3a.m. Woken by leg cramps I yelled under my breath so as not to wake Jan: "Ach! Nein", then exploded with laughter. Four days into the Festival of Nations and I was even screaming in German!

We were in the small Austrian town of Ebensee. It is a working town, not stuffed with tourist traps, Tyrolean dolls and kitsch souvenirs. But it is clean, neat, attractive and set in stunning scenery at the edge of the Traunsee lake. Festival organiser, Erich Riess, had asked me to join the jury for this week-long celebration of "non-commercial short films from around the globe".

Unlike British Festivals, the judging is not done in advance. The jury watch movies with the audience. At the end of each two-hour block of films we go on stage. First we score each movie by holding up papers "1, 2 , 3 or blank" - 1 = superb and blank = commendation. But make no mistake: a commendation at this festival really means something. There were over 653 entries so even being selected for screening was an honour.

Erich Riess - Festival Director. He is the still, quiet, centre of the event ... and full of fun.	The town of Ebensee, Austria, home of The Festival of Nations.	The t-shirt says in German "Please speak to me simply and slowly."

Then the jury were invited to discuss the movies … with the audience, which often included the moviemaker … in German.

It is 40 years since I learned schoolboy German.

But there was a quiet revolution this year. After suffering my poor grammar and limited vocabulary for a couple of days the jury chairman advised me to speak in English when necessary. So I did - not realising that this was the first time public discussions in English had taken place in the 32 years of the festival's history. I tried to keep using German where possible but switched to slowly-spoken, simple, unambiguous English when I had to. The audience seemed to have no problem with that and often responded in English.

In fact most people Jan and I met quickly suggested we try our German on them and they try their (often excellent) English on us. So we did. It is that kind of festival. The people who run it, the people who work backstage, the audience, the jurors, visiting movie makers - everyone is warm and friendly.

As to the wider language issue … many of the entries were in French, Spanish etc. and subtitled in English so I actually had some advantage over my fellow jurors. When a movie was all in German I could usually follow most of it - with an occasional whispered translation from a colleague. The hardest movies to tackle were in a special afternoon of work by young school children. Their command of film grammar was not strong enough to carry their meaning easily and their language could be slang or mumbled.

They call it the Festival of Nations and the whole world is there.

Among visitors to the event with movies of their own to show were a Chinese documentary film maker, an Indian TV producer, an Italian studying film in France, lots of Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Estonians, Swiss, Italians … and an English couple: Roy and Phyl Denton. With her friends at Spring Park Cine & Video Society, Phyl had made Moody Waters - an experimental movie linking water in different forms with human emotions. The title caused some translation problems, but the movie spoke for itself.

Like many delegates, Jan, Phyl and Roy took some sessions off to explore the lovely surrounding area. They missed the final nail-biting jury discussion and awards. For a couple of hours in public we debated and voted on each movie once more. Our original rating could be amended if we had changed our mind. So at the evening gala dinner in the town hall it came as a shock to her, when Phyl was summoned to collect her prize: a Bronze Bear.

The Festival of Nations gives cuddly toy bears as prizes, each wearing a sash to indicate its rank. These beat any number of cups and plaques. When did you last take a movie prize to bed with you?	Johanna Reifmuller (left) was taking over this year from Ruth Wagner as the leader of the festival's technical team of 16 to19 year-olds, who handled projection of PAL, NTSC, umpteen video formats, DVDs and Video-CDs plus public-address for announcements, miking the jurors on stage and supplying a video/sound feed from the cinema to the bar and eating area. To use the current Austrian slang their work was simply "Soo-peh-rrrr."

GLAMOUR, PICNICS AND BIG HATS

For the jury it was a hard slog, made exciting by the excellent movies we saw. We were crying with laughter at some French comedies, swept away by two Austrian documentaries and generally delighted. There is a brief note about some of the top movies on the next page. But there were diversions. Some days we were joined by guest jurors including Austrian movie star Johanna Matz. (Roughly equivalent in period and importance to Romi Schneider and Brigitte Bardot.) Her presence was enough to bring TV crews to join the amateurs who were already filming everything - all good publicity for the festival. To her credit, Ms. Matz did not just make a token appearance. She worked hard on the jury from 10am to 11pm and gave interviews in the meal breaks too. That's class.

One evening the whole festival was driven in convoy up into the hills where we enjoyed an Austrian meal in the open air of a model farm with llamas, goats, rabbits and horses in the surrounding fields. One sunny lunchtime everyone decamped for the two-hour lunch break to the edge of the lake where a picnic was served.

An unexpected treat was the Bunter Abend (Social Evening).  All the organising of the festival is in German so the prospect seemed more daunting than inviting. But it began with a barbecue in the garden behind the cinema and the smell of sizzling sausages drew us inexorably. After a wonderful meal and free beer, we trooped back into the cinema with everyone else. Simone, one of the festival's admin team slipped into the seat behind the four Brits and whispered translations when required. First came the Glöckler … announced as being a display of large hats. Large? Think gi-normous. These constructions of balsa-wood and paper are six feet long, five feet high and lit by candles from within. They are worn with a compulsory side dish of cow-bells slung round the waist. Glöckler are unique to this town, where on 5th January each year several hundred people wear their own creations and dance wildly round the streets for six hours. They modelled them, then we could try them!

Next came a festival friend, Maria Nimmervoll, who had been helping with catering. Accompanying herself on guitar she sang her own songs in a clear, beautiful voice. Though in a mild dialect I knew enough to realise they were about her family, including a touching one dedicated to her 24 year-old daughter. This was followed by a computer slide-show of pictures taken at the festival over its 32 year history.

Then came charades, organised by the technical team. Phyl Denton was a hit at that doing hilarious mimes of skiing and lederhosen leg-slapping dancing to indicate "Austria". For us the evening reached a climax with the latest instalment of "Bear-o-scope" a backstage movie about the festival shot and edited by the technical team each day. We then collapsed back to our hotels, while the determined Austrians continued to party.

Lunchtime at the lakeside (Traunsee).	A Glöckler "hat".	Maria Nimmervoll singing.

Festival of Nations 2005?

How do we feel about it now? Jan - who had been reluctant to attend, knowing I would be tied down to jury work all day - had a wonderful time and is eager to show me the sights of the area "next time." My notes are in a folder marked "Ebensee 2004" implying that I hope to be back for 2005 and beyond.

If you could force yourself to take a week's holiday in beautiful Austria … how hard is that? … then this is an ideal way for any movie enthusiast to do it. Come along to the screenings and enjoy superb movies. If your German is not up to the discussions, take a break and stroll round the area, ride the cable-car, swim in the lake or relax with coffee and cake in the bar. You will be in excellent, happy company. You may even return as I did, sporting an "Ebensee Bear" t-shirt.

See your there in 2005?

- Dave Watterson     Aug 2004

For notes on the winning films click here. For notes on Moody Waters click here.
My thanks to all the photographers including Jan Watterson, Martin Bracke, Bernhard Hausberger, Markus Schwarz and Oliver Lukesch. Several images came with permission from the festival's own website which is well worth a visit: www.8ung.at/filmfestival

Page updated on 21 March 2008

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

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