Percy Childs presented IAC Archive films at Cesky Lvicek 2004

The Czech national annual competition for non-professional film-makers took place at midsummer in Usti nad Orlici, a quiet little 13th century town and popular holiday resort in the Podorlicko region of the Czech republic.

For a small town, Usti nad Orlici is well served with event-friendly venues. Films were screened at a high standard of presentation in the 200 seater Roskoss theatre, where soft drinks were served at the foyer bar, while cafeteria service was available in the midday and evening breaks in a technical college within five minutes' walk. The awards ceremony and final party were held in the ballroom of the municipal arts centre.

The programme included the screening of 34 films selected from 91 entries drawn from 8 regional contests, involving the 30 or so clubs or groups in the country. Time was set aside for discussions, and an hour was devoted to a presentation on The History of British Non-Professional Moviemaking.

In response to a request last year from the Czech "Arts Council", I had prepared, with the willing help of I.A.C. colleagues and others, a programme of films and extracts, most of them from the Institute Library, and all of them selected from the six or seven pre-video decades of the last century.

Most of the material existed only on 16 or 8mm film, never previously transferred to video format, so facilities to preview the selected material were limited. Intended to represent a range of styles, and to include work from six or seven decades, it was necessary for the programme at the same time to be digestible by a foreign language audience. Some of the older films were silent, so a compatible music track was provided for this presentation.

The subject material varied from documentary, travel, sport, special effects, animation, horror-comedy, and historical drama through to slapstick comedy, the latter genre represented by a climactic extract from Finchley's "The Great Pram Race" by David Wyatt. Screened as the finale of the programme, this was well-received by the audience.

At the final party Mr. Tuscak of ARTAMA expressed his thanks for the programme and his anticipation of further opportunities for contacts with British film-makers in the future.

- Percy Childs    July 2004

Page updated on 14 February 2008

Authors' views are not necessarily those of The Institute of Amateur Cinematographers

Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source