FIAT/IFTA P&PC meet in Santiago de Chile

The he 13th meeting of the FIAT/IFTA Programming & Production Commission (P&PC) in Santiago on May 25-26 was historical, in more than one way: It was the first time a commission meeting (outside the annual FIAT/IFTA conferences) was held outside Europe, it was the first time in Latin America and it was the first time in connection with a regional seminar. Since our organisation has emphasised the importance of building up and strengthening the regional networks between our members, it was natural to use the commission meeting as "jump-station" for such a meeting. Active members could be used as speakers/lecturers on such an occasion when already at hand while at the same time they get important new input for the work of the P&PC from colleagues who do not always have the possibility to travel. There is also the matter of the language barrier - apart from such things as travel costs - the main reason why FIAT/IFTA works along these lines.

Karl Maier, dept chair P&PPC and Award director

Selections document in Spanish
One important output of this work was the presentation of the "Selections for Preservation" document that we could present in a Spanish version.

The P&PC meeting - the Awards
The main task for the P&PC this time was (as always at the spring meeting) to shortlist three programmes for the FIAT/IFTA Archive Award to be presented to the annual conference for voting for the best TV-archive production of the year. The P&PC here acts as a pre-jury. And not to forget the choice for the second time of the winner of the special Innovation Award. These are today two very prestigious tvprogramme awards, with ever increasing importance in the media world.

A world-wide collection of nominations, representing roughly 40 hours of exellent programming where the the contribution of achive material played a decisive part, was the very hard task for the Commmission. The three programmes shortlisted for the screening and voting in Florence in September and the P&PC citations are:

The FIAT/IFTA Award shortlistings
"Letters from Lebanon", IBA, Israel. "The film documents the 1982 Israeli invasion of the Lebanon. Part of the untold story of war, this is a unique blend of personal letters, stills and archive footage of many ordinary soldiers. Even though there was an abundance of unique footage available from the Israeli Archive, the Commission was impressed with the intelligent and sensitive matching of footage to the content of letters."

"Ex! Events that moved the nation." SDR, Germany. "Ex!" is an infotainment magazine programme based on archive material. "Ex!" focuses on the unexpected and unusual perspectives on well known stories of the recent past. The result is an anarchic synthesis of archive clips and todayÐs filmmaking technologies. With this selection the Commission wants to welcome this unconventional use of archive footage."

"Survivors of the Shipwrecked - Patria and their story", Czech TV, Czech Republic. "Based on the diary of one of the participants, this is a fascinating reconstruction of a long dramatic boat journey taken by Jewish refugees from Central Europe to Palestine in 1940 - and the drama of their arrival. Despite the limited amount of available footage we were impressed with its effective way of conjuring up this compelling story."

The Innovation Award
The winner of the Innovation Award was: "History file: Civil rights in the USA", BBC Scotland and the Commission wrote in its citation: "A young presenter, eager to discover his past, finds himself in a virtual museum of the future. When he calls up images of past events through archive footage, he interrogates heroes such as Martin Luther King, and the other protesters of the 50s and 60s to discover what life was like. He looks at archive footage, a specially shot interview with Rosa Parks, and stills and archive showing the activities of the KuKluxKlan and other race activists. This programme bridges the gap between the technology of youth culture and the conventional television presentation of archive footage. Teachers report that young children find great difficulty in watching and understanding archive footage. This programme endows the archive footage with immense significance for the study of history and allows children to see how archive reveals the past to us. It makes archive fun and relevant to us. The Commission was impressed with the distinctive choice of pertinent footage from what must have been a vast selection of available archive material."

A check for 10000 DM and one for 7500 DM! The presentation of both Awards will take place on the 30th of September 1998 at the "Villa Corsini" outside Florence, where the FIAT/IFTA Conference will hold its closing dinner. And the winners of the respective Archive and Innovation Awards will have the pleasure of picking up their prize checks.

Lasse Nilsson
Chair P&PC
lasse.nilsson@svt.se

Start of Seminar in Santiago de Chile