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Report of the UNICA Committee Meeting (16th - 19th November 2000)

The autumn meeting of the UNICA Committee was held in Mohelnice, some 220 km east of Prague at the invitation of Radek Stipl, the UNICA News editor. The key issues were:

• Heidi Lind of Finland, the new committee member, takes over as our contact with the Nordic countries. We hope this will lead to the establishment of fresh links with these countries.

• Following the decision made during the last General Meeting, the Committee will re-draft its proposal for an amendment of the statutes concerning the voting procedure and submit it to the next General Meeting.

• It was reconfirmed that selected videos will be taken straight from the UNICA Competition into the Library. The copies of those videos entered in competition will be retained for this purpose, unless the national federation concerned has expressed clear opposition to this policy. We hope everyone will understand and appreciate this. We ask national federations to provide first-rate videos for screening at the UNICA Competition, possibly in DV, S-VHS or Beta format. Many thanks in advance.

• Organisers are working full tilt on UNICA 2001 in Tallinn. The list of equipment available has been prepared and, judging by the information provided, is first class. The Organising Committee asks competitors to provide entries in video formats as finding equipment of a suitable standard to show traditional cine formats would be a problem in Estonia. So  please transfer all film (cine) entries to video format ! Registration and booking forms for hotels and congress cards will be dispatched at the beginning of 2001 to all listed addresses.

In view of the jury's experience during UNICA 2000, the Committee has decided to make the following changes in working procedure:

1. Only one jury member will be accepted per country - and this also applies to the organising country. We ask national federations to consider nominating young people and women.

2. The 7 jury members should be nominated this year by the following countries: Estonia, Belgium, France, Finland, Croatia, Austria and Britain. They will be chaired by a neutral jury member without voting rights who functions only as a moderator. This person should be a member of the UNICA committee and a new member will be nominated every year. Franz Rienesl will take this office for the UNICA 2001 Competition. This should allow all jury members to concentrate on their task. Jan Baca remains in charge of jury matters.

The questions that arose during the public discussion of films at UNICA 2000 were also thoroughly discussed in the committee. The committee is convinced that this opening up of the jury's work should be maintained and provides in addition for the following:

1. After each block of films, the jury will discuss the films in public (but without voting). These sessions will be monitored by the chairperson who will decide how much time to allow for discussion.

2. The public will be allowed to take part in these discussions, i.e. questions can be raised and opinions can be expressed by the audience. The chairperson will control the whole process.

The point of this procedure is to ensure that every film is talked about, not just the ones that will eventually reach the final discussion stage.

• National federations are requested to specify on the registration form any films and videos produced in film schools. Films and videos made in regular schools (not film schools) need not be specially identified.

• UNICA 2003 South Africa. The committee will hold a meeting in South Africa in the autumn of 2001 for an on-the-spot check of the conditions, organisation and opportunities there.

• We strongly recommended that national federations provide a trailer (a short film about their nation) to be shown just before the program. It does not have to be a new one every year! We have an even more urgent request: that national programmes be accompanied with short film summaries, ideally in the three languages of UNICA. This would allow a better understanding of the films, in particular for those members of the jury and audience who do not know the specific language. Although subtitling is very often considered bothersome, this solution is also recommended.

• IMPORTANT: Please respect the deadline for the registration of films in the UNICA Competition. We cannot expect the organisers to make last-minute changes in the programme of films. Any films that have not been entered in due time run the risk of not being considered at all. Films which are not brought along personally to the Competition should be in the hands of organisers one month ahead of the UNICA Competition!

Finally a request to those nations nominating a member of the jury:

• Please make sure that the person that you appoint is fluent in at least one of the three UNICA languages (French, English or German), to ensure good communication between the members of the jury. If this is not possible, the delegating country should provide a competent interpreter and take care of his/her board and lodging. Please bear with us in this matter.

The UNICA committee spared no effort during the meeting to deal with every suggestion and recommendation that came from national federations and to try to find appropriate solutions. These are not always acceptable to the federations concerned, and we apologise for that. We try again and again to make amendments, always prepared to change if the result is not successful.

Thank you for your understanding.

- Max Hänsli (CHE), President of UNICA - trans.: Jean-Claude Lejosne (FRA)

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