UNESCO Fellini Medal for the first time to be awarded in India at IFFI 2015

UNESCO Fellini Medal will be awarded for the first time in India at IFFI 2015.

IFFI has become a global brand in the world of Cinema and is leading platform of art, culture, and creativity, offering a confluence of film screening, Art of film making, knowledge sharing, master classes, seminars, panel discussions, special sections, and numerous awards.

When Italian film director Federico Fellini died in 1993, UNESCO’s Member States had just adopted a General Conference resolution calling for the safeguarding of the cinematographic heritage.

An appeal was launched to the international community inviting governments, industry and the public to participate in a campaign to keep the seventh art alive.

The Fellini medal, first unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1995, therefore had a double significance: to honour the director’s tremendous contribution to film as an art form and to commemorate the centenary of the birth of cinema (1895-1995).

The medal’s design of fragmented; interlocking images is the work of Italian painter Valerio Adami.

The obverse side features a profile of Fellini with his signature hat, facing the inscription 8 1/2, the title of one of the most famous films in the history of cinema. The reverse is inscribed Fellini (1920-1993) UNESCO. French sculptor Robert Michel created the model and the Paris Mint struck the medal.

Twelve films have been shortlisted from the official selection of IFFI following the recommendations of the Film Preview Committee constituted by the Directorate of the Film Festival.

1. Among the Believers (Director- Hemal Trivedi, Mohammad Ali Naqvi)

2. Katyar Kaljat Ghusali (Director- Subodh Bhave)

3. Mina Walking (Director- Yosef Baraki)

4. Embrace of the Serpent/ El abrazo de la serpiente (Director- Ciro Guerra)

5. The Last Reel (Director- Sotho Kulikar)

6. The Pearl Button/ El boton de nacar  (Director- Patricio Guzman)

7. Land and Shade/La Tierra Y La Sombra (Director- Cesar Augusto Acevedo)

8. Enclave (Director- Goran Radovanovic)

9. Wawa no Cidal (Director- Taiyang de haizi )

10. Cinemawala (Director- Kaushik Ganguly )

11. Ain (Director-Sidhartha Siva)

12. Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal - (Director- Dr Biju )

Broad guidelines for the selection of the films are:

·         The film shall exhibit artistic excellence in screenplay, music, and filming technique.

·         The film shall promote the common good, which is defined as a society in which persons and communities care for one another’s well being.

·         The film shall exhibit sensitivity to the human situation, promoting the dignity of all.

·         The film shall cultivate a realistic hope of creative transformation.

·         The film shall reflect the ideals of peace, love, tolerance, harmony and friendship.

The Jury:

1.      Ambassador Inoussa Ousseini, President of ICFT, Film Director, Niger

2.      Jean Roy, Former President of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), France

3.      Jean-Michel Arnold, President of the Conseil Audiovisuel Mondial pour les Etudes et les Réalisations sur l’Art (CAMERA), Secretary General of la Cinémathèque française, France

4.      Costa Gavras, President of la Cinémathèque française, Greece/France

5.      Raoul Peck, Film Director, President of École nationale supérieure des métiers de l'image et du son (FEMIS), Haïti

6.      Serge Michel, Vice-President of ICFT, Representative of ICFT in Union Internationale du Cinéma  (UNICA), France

7.      Lola Poggi Goujon, Secretary General of ICFT, Italy

8.      Georges Dupont, Director General of ICFT, Luxembourg

9.      Xueyuan HUN, Consultant to ICFT, China