UNICA Festivals: 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Introduction | UK Success | People  | Organisation | Outings | Prizes

At the formal opening ceremony we watched a movie about Luxembourg where modern scenes were linked to old movie footage accompanied by live brass ensemble.  During the festival we saw 124 films in the main competition, 30 in the one-minute cup, a handful of national introduction movies, a fast-paced opening for each festival session featuring Luxembourg and the festival preparations, a promotion for UNICA 2003 in Warsaw and rushes from the UNICA Chronicle movie which recorded the special events of the festival. More movies were available in the sales area where the German federation offered Video-CDs and DVDs of outstanding movies from their library.

The Jury

For the main festival the jury watched with us and after every second session they took the stage to talk about the movies and hear comments from the floor. The jury members included enthusiasts from the amateur movement, professional movie makers and scholars.

The jury members are nominated by  those national federations whose turn it is to provide jury members. Gunnar Lindholm (Sweden), Zuzana Skoludova (Slovakia), Jacqueline Pante (Italy) and from the UNICA committee Rolf Mandolesi as discussion moderator.

Guido Haesen (Luxembourg - Jury Chairman), Anka Stoverock (Germany), Jacek Wojtas (Poland), Jeanne Glass (France). Everything is translated into English, French and German.

Since it can be frustrating to read about films you have not seen let me keep our comments brief.  The three gold medal films are superbly made movies in the traditional cinema manner.

Un Toc De Gris (A Touch of Grey or A Grey Area) is a contemporary drama - unusually for Jan Baca, who as is now usual submitted it under a pseudonym. It is a powerful tale of rape and marriage.

Boca di Rosa from film student Riccardo Marchesini is a character-rich study of a family who run a cinema.  It falls on hard times until a distributor re-programmes it with porn - of which the ladies are unaware. It brings an audience but causes such trouble that eventually they close and run old movies for their own delight. The jury also awarded this charming story the prestigious Prix Fellini.

Quadriga's film De Verdenking (The Suspicion)  is a powerful tale of characters in a tower block who come to suspect each other and whose mutual paranoia leads to the death of one of them.  The best actor award went to its young star Christian Waard.

Among the many other movies which caught my eye were:
Minouche a delightful French musical by Julien and Antoine Colomb.  Set to a bright musical track it is reminiscent of classic Hollywood song and dance films. Forget the story - and your worries - and enjoy the spectacle.*	Der Mensch Nach Mass (The Designed Human) is an animation where the character adjusts his own physique.  Austrian director Eric Polaczek sees it as a comment on cloning and genetic engineering.
* If you would like to see an extract from it pop over to the club's website.
Tunel by Poland's Krzysztof Bartuzin Warszawa  reveals the plight of drug addicts staying at Warsaw's central station. Its power lies in not demonising the people but showing the despair and degradation of their lives.	Courant d'air (Gust of Wind) by Rodrigue Eckert and Richard Catenazzi is a very funny Swiss story about a lad who has to get across town and through an exam ... without any clothes. It stays within the bounds of possibility - though sometimes poking fun at old nudist movies where a convenient shrub always hid the "naughty bits" from the camera.
Anomie is a short animation by Vjekoslav Zivkovic - a bright young man who attended the jeunesse programme.	And let's not forget the World Minute Movie Cup - a lighthearted romp where Britain made the finals for the first time in years with Colin Jones's It's Good For The Skin. The competition is judged by the audience as a knock-out cup and becomes a marathon for the technical team as successful movies return in each round.

The Prizes

Best National Programme: Germany

Gold Medals:

• Bocca Di Rosa (Riccardo Marchesini, Italy) *
• De Verdenking (Quadriga, Netherlands)
• Un Toc De Gris (Thelma & Louise, Spain)

Silver Medals:

• Anomija (Vjekoslav Zivkovic, Croatia)
• Camille Claudel, 'n Vrouw Apart (Harry Meter & Franka Stas, Netherlands)
• Chakmeha Dar Barf (Shamsoddin Arvand, Iran)
• Der Letzte Zug (Martin & Friedrich Kober, Austria)
• Mat Saheli Ar Gaachniat (Rusudan Chkonia, Georgia)
• Poljicka Cesta 25 (Goran Cace, Croatia) *
• Puss (Daniel Kong, Sweden)
• Sherlock (Bertrand Pereaux, France)
• Tunel (Krzysztof Bartuzin, Poland)
• Vier Brillen Blues (Per Lindgren, Sweden)
• Zede Nour (Vahid Nasirian, Iran)

Bronze Medals:

• Auszeit (Jean Zuhlsdorf, Germany)
• Combatant (Daniel Nolde & Steffen Hacker, Luxembourg)
• Cuento Negro (Cesar Bosch, Spain)
• Den (Jan Peml, Czechia) *
• Final Report (Alan Colegrave, Britain)
• Homo Sapiens (Elen Lotman, Estonia) *
• Horizontal Skip (Jorg Walther, Germany)
• Ivan y Eva (Felipe Francisquini, Argentine) *
• Minouche (Julien & Antoine Colomb, France)
• Panoptikon (Bartek Kulas, Poland)
• Plach (Leonid Pljaskin, Russia)
• Punapaine Paikseloojang (Dan Lead, Estonia)
• Quiet Home (Falco Jagau, Germany)
• Rospravka (Jaroslav Varga & Martin Hanschild, Slovakia)
• Russian Jet Set (Joakim Jarlsen & Linus Johansson, Sweden) *
• School ("Studio Krok" - group of children, Ukraine) *
• A Splash of Colour (Alan Atkinson, Britain)
• Stereotyped (Tim Fehlbaum, Switzerland)
• Die Stille Ist Mir Laut Genug (Michael Preis, Germany)
• Telakka (Tukka Hari, Finland) *
• Timeline (Potters Bar Cine & Video Society, Britain)

Fellini Prize: Bocca Di Rosa (Riccardo Marchesini, Italy)

Youth Prize : Anomija (Vjekoslav Zivkovic, Croatia)

Special Prizes:

• Direction - Chakmeha Dar Barf (Shamsoddin Arvand, Iran
• Idea - Sherlock (Bertrand Pereaux, France)
• Actor - De Verdenking (Quadriga, Netherlands)
• Actress - Un Toc De Gris (Thelma & Louise, Spain)
• Editing - Puss (Daniel Kong, Sweden)

World Minute Movie Cup:

1st Duell (Frederich & Martin Kober, Germany)
2nd No Problem (Rene Lang, Switzerland)
3rd= Reciclatge (Christian Pozo, Spain)
3ed= Een Brug Te Hoog! (Martin van der Burght, Netherlands)