FIAT/GLS Award : competition 2004
A film production from INA wins FIAT/IFTA Award 2004
The participants to the FIAT/IFTA Conference 2004 elected the winner of the this years' FIAT/GLS TV Archive Award on October 16th, 2004. The Award is endowed with 3.500 euros.
Three high class documents were presented on Saturday evening at the Goethe Institute, Paris, on the occasion of the final selection. With a big majority, the delegates voted in favor of the production from INA : „Chagall, to Russia, asses and others"
The producer, Sylvie Cazin, who was overjoyed, had the pleasure to receive the Award directly from the president of the FIAT/IFTA, Emmanuel Hoog, and from Matthias Stiehler, who is the managing director of the sponsoring company GLS Munique Germany. On the occasion of the Award ceremony, which took place on 18th October in the wonderful restaurant „Le Toupary" in Paris, the organizer of the Award, Karl Maier, pointed out the significance of the world-wide unique Award : „As well as the conference itself, attracting participants from 60 countries, the FIAT/IFTA Award is building bridges between cultures, religions, nations and continents".
Nominations
26 programmes have been nominated : Download the Nomination list
Shortlisting
On 14th and 15th May, 2004, the international pre-jury selected in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the three shortlisted programs for the FIAT/GLS-Award 2004.
The shortlisted programs were:
- Chagall to Russia, asses and others, INA, France
- Fifty years of Swiss television, SF DRS, Switzerland
- One hundred years of Jewish humor, IBA, Israel
The citations
Chagall to Russia, asses and others
Director : François Levy Kuentz
The film tells the story of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.His extraordinary long life enables us a look through the important events of the 20th century, where he has had an active role.
The film has captured both the hearts and the eyes of the jury, by the rich and diverse archive footage, bringing to life the radiant, vivid personality of Chagall.The film presents a large set of Chagall's interviews coming from around the world, including hitherto unpublished material from the artist's family.The innovative way of using Chagall's interviews, gives the feeling that the artist is omnipresent either through his comments or through his art.The interlacing of archive material on Chagall and news archive, underlines how much the life of Chagall is an integral part of the history of the century.
Fifty years of Swiss television : comes of age
Director : Daniel Hitzig
Fifty years of Swiss television is not only a historical review of the development and highlights of television in Switzerland; it is a valuable historical testimony. Especially strong is the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of television in the specialist area of political journalism. The tension between the attempts of political influence and independent journalism and the more or less acceptance of this by society is most interesting. This documentary is both honest and authentic.
It sounds better in Yiddish
Director : Avida Livny
A fascinating, informative and highly entertaining insight into the origins of Jewish humour. Deeply rooted in Yiddish culture, it documents the difficult transition of this cultural phenomenon into the new emerging Israeli culture of the 1950s.Our heroes are Dzigan and Schumacher, a comic duo who endured Nazi-occupied Poland, and incarceration in Siberia only to find their Yiddish language and culture unwelcome in their new home in Israel.
The programme is well paced and scripted, liberally laced with much of the Yiddish humour it depicts. Archive footage and material are used to excellent effect, demonstrating the influence of the comic duo on many international stars of comedy that they preceded, including Laurel & Hardy, Abbot & Costello and Woody Allen.The commission felt that the production values were consistently high, the archive was well integrated and the storyline was highly original.
