IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Roger Fowles wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 11:08 am Yes - Google is my friend , and looking for film competitions I found BIAFF. The fact that every film got feedback was very appealing.

Thanks for the info, Roger. i know some of the IAC Council read posts here so they will get to know.

You may not be aware that the IAC also run monthly online Open Nights where people (I believe it's restricted to members) can submit films. It's not a competition as such, but we do discus the films briefly after each showing. You may also like to consider joining the IAC, if you're nt already a member.

Thanks Tim - I have joined. I'll look into the film nights - working on my latest epic at the moment ( the pressure is on!)

Dear Dave. On the internet I have read: "Sinds 1 oktober 2021 kunt u alleen met een paspoort naar het VK reizen. Een identiteitskaart is dan niet meer geldig."
It means :"Since 1 October 2021 you can only travel to the UK with a passport. An identity-card is than no longer valid."

Belgians who travelled in the EU only used their identity card to pass the Customs. They didn't need a passport. They used a passport to travel to other continents. I never had a passport with me to pass the Customs in Calais or Dover.

Yes, also in Belgium we still live with COVID.

In Belgium we have always called our identity card (ID-cards) passports. We thought both words were synonyms. Actually that's wrong. There are idenity cards and there are passports.

I have also found on the internet: "De prijs voor een internationaal paspoort,varieert van gemeente tot gemeente. Volwassenen betalen tussen 65 en 80 euro. Via de website van de gemeente of stad kunt u nagaan hoe veel u dient te betalen." "The price for an international passport differs from community to community. Adults pay between 65 euro and 80 euro. You can get information in your townhall."

Thanks for the explanations, Willy.

I did wonder if it was a problem with the Identity Cards rather than actual passports. British governments have always resisted ID cards (as have some civil liberties groups) so if we want to leave "the island" we have always needed a passport.

Cheers

Going to Birmingman, a city with about 1 million inhabitants. It is not so easy to get there, I fear. Maybe I am wrong. To be honest I prefer places like Harrogate, Buxton etc... They're not far from areas of outstanding beauty.

Willy, Birmingham is a LOVELY place! Sorry you will miss it!

(I live in Birmingham! )

Sorry, Jill, I feel embarrrassed now! But when we were in Harrogate we visited the Yorkshire Dales. Maybe you also remember my film "Say Wensleydale Cheese, please!" When we were in Buxton we visited the Peak District. When we were in Sittingbourne we met our best English friend in the beautiful Weald, ... I also love London. "When a Man is Tired of London, he is Tired of Life" once an English author said. It's a pity that BIAFF didn't take place in Stratford-on-Avon. It's not far from the Cotswolds. Maybe you remember my documentary "Together with Yoda"

I should not have said that about Birmingham, Jill. The only thing I know about Birmingham is that it has a wonderful football team: Aston Villa. Shame on me!

To be honest, Willy, Birmingham always seemed a dirty industrial city in my mind ... until John Gibb showed me photographs of the modern city near The Crescent Theatre.

My memory had been shaped by a childhood family holiday, when we cruised some of the canals from Llangollen in Wales to Birmingham ... and finished the trip in Gas Street Basin!

Then I attended BIAFF in the city and loved it.

Jan and I also did a recce for UNICA 2020, which was due to go there. We spent a weekend, partly with Linda and Michael Gough, admiring the museums, galleries and pedestrian spaces. Jan had a trip there on her own and found lots of quirky, attractive places to visit.

Yes, I must have made a mistake now, Dave. My memory has been shaped by the time I went to the North by the M5. Birmingham didn't look very attractive. It was also like that when I went further north and could see Glasgow from the motorway beneath me. I have been everywhere in Scotland, but I have never been in Glasgow. Maybe that was also wrong of me again. Some later it was chosen "Cultural City of Europe".

My clubmate Werner Haegeman attended BIAFF at Birmingham two years ago. He had a wonderful time. He had only positive words about Birmingham. He enjoyed the venue, the Crescent Theatre. But he only watched the films and visited some nice pubs he said.

I even visited Coventry, but avoided Birmingham. Coventry is not far from Birmingham. I will never forget the Cathedral that was attacked in WW2. When I was a teenager I spent one night in the youth hostel of Lichfield. But that's more than 55 years ago.

Oh dear,..! . Maybe it's good that I won't be able to attend BIAFF and can see the festival on zoom! I fear that I would be attacked by all the Birmingham supporters: Jill, you, Michael, Linda.... But I promise to support Aston Villa in the future and I will offer Jill and you and Linda and Michael a drink at the bar of the Crescent Theatre without being there. I will give some banknotes to Werner to pay your drinks! Cheers!

I didn't know there was a canal in Llangollen, Dave. I checked it. Why? I organised my first school trip in 1970. A trip to Wales for my colleagues. It was unforgettable. On our tour we spent one night in the Chain Bridge Hotel in Llangollen. We had dinner in the restaurant of the hotel with a view on a river with wild running water!

Willy, the whole point of a Film Festival is that films will be shown, preferably in a proper cinema. At last the IAC have arranged this for Birmingham 2022. It therefore follows that the venue of BIAFF has to be near a cinema. I'm always puzzled by the accent placed in the past on sightseeing the adjacent area, nice idea but not during a Film Festival I would have thought. Jill, I don't regard Birmingham as being "lovely", but you are so that's more important!

Jill is a lovely lady. Absolutely! I agree with you, Michael. A year ago I expressed my feelings in detail about my new experiences while making a film. I was sad. I remember Jill's beautiful words in her response on this forum.

We fundamentally agree, Michael. I understand that you are puzzled by the accent placed in the past on sightseeing the adjacent area. But BIAFF takes place in Britain and I am a foreigner.

Imagine you are Belgian. Antwerp-Calais 300 km; Calais-Dover ferry; Dover-Harrogate 500 to 600 km. You only watch films and you go back home. A long journey and also expensive.

In the past I always watched the movies on Saturday and Sunday. Fantastic! But I also spent one or two days longer in a B&B and took a breath of fresh English air in the area of outstanding beauty, at the seaside, or I visited some places of historical interest. Each time Vera and I were able to look back on our experience with great satisfaction. Of course, each time we also met our English friends. Some of them have become close friends. They ever stayed with us in Belgium and we had tea with them in their house. We had a good time together. Socialising, ... that's one of the charms of BIAFF!