Antibes Festival 1989

by Brian Pitkin

Reproduced from in focus 30. Dec. 88 / Jan. 89

Snug on the Cote d'Azur, a stone's throw from Nice, lies the delightful town of Antibes. For the last 15 years, under the guidance of Daniel Mercier, the town has staged a remarkable international underwater festival. Held in the Palais du Congres, the 16th festival held in November ran practically nonstop for five days, attracting upwards of 7,000 divers, underwater photographers and members of the public. In fact more than 20,000 went through the doors, but many returned two or three times.

Two theatres and a studio showed films, videos, audiovisuals and slides throughout each day. Every black & white and colour print entered in competition was displayed. Children's paintings adorned the staircases up to the fourth floor and a modest diving trade show.

This year, wrecks were the theme of the festival. Numerous films by Christian Petron were shown in addition to a selection of films by the late Jack McKenney, presented by his son John, and many other films and videos on a variety of subjects submitted in competition.

There was also a special guest appearance of Angela Bandini, a young Italian lady you may not have heard of yet, but you will. Taught by Jacques Mayol, Angela went on to surpass the breath holding dive of her mentor, breaking the World Record with an amazing dive to 112 metres and filmed magnificently. She was greeted like a film star - crowds pushing and shoving at the doors to get in, children queuing for autographs, the press shooting roll upon roll of film.

The climax of the festival was the Saturday night awards ceremony. All the judges and award winners were invited to take a seat on stage, judges to the left and winners to the right. There seemed as many judges as winners! As each award was announced, so the recipient came forward to receive it. After what seemed only half an hour, all those seated were clutching awards and smiling broadly. These included Britain's MIKE VALENTINE, who won the Palme d'Argent for his film 'Sea of Dreams'. MIKE PITTS, who wasn't present, received Britain's only other award, the Prix Dimitri Rubikoff, for his film 'Edge of Uncertainty'.

The bulk of the underwater awards, which ranged from best music production to best book and best sculpture went to the French, but it was nice to see JOHN MCKENNEY, following in his father's footsteps, and winning a prize for his 16mm film 'Sand Tigers'. Also notable amongst the foreign winners were TONY MALMQUIST, a dive guide from Aquasport in Eilat, Israel who won a total of seven awards and FF8,000 for his audiovisual, 'La. Princesse de la Premiere Aube', and his black & white prints and colour slides. Second place in the slides category went to HELMUT TRITSCHLER (Germany) and third place to ANDY BELCHER (New Zealand). In 1990 the festival starts around 31st October/lst November and has as its theme 'marine mammals'

If you want to combine the charm of the Cote d'azur and a totally unique event then head for Antibes, I'll probably see you there.

Reproduced from in focus 30. Dec. 88 / Jan. 89