Secretary-General
Georg Schörner
Vienna
Telephone: +43  664  1831478
Email: georg.schoerner@a1.net

Introduction

This report covers the period from the UNICA Congress 2015 to the UNICA Congress in 2016. It was written about a month before the UNICA Congress 2016 and will be sent to all members of UNICA.

Reporting of occasional developments between the time of writing and the General Assembly 2016 will be reported orally or added to next year’s Report of the Committee.

General Assembly 2015

The topics and resolutions of the General Assembly in 2015 in St. Petersburg (RUS) have been put down in writing in the proceedings of this General Assembly.

UNICA Congress 2015

The UNICA Congress 2015 was held in St. Petersburg (RUS) from 5th to 12th September. It was attended by fewer than 200 visitors. The number of film entries was 137 and 24 films for the World Minute Movie Cup. The result was 2 (1) Gold Medals, 8 (6) Silver Medals, 22 (13) Bronze Medals and 34 (9) Honorary Diplomas (numbers between brackets for Film School / Young professionals’
section.). The team led by Congress President Nina Zaitseva was sincerely thanked for their implementation.

Participating countries: (in the order of projection):
Russia, Austria, Germany, Norway, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Croatia, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, Sweden, Estonia, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Georgia, Finland, Poland, Italy, Ukraine, South Korea, Hungary, France, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Belgium, Great Britain.

Jury:
GER - Bernhard Lindner, Jury leader
HUN - Sándor Buglya
FIN - Tarmo Hotanen
POL - Paweł Łęski
FRA - Jeanne Glass *
FRA - Danielle Vioux
RUS - Peter Pleshanov
*) Due to the withdrawal of Wolfgang Allin (Austria) as a judge for family reasons at extremely short notice, Jeanne Glass stepped in from the UNICA Committee.

UNICA Congresses in the following years

2016: Romania
2017: Germany
2018: The Czech Republic

The UNICA committee

The committee was elected at the General Assembly on 11 September 2015 producing some significant changes:
Messrs Georges Fondeur (Chairman), Jan Essing (Secretary General) and Alois Urbanek (Conseiller) did not stand for election and were honoured with thanks and the presentation of special gifts.
The following were elected to the new committee:
Dave Watterson President
Jeanne Glass Vice-President
Bernhard Lindner Vice-President
Georg Schörner General Secretary
Thomas Kräuchi Treasurer
Tatyana Alahverdzhieva Adviser
Željko Balog Adviser
Mitze Chapovski Adviser
Wolfgang Freier Adviser
Paweł Łęski Adviser
Rolf Mandolesi Adviser
Franka Stas Adviser
Fred Graber Friends of  UNICA *
Serge Michel * IFTC

*) confirmed in their posts.

Meetings of the UNICA committee

The UNICA Committee met four times in this period:

Meeting No. 1:. 20150911 St. Petersburg
Present: Watterson, Glass, Lindner, Schörner Kräuchi; Alahverdzhieva, Balog, Chapovski, Freier, Leski, Mandolesi, Stas; Graber.
Apologies for absence: Michel.

This was the inaugural meeting of the newly elected committee. In a vote, it was found that all committee members can understand and use at least German and / or English. It was therefore decided, in particular in the absence of interpreters and for internal purposes only to use English and German.

Meeting No. 2:. 20150912 St. Petersburg
Present: Watterson, Glass, Lindner, Schörner Kräuchi; Alahverdzhieva, Balog, Chapovski, Freier, Leski, Mandolesi, Stas;  Graber.
Apologies for absence: Michel.

At this meeting, a work plan was discussed and divided areas of work divided among the committee members. Of particular concern was the reorganisation of manuals and documents, work on the statutes and planned activities. 

Meeting No. 3:. 20151 031 Vienna
Present: Watterson, Glass, Lindner, Schörner Kräuchi; Alahverdzhieva, Balog, Chapovski, Freier, Leski, Mandolesi, Stas; Graber; and Lejosne (translation).

There was an extensive discussion about what UNICA is and how each of us could help to make positive developments. In order to better understand the individual member countries or organisations, a written survey was agreed. Furthermore, changes in the competition regulations, etc. were discussed.

It should be noted that these points are submitted to the General Assembly under agenda item 15 "Changes to the UNICA Statutes or other regulations. Discussion and vote about proposals of the Committee".

Meeting No. 4. 160312 Dortmund
Present: Watterson, Glass, Lindner, Schörner Kräuchi, Alahverdzhieva, Balog, Chapovski, Freier, Leski, Mandolesi, Stas, Graber, Michel and Auda (translation).

The preliminary results of the questionnaire were presented; a report on the progress towards a UNICA handbook accepted; proposals for amending the Statutes and related legal matters were resolved; a number of other issues were also dealt with. Furthermore, detailed points concerning the UNICA 2016 in Suceava (Romania) from 19 to 26 August 2016 were discussed.

A very important point was, and still is, the issue with respect to "copyright" and possible "abuse of foreign material by authors". (Unfortunately cases of film theft have arisen several times recently in individual countries and at the UNICA 2013!). In particular, we had to take into consideration the potential liability of UNICA. Therefore after the meeting a legal opinion was obtained, which should clarify the situation. For the greatest security, therefore, we use the Swiss association law.

The result was a new draft contract which every author must personally make with the UNICA about his film. Our concern now was that the adhoc system introduced as an emergency measure for precautionary reasons was of course more complicated than the old rules and possibly fewer films would be submitted. That concern was unfounded. By the time this report was drafted 108 films had already been registered under excellent compliance with the juridical rules for UNICA 2016 in Suceava!

A visit to the "UNICA-Site 2017 Dortmund" was held: The Committee was shown Dortmund's "Zollern" - a former colliery and headquarters of a large company that has become the first industrial monument in Germany and is today an industrial museum. Facilities include suitable halls, utility rooms and dining facilities (for the 2017 UNICA). An informal discussion with the organising committee solved several problems. These informal discussions continued with a dinner in the evening; in a hotel, which will probably be the most important place for the UNICA 2017 visitors. The UNICA 2017 will be held from 5th to 12th August 2017.