 3 seconds. I thought : what a ridiculous thing has he has told us now ! I didn't reply as I was astonished. Imagine he would write this in his report.

Wrong criticism
At an international festival a judge thought that I had used shots from TV in my film, though I had not used any image from TV. With a camera in my hands I have guts. I'm not afraid of heights. I'm not afraid of VIPS etc... Maybe I can travel around the world by airplane, but only while "hiding" behind my camera. Normally I already get a heart attack when seeing an airplane in the air. I only feel comfortable behind my camcorder.

Mixed feelings
So I had mixed feelings when reading this criticism. I was proud and disappointed at the same time. Imagine that such criticism appears on a website. Then I must have the opportunity to reply with determination. Luckily I won that festival. I received a letter from the festival officer. He agreed with my reply. He wrote a very kind letter. He accepted it. Now I am proud and I am not disappointed anymore.