UNICA 1998

1998 Zillertal (AUT)
28 VIII - 5 IX 1998

Proceedings of the General Assembly held in Zillertal (A), August 28, 1998

1. Opening address by the President of the Congress
2. Verification of the delegates' authorities
3. Constitution of the bureau
4. Confirming the agenda
5. Vote on the proceedings of the General Assembly UNICA'97 in Warsaw
6. Address by the President of UNICA
7. Report of the Committee by the General Secretary
8. Report of the Treasurer
9. Report of the Auditors
10. Report of the Film librarian
11. Report of "Friends of UNICA"
12. Report on UNICA Patronages
13. Report of the delegate to C.I.C.T.
14. Discharge of the Committee
15. Election of a new auditor
16. Admission of new members (Slovenia)
17. Discussion and vote about proposals of the Committee
18. Discussion and vote about proposals submitted by members
19. Determination of next year's contribution
20. Confirmation of the budget
21. Selection of the place and dates of the Congress in the years
22. Miscellaneous, without vote

Committee members attending:
President Max Hänsli
Vice-President Serge Michel
Secretary General Arie de Jong
Treasurer Hansjoachim Stampehl
Advisor Jan Baca
Advisor Zeljko Balog
Advisor Rolf Mandolesi
Advisor Stanislaw Puls
Advisor Franz Rienesl
Advisor Tula Turtia

Also attending the General Assembly:
Amis de l'UNICA Gisela Anna-Freier
Filmlibrary Hans Schober
Translations Jean Claude Lejosne
Patronage Miette Verlinden
Technique Thomas Kräuchi
UNICA-News Ctirad Stipl

1. Opening address by the President of the Congress
In the name of Videoclub Zillertal Bernhard Hausberger welcomes the attendants of the General Assembly in German and English. The speech is translated into French by Jean Claude Lejosne.
He asks for fair understanding if problems arise, as the number of participants is remarkable. This is the first time VCZ organized such a great happening and he assures that it is the last time, as well.
After some explanation of the programme of this evening, he gives the floor to Max H�nsli, who hopes to land safely with the tandem-delta-flyer after some hours.
Julien Loncke (B) -who offers stationary and UNICA-blocs each year, has to apologize for not being here, owing to family-affairs.
The meeting is translated into English -if needed- by Jean Claude Lejosne and into French by Fred Graber.

2. Verification of the delegates' authorities
 
 

CODE	COUNTRY	Delegate	Deputy
D	ALLEMAGNE	Hannelore Teich	Bernd Newels
AND	ANDORRE	Procuration: Espagne
A	AUTRICHE	Franz Rienesl
B	BELGIQUE	Louis Meulders
HR	CROATIE	Hrvoje Turkovic	Zeljko Balog
E	ESPAGNE	Josep-Jordi Queraltó	Jan Baca
EST	ESTONIE	Jaak Järvine
FIN	FINLANDE	Tula Turtia
F	FRANCE	Brigitte Bigeon
H	HONGRIE	György Pálos
I	ITALIE	Teresa Borsotti	Rolf Mandolesi
L	LUXEMBOURG	Nico Sauber	Jeannot Stirn
NL	PAYS BAS	Piet van Eerden	Kees Tervoort
P	POLOGNE	Stanislaw Puls
UK	ROYAUME UNI	Gerald Mee	Valrie B. Ellis
RUS	RUSSIE	Igor Subbotin
SK	SLOVAQUIE	Zuzana Skoludova
CH	SUISSE	Fred Graber	Ernst Wicki
CZ	TCHEQUE	Ctirad Stipl

The membership of UNICA currently is 35.
18 countries are present and 1 country is represented. So more than 50% of the members are present and therefore the assembly is qualified to vote and to decide.

3. Constitution of the bureau
Proposal by the Committee:
Chairman of the General Assembly Max Hänsli
Secretariat Arie de Jong
Scrutineers Hannelore Teich (D) and Jeannot Stirn (L)

Unanimous approval.

The Chairman mentions the fact that the Austrian authorities refused to grant visa to the Iranian delegates.
The Iranian programme has arrived by mail.

The meeting commemorates its Honorary President Josef (Jupp) Walterscheidt, who passed away last year.

4. Confirming the agenda
The Agenda receives unanimous approval.

5. Vote on the proceedings of the General Assembly UNICA'97 in Warsaw
A written objection by Sweden has been received.
Agenda item 7: Sweden wonders how the Committee can reject a proposal unanimously, if the member who made this proposal was absent.
The Chairman reacts (again) that all members present have voted against the proposal and that we call "unanimously".
There is no reason to change the wording of the proceedings.

The proceedings receive unanimous approval, with thanks and applause to the Secretary General, Arie de Jong.

6. Address by the President of UNICA
The report was dispatched to the federations mid July.

Unanimous approval of the address, with thanks to the author (the Chairman himself).

7. Report of the Committee by the General Secretary
The very extensive report with detailed information was dispatched to the federations mid July.
The Chairman expresses his utmost thanks to the General Secretary for his quick and efficient way of working.

The report of the Committee submitted by the General Secretary is accepted with unanimous approval, with thanks to the author.

8. Report of the Treasurer
The report was dispatched to the federations mid July.
The Treasurer wants to insist on the fact that the positive result has to be attributed to the former treasurer, Gecko Kaufmann.

There are no questions nor remarks.

9. Report of the Auditors
The Auditors' report was dispatched (in German) to the federations mid July.
The French and English copies are handed out during the meeting.

The Report of the Auditors is approved unanimously.

The Treasurer's Report is approved unanimously.

The Honorary Member and former Treasurer, enters the meeting. He is heartily welcomed.

10. Report of the Film Librarian
The report was dispatched to the federations mid July.

The report is approved unanimously, with thanks and applause to Hans Schober for his work.

11. Report of "Friends of UNICA"
The report was dispatched to the federations mid July.
Perhaps due to the marriage of the President of Friends of UNICA the report is now written in italic.

The report is approved unanimously with thanks and applause to Gisela Anna-Freier, formerly Schultz.

12. Report on UNICA Patronages
The report was dispatched to the federations mid July.

The report consists of a list of festivals which have been granted UNICA patronage and the medals awarded.

A festival may ask for UNICA patronage. If this patronage is granted by the Committee a UNICA medal is awarded which will cost CHF 100.

The Eulenspiegeleien Festival didn't officially apply for patronage. This will happen within short.

The report is approved unanimously, with thanks and applause to Miette Verlinden.

13. Report of the delegate to C.I.C.T.
The report was dispatched to the federations mid July.

Serge Michel has the duty to keep in contact with I.F.T.C. (The English abbreviation of C.I.C.T.)

The report has the title "Rebirth of I.F.T.C.". UNICA is an indirect member of UNESCO, via I.F.T.C.

Teresa Borsotti (I) expresses her gratitude for the work of Serge Michel, which is very important for UNICA.

Serge Michel is pleased that I.F.T.C. started a new life and he hopes to be able to present a list of various initiatives and projects next year.

Teresa Borsotti (I) emphasizes that it is very important that UNICA is (indirectly) represented in UNESCO.

Serge Michel explains that all other members of I.F.T.C. are professional institutions. UNICA is an exception so to speak.
The other members are very much interested in the activities of UNICA.

The report is approved unanimously, with thanks and applause to Serge Michel.

UNICA-News
The Chairman points to the fact, that UNICA-News has appeared in a new -professionally looking- shape. This has been achieved by Radek Stipl, who spends a lot of energy in the editing and publishing of UNICA-News. The Chairman invites everybody to provide articles for UNICA-News.

The Chairman thanks Radek for his voluntary work, which is accompanied by a heartfelt applause.

14. Discharge of the Committee
The Chairman thanks the members of the Committee for their co-operation and excellent work. All Committee Meetings proved to be very constructive.

Hannelore Teich -auditor- expresses her appreciation for the commitment of the UNICA Committee, which meets regularly and whose members work voluntarily for the benefit of the federations. She recommends the delegates to discharge of the Committee.

The applause is interpreted as unanimous approval.

15. Election of new auditors
This year's audit has been performed by Bernd Newels and Hannelore Teich.
Bernd Newels has audited the UNICA financial books several times. The Chairman thanks him very heartily for all the work he did for UNICA in the previous years. The audience gives him a loud applause.

Hannelore Teich will be nominated first auditor. Piet van Eerden (NL) proposes to nominate Jan Essing (treasurer of NOVA) as second auditor.

This proposal is accepted unanimously.

As deputy auditor Fred Graber is elected.

16. Admission of new members
The chairman informs the General Assembly that Slovenia has applied for membership.
The Chairman proposes to accept Slovenia as a member of UNICA under the following conditions:
1. It has to send its Statutes within two months, which will then be checked by the Committee.
2. If Slovenia pays its annual membership fees of CHF 250 before the showing of its filmprogramme, then this programme will be included in the competition.
In case Slovenia will not be accepted as a member after all, the country will be skipped from the list of competition results.

This proposal receives unanimous approval and Slovenia is welcomed wholeheartedly.

The Chairman expresses his gratitude that Russia has come back actively in UNICA. The Committee keeps in close contact with Ukraine and Uzbekistan, hoping to get these countries actively back in UNICA.

Serge Michel has contacted the Republic of Chad. This country has sent an application for membership together with its Statutes. UNICA is happy to get another African country as a member.

After an initial letter of resignation by South Africa, we are glad to be able to announce that matters have changed positively and that this country has paid its membership fees for this year.

Due to changes in the administration of the American Motion Picture Society (where its secretary Howard Lewis died after a severe illness)
AMPS informed UNICA that it was not able to pay its membership fees for 1998.
The new Secretary/Treasurer Mr. Roger Garretson however seems to be interested to renew the contacts with UNICA.

Unfortunately we have to announce the resignation of Norway. It has no use to discuss the reasons for this resignation. Obviously political factors have played a role in its decision.

Zuzana Skoludova (SK) asks whether the decision to resign was a one man's action or a decision of the complete Norwegian federation.

UNICA has received a letter on official stationary with the letterhead of the federation and the signature of its president, so we have to believe that the decision is made by the whole federation.

The Chairman mentions the fact that Norway recently ordered a number of films from the Filmlibrary. So anyhow UNICA will remain well-known in Norway.

The Secretary General asked for a letter with the reasons for resignation, but he only yesterday got an e-mail letter from the Norwegian President Jan Werner Pettersen in the Norwegian language. Although the content could be guessed, the real reason for the resignation couldn't be 100% disclosed.

Teresa Borsotti (I) proposes to invite a Norwegian delegate to publicly give Norway's arguments in the General Assembly. The Chairman argues that all members have been invited to attend this General Assembly. This applies to Norway, as well.

17. Discussion and vote on proposals of the Committee
The Chairman clarifies that in the recent past some young people arrived at the UNICA Congress without any money, begging for free board and lodging.

Last year the UNICA Committee sent a proposal -regarding the treatment of young people- to all federations. Some federations reacted and these reactions have been thoroughly discussed in the Committee.

The final proposal by the UNICA-Committee (annex 10 to the agenda) will be put to the vote.

Armin Rösli (CH) asks who will pay the traveling expenses of jeunesse. He proposes that each federation should carry these costs. The Chairman replies that this might be a recommendation, but not a requirement, for the federations.

The proposal receives unanimous approval.

18. Discussion and vote about proposals submitted by members
Sweden has submitted two proposals.
The Chairman regrets that no delegate from Sweden is present to defend these proposals.
The proposals have been discussed in the UNICA Committee this morning, as the letter from Sweden arrived rather late.

Serge Michel gives his opinion to the proposal regarding IAAFVF (International Association of Amateur Film & Video Festivals) The role of UNICA may be seen in the light of IFTC. UNICA has the duty to promote non-commercial filming and to support institutions which work in the same direction. UNICA gives the opportunity to grant patronage to international film festivals, independent whether the festivals are organized in countries affiliated to UNICA. UNICA is open-minded towards the organizers of (non-commercial) film festivals.

Gerald Mee (UK) explains that he has been a President of IAAFVF, which has been founded 30 years ago. During his presidency some 37 festivals were supported. The presidency is changed every two years. Due to these changes sometimes archives got lost. IAAFVF issued 6 newsletters a year, with information about film festivals. Its main purpose is to keep filmmakers informed about film festivals. Two years ago under the Belgium presidency the newsletter stopped. Gerald Mee would be very pleased if UNICA could take over the task of distributing information about film festivals to potential participants.

The Chairman promises that the UNICA-Committee will discuss this matter and to try to find a solution, to be presented in the next General Assembly. The General Secretary adds that a lot of information about film festivals may be found on the Internet. As an example the website of Bernard Benoot from Belgium is mentioned, which has a lot of links to websites where film festivals are announced. Gerald Mee agrees that Internet might be used for this purpose.

Rolf Mandolesi proposes that all festivals with UNICA patronage be personally addressed to potential participants.

Second proposal: trying to get Japan back in UNICA.
The Chairman mentions that he has done a lot to get in contact with Japanese non-commercial film organizations. He has used his bank-colleague in Tokyo to establish these contacts, who tried to find addresses through Fuji as shareholder. In fact this friend spared no effort to please Max Hänsli. The cost amounted to more than USD 2000, but with no positive result. The Japanese appear to be very much interested, but only to receive films, not to send films to other competitions. The Japanese festival which has been mentioned is purely commercial. Its only objective seems to be to get as many participants as possible for advertisement purposes.

UNICA is willing to accept Japan as a member, but it doesn't know where to begin. The past President of UNICA has sent a lot of letters to the Goethe Institute in Japan, but without any result. Any suggestion will be welcomed.

The Chairman concludes that these Swedish proposals have been duly examined and treated.

19. Determination of next year's membership fees
The Committee proposes to keep the membership fees scheme unchanged. So the membership fees for each country will remain the same.

The General Assembly agrees tacitly to this proposal.

20. Confirmation of the Budget
The budget for 1999 has been sent to all federations mid July, together with the report of the Treasurer.

The Treasurer notices a change in the budget: the lumpsum for translation services is budgeted to CHF 500. Jean Claude Lejosne has declared to be satisfied with only CHF 200. This leads to a thankful applause.

The positive result is also owed to the General Secretary, who performs his voluntary services for nil cent.
This remark -together with enormous compliments- also leads to a thankful applause.

The annual budget is approved unanimously.

21. Selection of the place and dates of the Congress in the next 3 years
Finland '99 (Lappeenranta) has already been accepted.
Tula Turtia (FIN) reads an announcement: The organizers are not quite ready , as the Cavaljeeri champagne is not cold yet. The UNICA'99 poster is ready and will be distributed here. The favorite drink will be offered cool during the information party Friday afternoon, according to the promises of Bernhard Hausberger. The official delegates will be given an information package on UNICA'99 Lappeenranta-Suomi.

The Chairman adds that the UNICA-Committee has visited the Festival premises (which are absolutely fantastic) and excursions, which will have a great cultural content.

For 2000 originally there were two candidates: Roermond (NL) and Malta. The General Secretary has visited Malta and found exclusive hotels and congress halls for rather reasonable prices. On his recommendation the UNICA-Committee proposed to select Malta.
But after serious calculation of the costs and benefits the Maltese organizers had to conclude that they were not able to organize a UNICA Congress on such short notice and without a guarantee on the number of congress visitors.
Then Roermond remained the only candidate. So the UNICA Committee decided with pleasure that UNICA 2000 will be held in The Netherlands.

Piet van Eerden (NL) mentions that UNICA'96 also took place in The Netherlands (Almelo). With the very positive reactions in mind, the Dutch organizers have put The Netherlands as a candidate again, due to lack of other interested federations for the year of 2000. In Roermond a new TheaterHotel has been built, which is very adequate for organizing a UNICA Congress. Orange buttons will be presented during this festival with the motto "Keep in touch with the Dutch".

The Chairman notes that 2000 is an election year for the UNICA-Committee. So we hope to attract a lot of visitors and delegates.

For the year of 2001 there are two candidates: Estonia and Poland. Estonia organized the UNICA Congress in 1986, which was a great success. Estonia applied officially by letter of December 1997. Stanislaw Puls (PL) informs the meeting that the delegates of Poland have been detained at the Austrian border and that all kind of material of last year has been confiscated by the customs. (In the mean time it appears that the delegates have been released). Poland withdraws its application.

Jaak Järvine (EST) confirms that Estonia applies for the organization of the UNICA Congress in 2001. This announcement is received with a warm applause.

For 2002 an application is received from a federation which celebrates a jubilee. The country concerned is Luxemburg. The federation celebrates its 50 year jubilee in 2002.

The UNICA Committee beliefs that it is advisable to decide for the place of the Congress more than three years in advance, in order to be able to make reservations and to gather sufficient money.

The delegates vote for UNICA 2002 in Luxemburg unanimously.

Nico Sauber (L) thanks the audience for its trust and confidence in his federation. Luxemburg has organized a UNICA Congress in 1950 and 1969. UNICA 2002 will take place from August 22 to 30 during the annual public festivities.

22. Miscellaneous, without vote
� The Chairman thanks Fred Graber and Jean Claude Lejosne for their translation services.
� Bernhard Hausberger announces that for each day different restaurants have been selected for lunch and dinner. The visitors are asked to take their meals in these restaurants, as the proprietors have financially supported this UNICA festival.
� The film librarian Hans Schober announces that supplements to the catalogue are available.