Annual Report (1997-1998) by the President of UNICA

Dear film and video friends,

The success of UNICA 97 in Warsaw has been the object of laudatory comment in the magazine of several federations and I take advantage of this opportunity to express again the gratitude of UNICA to the Warsaw organisers for the high quality of the event they had been in charge of. The UNICA 97 Congress has been a real success and a memorable event for all participants.

However, this cause of joy was soon to be overshadowed by a sad piece of news. On Nov. 24, 1997 we were informed that the president of UNICA for many years, and honorary president of UNICA

Josef WALTERSCHEIDT

had passed away. It was a shock for all of us, though we knew that he had had to reduce the pace of his activities in the past few years due to the aggression of a relentless disease. But we could not imagine that things would develop so quickly. The funeral took place in Cologne, Germany ; it was attended by a numerous crowd, including some representatives of UNICA. Dear Jupp, we will never forget you !!

The Committee examined at great length the numerous issues that are raised so very often : jury procedure, the participation of young film-makers, the membership fees in arrears, the entry of new member federations... Concerning the former question, a memorandum with instructions has been drafted with a reminder of the main technicalities and points that have to be observed by the jury for the evaluation of films. This should greatly reduce the amount of discussion that we have had in the past about this issue. There was also much uncertainty about the duties to be shared between the national federation, the organiser of the Congress and UNICA itself concerning the younger film-makers invited to attend the Congress. After a thorough discussion of the question, the Committee can now table a proposal and submit it to the General Meeting for approval. It should now be possible to determine exactly what the obligations of the national federation, the organiser and UNICA itself are so that the young film makers will know exactly where the limit of the service offered exactly lies.

It has appeared in an increasing number of cases that the bodies in some countries of Eastern Europe do not exist any more or are no longer in a position to act as representative of the corresponding countries. This is the reason why the Committee has explored new ways and there are good reasons to think that we can revive the relationships with some of these countries. I hope that tangible results can be announced on the occasion of the 1998 General Meeting.

We are very pleased to see that we can always find some enthusiastic applicants for the organisation of the Annual Congress and Competition. UNICA 2000 will take place in the Netherlands and the 98 Congress will have to decide who is the organiser for the 2001 event. We also have candidates for 2002, as we will announce on the occasion of the 1998 General Meeting.

The new UNICA Committee has been voted in last year. I can assure you that there is excellent co-operation among the members of this new Committee and, yet again, I would like to thank my colleagues heartily for their sense of commitment for UNICA. Long live UNICA !