Committee Members Attending

Dave Watterson (President)
Jeanne Glass (Vice-President)
Bernhard Lindner (Vice-President)
Georg Schörner (Secretary General)
Thomas Kräuchi (Treasurer)

Advisers:

Tatyana Alahverdzhieva
Zeljko Balog
Mitze Chapovski
Wolfgang Freier
Franka Stas

Also Present

Ion Lungu (President of the Congress)
Max Hänsli (Honorary President)
Fred Graber (Friends of UNICA)
Tatyana Alahverdzhieva (Friends of UNICA)
Wolfgang Freier (UNICA Patronage)
Serge Michel (IFTC Liaison)
Jean-Claude Lejosne (Translations)
Odilon Dubost (Translations)
Delia Vagner (Translations)

Not Present

Paweł Łęski  (Adviser)
Rolf Mandolesi (Adviser)
Claire Auda (Translations)

Federations

Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Finland
Germany
Hungary
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Netherlands
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
United Kingdom

(7c) – Report Patronage (Wolfgang Freier):

In 2014 there were 28 patronages, in 2015 only 13. Some festivals say they lack the money to pay for our patronage. Others find the restrictions of our rules too difficult. There are many festivals who say they need film schools and that no more amateurs take part.

Poland had eight patronages; then Stani Puls died, and now there is not a single patronage. Where have the amateurs gone? I believe we must reconsider our rules if patronage is to continue. strong>

Romania: There are problems with the traditional amateur concept. But we should note that in many countries, students make many good films. But they have other channels for distribution ("YouTube", "Facebook", etc.). This must be taken into account by UNICA. People who become filmmakers as teenagers may continue their enthusiasm later in life. Many don’t know the UNICA. There must be more cooperation with pupils. There are two festivals in Romania, but no one from them knows about UNICA. The new festival in Romania will be under UNICA patronage.

Wolfgang Freier: It is very difficult to unite younger people under a patronage. The scheme is designed for big festivals.

The President asks all the country representatives to promote patronage to the festivals in their countries. It does not cost much. It assures the competitors that the festival is fair and reasonable. It helps to promote UNICA. He also welcomes the point that the prize is given either for international understanding or for the further development of the film. These are important concepts for UNICA.

Austria / Hungary: The patronage recipient also has obligations, which, however, unfortunately are not checked by UNICA; See the "Festival of Nations" in Lenzing as an example.

President: We discussed this in the committee and will draft new rules for it.

8. Report of the Treasurer.

The report (in 3 languages) had been sent to the member organisations. (Click here to see it as a pdf.) 

Treasurer Thomas Kräuchi reports that it has been a positive year. The budget was met and small farewell gifts were given to the committee members, who were leaving. The UNESCO contribution has been paid for 2 years. All Member States have paid for 2015. Armenia and Iran have terminated their membership.

Romania and Spain propose to approve the report. The report was adopted unanimously.

Applause for Thomas Kräuchi.

9. Report of the Auditors

The report (in 3 languages) had been sent to the member organisations. (Click here to see it as a pdf.) They had nothing further to say.

10. Report of the Film librarian

Thomas Kräuchi reports that all films and discs are in the archive in Bern. All UNICA films from 2015 are stored on a hard disk.

The President notes that Croatia had earlier requested help from UNESCO for the process of digitising the older archive material.

11. Report of the "Friends of UNICA"

Fred Graber recalls that the report is available in writing. (Click here to see it as a pdf.) He announced that he had ended his activities with this General Meeting. Ms. Tatyana Alahverdzhieva was elected as his successor at the meeting of "Friends of UNICA". He wishes her all the best for her work.

The President: sincerely thanks Fred Graber for the activities of "Friends of UNICA" for about 14 years. Great applause.

Tatyana Alahverdzhieva notes that it is a great honour to follow Fred. She is open to ideas and hopefully more members will join the group.

There is loud applause for the work of both Fred and Ursula Graber.

12 Discharge of the Committee

The Netherlands and Croatia propose the motion. The proposal was unanimously accepted.

13. Election of the Auditors

The following persons are proposed:

1. Doris Dvorak (Austria),
2. Jan Essing (Netherlands) and
3. Bernhard Zimmermann (Germany).

The proposal was unanimously accepted.

14. Admission of new members

No applications were made.

15. Modification of the UNICA Statutes or other regulations - proposals submitted by the Committee.

These are reported in the Annexe - click here.

16. Proposals by the members

The President notes that the application from France came too late to the GA according to the statutes.

The Secretary-General adds that France is not represented at the General Assembly and therefore cannot explain the late application informally.

17. Following year's contribution

The application is made to collect the membership fees to the same level as 2016 in 2017.

The proposal was unanimously accepted.

18. Confirmation of the budget

The Treasurer notes that the 2017 budget is balanced. There will be no major issues. The budget will be met.

19. Selection of place and date of the Congresses for the following three years:

• 2017: Dortmund (DEU) (decided)
  
• 2018: Blansko (CZE) (decided))
  
• 2019: Zeist (NE) (proposal)

The Netherlands announces that in 2019 the UNICA Festival is expected to be held in the city of Zeist (near Utrecht). At present, efforts are being made to finance the project. The festival will take place at the end of August. It will held in a theatre hotel, where you can stay and in the same building where the film screening take place.

20. Miscellaneous, without vote

Austria / Hungary: For the beautiful medals of the UNICA there should be a corresponding diploma (especially for the Patronage)

The President thanks the hard-working tellers, Peter Glatzl and Jan Kuska, all the delegates, the members of the committee, the interpreters and the technical team. He closed the session at 6 p.m.

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All mentioned reports were sent to every member country before the General Assembly. The printed version of these Minutes are supplemented by ANNEXE A (see here) and ANNEXE B (see here.)

Secretary-General: Georg Schörner