Background | Aims & Tasks | Organisation | INTERFILM-International |

Church Film Activities: Protestant | Church Film Activities: Roman Catholic

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Background

INTERFILM is an international network which brings together interested individuals and institutions concerned with film and theology, church and cinema. INTERFILM was founded at the initiative of representatives of German, French, Dutch and Swiss Protestant film work in 1955. It is affiliated to the World Council of Churches (WCC), Geneva. Today, it includes Anglican, Orthodox and Jewish experts as well as other Protestant Church denominations.

The first Interfilm Jury assembled at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in 1963, where it awarded the Otto Dibelius Film Award of the Protestant Church Berlin-Brandenburg, to a film in International Competition. A further prize was given to a film from the Programme of the International Forum for New Cinema. In 1963, an Interfilm Jury was also present at the IFF Mannheim; in 1964 at the International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, and in 1969 at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cooperation with the German Catholic Film Department and the International Catholic Film Organisation (at the time OCIC, since 2002 SIGNIS) developed and Interfilm’s festival presence now consists mainly of juries drawn from both organisations. Interfilm Juries are still present at the Film Festival Max Ophüls Award, Saarbrücken (since 1985) and at the Nordic Film Festival, Lübeck (since 1996). Within the framework of the Interfilm Academy it is also present at the Film Festival in Munich with the One Future Award.

Ecumenical juries have been in attendance in Locarno (since 1973), Cannes (1974), Montreal (1979), Moscow (1989, with interruptions), Leipzig (1990), Berlin (1992), St. Petersburg (1994, with interruptions), Karlovy Vary (1994), Mannheim-Heidelberg (1995), Cottbus (1999), Kiev (1999, with interruptions), Oberhausen (2000), Zlin (2000), Fribourg (2001), Bratislava (2001), and Yerevan (2007).

Aims & Tasks

INTERFILM cooperates with institutions and individuals working in the church and in film; promotes experiences derived from film through personal exchange, discussion (seminars and research projects) and publishing; supports the exchange of information and documentation on film and audiovisual media; and is committed to be present at international film festivals, awarding prizes to films, and making the exchange and renting of selected films and audiovisual media easier.

One of INTERFILM’s main tasks is to be present at international film festivals with its own jury. For their awards the juries select films that stand out due to their artistic quality; that reveal human attitudes or expressions of the Gospel or prompt discussion; and which sensitize viewers to spiritual and social questions and values.

Jury members and those institutions that delegate them publicize the selected films in their own countries and support their evaluation. They are committed to a better understanding of contemporary film and to the questions, values and visions arising from it. Thus, they focus on the role of the church in a secularized society and promote intensive dialogue between church and public, theology and culture, film criticism and filmmakers from all over the world.

Organisation

Interfilm consists of institutions and individual members who pay an annual membership fee or make special payments.
A general meeting every three years gives an opportunity for all members to elect a Steering Committee and a President.
Interfilm cooperates with the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), Toronto, and the World Catholic Association for Communication (SIGNIS), Brussels.

INTERFILM-International

Steering Committee and Presidency*

*Hans Hodel, Bern (President)
*Werner Schneider-Quindeau, Frankfurt a/M, Germany
*Denyse Muller, Arles, France
*Karsten Visarius, Frankfurt a/M, Germany

*Philip Lee, Toronto, Canada

Dietmar Adler, Bad Muender, Germany
Alina Birzache, Romania
Robin E. Gurney, London, United Kingdom
Julia Helmke, Hannover, Germany
Mikael Larsson, Uppsala, Sweden
Jolyon Mitchell, Ediongburgh, United Kingdom
Jes Nysten, Roskilde, Denmark
Angelika Obert, Berlin, Germany
Christine Stark, Zurich, Switzerland
Gianna Urizio, Rome, Italy
Anita Uzulniece, Riga, Latvia

Office:
Karsten Visarius
GEP, Filmcultural Centre
PB 500550
D-60394 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49-69-58098-0, Fax: -274
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President/Jury Co-ordination:
Hans Hodel
Rabbentaltreppe 8
CH-3013 Bern
+41-31-3328488
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