Welcome to Poole Harbour

It's nearly midday on Thursday 21st September. My wife and I are sitting in a queue of cars that hasn't moved for nearly an hour, our whole field of vision is filled with the blank grey walls of buildings that are only allowed in docks and prisons, and it's raining. Huge drops of water that hammer on the car roof.

Eventually part of one grey wall bursts into orange light and between the wipers we read "Welcome to Poole Harbour", "Loading will commence in 15 minutes" and "Sea state - rough."

Things could only get better - and they did.

Like England 30 Years Ago

Two and a half hours due South at a speed of nearly 40 knots on a Condor Ferries Sea Cat brought us to the island of Guernsey. The narrow streets of St Peter Port climbed quickly from the harbour, neat buildings and gleaming yachts shone in the low afternoon sun.

On leaving the port we found ourselves heading the wrong way for our hotel. Never mind, we just drove round the island. Guernsey is so small they try to make it appear bigger by making you drive slowly, 35mph or 25mph in built-up areas.

It's a bit like England 30 years ago, only sunnier, petrol is 45p a litre and people seem to have time for each other.

The Peninsula is a modern bungalow of a hotel, the rooms are just large enough and comfortable enough, and service in the restaurant and bars was to my liking. Now that is no compliment, because I simply hate "excellent service". I feel intimidated, as though I have to dress for dinner and be on my best behaviour. I'll settle for their young, French waitresses with limited English, wide smiles and short skirts. You can put up with a lot when it's £27 b&b and you're wearing sandals.

We finished Thursday with a walk on the beach, an excellent buffet in the hotel restaurant and a litre of house red.

Race To Drink Free Wine

Friday dawned slowly. A cup or two of tea while watching the Olympics on telly, a slow shower, and down to breakfast just after 9 o'clock. The rest of the morning was spent shopping in St. Peter Port with M&S at 20% off and lots of VAT-free goodies.

Lunch, more beach-combing and it was time for the first official Guernsey Lily event, a Vin d'Honneur at the Castle that guards St. Peter's Port harbour.

This turned out to be a race to drink enough free wine so that the speaker from the Guernsey Tourist Board appeared not only interesting but also amusing. There was no official winner but IAC members generally appeared to take up the challenge.

The Festival

The Festival started on Saturday afternoon with a programme of nine films, all "highly commended" award winners, or above :-

• Starfighters Attack Laurie Calvert

• Sonny's Song Bristol Film & Video Society

• 70% Blue Terry Elding

• Behind the Clouds Ken & Carol Wilson (Phase 4 Films)

• Memory Chase Atta Chui

• Hands Off Jason Dainter

• Wonderful World Julie Tostevin LACI

• The Last Paradise Hans-Dieter Kaemmerer

• Blurred Boundaries Eileen Chan

Following a good long break for tea, or whatever, and a chance to chat about the afternoon's excellent films it was time to get ready for the evening session of films and Awards Ceremony followed closely by the Festival Dinner.

It was at this point that I discovered that my one and only suit, which admittedly I hadn't worn since the Buxton Festival dinner, had shrunk!

So it was casual dress for me.

Evening films :-

• The Olympic Museum Richard Lewendon

• Greenhouse Tim Jones

• Foxtrot Douglas Boswell (Belgium)

• A Fisherman's Tale Brian Hazelden

• Life Goes On Channel 7 Productions

• Nardo Douglas Boswell (Belgium)

Karen Rankin presents Douglas Boswell with the Channel Television Award for Best Photography in Foxtrot.  Picture by Dr. Norman Speirs.

Amateur Guernsey Lily Awards went to : Nardo, Greenhouse, A Fisherman's Tale, Life Goes On, Foxtrot, and Olympic Museum. Open Guernsey Lily Awards went to :- Blurred Boundaries, *Pink No 22 by Gheri Ulrey (USA), and Anabela by Liori Avni (Israel). Other awards :- Best Photography and Best Editing Foxtrot Best Use of Sound and Best Animation Greenhouse Best Channel Island Entry Wonderful World Best Youth Entry Hands Off Best Script Life Goes On Best Fiction Nardo Best Documentary A Fisherman's Tale Best Acting Performance Gregg Chilingirian (Life Goes On) Best Single 8 Entry A Dream of Steam by D. Currie

Keith Tostevin of Guernsey won the "Impressions of the Millennium" award for Channel Island's amateurs with his film A Stitch in Time.

The Best Bit

The Festival Dinner was a relaxed, enjoyable affair. There were quite a few in casual dress, as it turned out, but a special award must go to Douglas Boswell for his jeans and T-shirt, and his wholly implausible excuse about lost luggage at Gatwick. Actually, it was nice to see so many young film makers there to collect their awards.

People seemed in no mood to go home after dinner and there was much swapping of tables, stories and addresses. The best bit? Oh, that's easy...............listening to Tim Jones pass on his wealth of experience of animation to young Jason Dainter.

The Festival continued on Sunday morning with a couple of local films followed by a showcase of the work of the Rouillard brothers. Peter and Richard are both Fellows of the IAC and have won many awards for their films. The audience had a fascinating view of their development as film-makers as well as the progression from standard 8 to the glorious 16mm.

And More...

On Sunday afternoon we saw a selection of certificate winning entries :-

• City of Music John Astin

• E is for Emma Altrincham Video Society

• Steinbeck Bjorn Andreasson & Gunnar Lindholm

• The Apple Gunnar Lindholm

• Horace and Doris Barry Clarke

• Big Ball Bagatelle Dawn A Rogers

• A Stitch in Time Keith Tostevin

• Uncles The OAP's

• Simon's Guardian Angel Horst Brucker

• In the Name of the Law Oskar & Daniela Siebert

• The Triumph of the Renaissance Willy Van Der Linden

The judges were our own Kenneth Seeger FACI, Peter Rouillard FACI and Richard Rouillard FACI, as well as a handful of broadcast industry professionals - Roger Bowns, Rosemary Henry, Chris Denton and Paul Marshall. Many thanks for a fine job.

But we weren't finished yet.

Sunday night saw a band of more than 20 IAC members wining and dining at the Wellington Boot restaurant, and on Monday lunchtime at Chez Ozanne.

It was a marvellous festival!

To the organisers, Joan Ozanne, Peter and Richard Rouillard and their partners I would like to say thank you, see you again next year.

"How did a fool and his money get together?"

Page updated on 21 March 2008

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

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