Letter of the President

Max Hänsli, President of UNICA, Kürbergstrasse 30, CH 8049 Zürich, Tel./Fax: +41 1 3421066

To the federations affiliated to UNICA
To all UNICA film friends  

November 02, 2002

With these reports, I would like to try to inform you - as a UNICA member federation or a UNICA film friend on the activities of our organisation. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to submit them using the above address.

The UNICA Committee met from October 24 to 27, 2002 in Samobor ( Croatia ), on invitation by the Committee of the Committee Zeljko Balog .
The meetings were inaugurated by a reception offered by the Mayor of Samobor and then held in the local House of Government. Many thanks for this hospitality.

Retrospective of the UNICA 2002 Congress in Luxembourg .
The Committee was very pleased to see that the event had been perfectly organized; with a magnificent hall - unfortunately slightly too large - offering optimal conditions for film projection and sound quality.  The half-day excursions had been well organised and were very interesting, offering the possibility to some 200 participants to be better acquainted with the host country.  The meals served in the Congress Hall itself were also well arranged.
It was only a pity that the hotel where the majority of Congress participants were accommodated was relatively far from the venue. However, the organizing committee had made all necessary arrangements to provide transportation whenever needed.  Simultaneous translation was provided for the General Meeting and the public session of the jury, which considerably facilitated the development of the event. We may recommend this idea to future organisers and suggest to take it as an example.

Videos tapes kept for the UNICA Film Library
I would like to give a special thank-you to national federations as there no problem for the remittance of videos meant for the UNICA Film Library.  As a compensation, each national federation received a 80-min. cassette with a selection of excerpts from the programs of the various countries presented at the UNICA 2002 Competition. I hope that these cassettes will be brought into circulation among the clubs of the national federations, so that a large public has a clear idea of the kind and quality of the films shown at the UNICA Congress.

“Film school films” in the UNICA Competition
There is some uncertainty as to the definition of such films.
Some national federations enter in this film category works that have been created by young people studying in schools where this is part of education and/or the curriculum. This is a wrong interpretation. The “film school film” category is meant only for such films made, for example, in educational institutions such as schools of cinematography or fine arts academies with a cinema department and other comparable institutions. More generally,  we refer to such institutions providing tuition and training, to young people to prepare them for a career in the film-making industry, and - as such - produce films with resources am! equipment that are not available to regular or standard film authors.
Public film discussions with the jury or with “experts” I am aware that this will be matter for debating for a long time in the future. The Committee will - once again - examine the issue at the next meeting in Spring (in Germany ), hoping that a suitable solution can be found soon.

The UNICA 2003 Congress in Warsaw
Whoever took part in the UNICA Congress in Warsaw 6 years ago knows what this country can offer in the way of cultural events.
Who does not have good memories of the opening ceremony or the grand piano concert in the open air, on an island in the middle of a park in Warsaw ?
Poland has again proposed to be the organiser of the Congress.
In the mean time, the Hotel has been completely renovated , and a new wing has been built.
The theatre where projections took place has also been revamped.
This is why the organiser thought of calling upon the same premises.
Apart from the very attractive price conditions offered by the Hotel (for instance, a double room for EUR 58), there is another boon that could be obtained : the congress will not cost EUR 200.- but only EUR 170.
Moreover, negotiations are currently held with LOT (the Polish national airline) to establish the rebate offered to UNICA participants.

Another important point: the Committee has decided that the duration of the UNICA Congress would be shortened in the future, i.e. the opening being on a Saturday - in the late afternoon and the closing of the event on Sunday after a week. The expenses incurred will thus notably less, which is obviously in the interest of participants (day of arrival = day of opening, saving one hotel night).
The UNICA 2003 organisers in Warsaw will organise a mailing to all former participants and send them all relevant information on the event (provisional program) and forms and documents for registration).
Make a note for the period from 16 to 25 August 2003 for your participation in the UNICA 2003 Congress in Warsaw . You will not regret it !

General Assembly of the UNICA 2003 Congress
2003 will be an election year for all members of the UNICA Committee . Although no resignation has been announced up to now, all national federations have a right to nominate new candidates for the committee. If you want to make use of this possibility, please do so before March 31, 2003 . In accordance with the Articles, proposals can be submitted at a later time, up to the very day of the General Meeting. Candidatures should be submitted to me or to the Secretary-general Arie de Jong . Please provide a short curriculum vitae. However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that travelling expenses to attend the Committee meetings and expenses for hotel and meals are to be paid out of one’s own pocket. The allowance for each Committee meeting is only EUR 100.

UNICA-Jeunesse at the 2003 Congress in Warsaw
I will provide information on this matter after the next Committee meeting. The Warsaw organizers will do their best to invite a great number of young film makers, as far as possible, with a film as part of the national program.

As a conclusion, I would like to submit an important question to the national federations and to the Friends of UNICA.
UNICA has introduced three years ago the “ Film School films” category, with films made by future professionals. I already had the opportunity of telling you why this category was created. The questions are as follows :
What do you think about it ?
What experience do you have of it , for example with the film-makers who took part in a UNICA contest.
We refer in particular to the opinion of both film makers who were trained in a Film School , and film-makers who do not regard themselves as eligible for this category. We would also like to hear about the opinion of national film federations.
Please tell me before March 31, 2003 what experience you have of this matter. Thanks in advance.

The future of UNICA
The committee examined this question thoroughly. Decisions, such as the shortening of the duration of the UNICA Congress, the reduction in the cost of the congress card, less expensive hotels - as far as possible - have already been made. We also wonder how the evaluation process of national programs national could be improved.
The problem was examined under various angles:
the question of the projection time available for each federation, a limitation to 4 films per country and taken the results for the 4 films taken as a whole for the setting up of the list of awards.
Various procedures for the evaluation can be envisaged even in this case. We are currently examining these possibilities to work out an interesting way to evaluate all national programs.

However, we are aware that UNICA cannot be expected to open itself up to individual members as the members of UNICA basically national federations. But national federations have the possibility of accepting individual members, and some countries have already done so. Films entered by individual members could be shown at the UNICA Competition as parts of the national program.
This idea of individual members could be examined in individual federations when it has not been adopted yet.

In conclusion, I would like to thank all the national federations that responded to my question about the future of UNICA. All contributions were submitted to discussion in the Committee we will go on doing it.

Thank you very much for your interest.

With kind regards,

Max Hänsli,
President of UNICA