AV News 183 - February 2011
Hospitality, coffee and meals were
provided in the theatre's foyer, a
very elegant, sociable area. Very
sociable indeed, my apprehension
about a 'foreign' event and
difficulties with the language
evaporated in moments as we
were greeted, met some old friends
and were introduced to so many
others, some the cream of
European AV workers and all
lovely people.
The afternoon and evening saw the projection of the 24 selected sequences
which were competing for FIAP and CvB medals. To judge the event were three
international judges, Colin Balls (UK), Jean-Paul Petit (France) and Johan
Werbrouck (Belgium). All sequences were shown with 'original' soundtracks
which demonstrated that our understanding of French, Flemish, Dutch, Polish
and Italian were distinctly lacking.
Fortunately there was an excellent catalogue with an English translation, but
even more useful were some wonderful 'intermission' videos with an explanation
of the next sequence in Flemish and English. That was a feature that I think we
could look at for our international competitions, something to prepare the
audience for the next sequence while the judges are making their notes.
As previous award winners from around Europe and South Africa, all the
sequences were stunning, showing a huge range of styles of AV. I intended to
take lots of notes, but in the end I became totally engrossed in each sequence
as it was shown. So I came away with an overall impression rather than the
details; an impression of taking the medium to the next level, an impression of
bold statements, of innovation and of quality in images and soundtracks.
On Sunday morning, Eric and
Monique Kellens offered to take the
'foreigners' on a tour of the locality,
including
a
German
WW1
cemetery, local villages and
finishing with a visit to a local
marble sculptor who was so
welcoming and interesting abou