UNICA General Assembly - Report on IFTC.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2014

Report on the work of IFTC (UNESCO) to UNICA 2014

Serge Michel
34 Rue des Coucous
FRA-44230
Saint Sebastien sur Loire
+33 2 40342077
+33 2 40359269
serge.michel@rff.fr

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

Even if IFTC – due to the financial difficulties experienced by UNESCO - has been affected in the year 2013-2014 by operational uncertainties, including the sustainability of the office that IFTC has at Palais de l'UNESCO, our organisation has continued its activities along four major lines of action and with the following purposes:

to stimulate creativity and promote creators:
IFTC is in charge of exchanging information, organising conferences, seminars and international symposia, developing and providing supports to events, festivals, exhibitions, retrospectives ...
To acknowledge original cultural policies, innovative educational programs and high quality creations:
IFTC composes jury panels and awards prizes at major international events;
To promote the sharing of knowledge and give to all full access to culture:
IFTC supports the acquisition and mastery of the latest information and communication technologies
To foster the discovery, restoration and preservation of the audio-visual heritage:
IFTC offers advice and assistance to organizations working in these areas.

These missions depend to a large extent on the members of IFTC, in particular institutions which, like UNICA, develop and manage activities closely related to the objectives of IFTC and UNESCO.

The 2013 IFTC - UNESCO Delmiro de Caralt International Prize was awarded on the occasion of the UNICA Competition in Fieberbrunn, Austria to the German film Stillen by Marcus Sieber. As every year, the jury was requested to identify the work best reflecting the values of tolerance and peace fostered by UNESCO. Likewise, the UNICA 2014 jury will have to select the film worthy of receiving a Fellini Medal offered as the 2014 IFTC - UNESCO International Award.

Concerning this International Prize, the project aiming at collecting the winner films of the past fifteen years and preparing a "DVD collector" is nearing completion. This DVD is indeed an excellent testimony of the quality and diversity of the winning entries. It also represents a unique opportunity to showcase UNICA and IFTC and it will give us great pleasure to offer this compilation to all the federations affiliated to UNICA members on the occasion of the General Assembly in Piešt'any.

In November 2013 I had the opportunity and pleasure to meet in Melbourne the Australian filmmakers who organise the international non professional film festival – it was the 46th edition - and I sincerely hope that these promising contacts open the prospect of a return of the Australian federation to UNICA.

We should also mention the contacts made this year - before and after the meeting of the UNICA Committee in St. Petersburg last June - with the delegation of the Russian Federation to UNESCO. While in Saint Petersburg, we had the opportunity to evaluate the high degree of energy and seriousness displayed by our Russian friends engaged in the preparation of the 2016 UNICA Congress. The representatives of the City of Saint Petersburg have also shown great interest in this event organized under the aegis of IFTC at UNESCO, and I hope that the support requested by the Union of the Saint Petersburg Union of Non-professional Filmmakers will be granted for 2016.

See you soon in Piest’any and kind regards

Serge Michel
Representative of UNICA with the IFTC
Vice - President of IFTC