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Greek
Underwater festival 1987
by
Basil Tselentis
Reproduced
from in focus 22
(June 1987)
After
three most welcome entries in IN FOCUS concerning the 4th
International Festival of Underwater Film and Photography,
the Underwater Research Society U.R.S.O. has decided to strike
again - two issues of IN FOCUS with no information on the
festival, I hear, has created a few noises .....
Well,
the 4th festival did take place on the dates announced 20th
- 22nd March, causing some surprise, certainly to some of
us with many contributions from all over the world: USA, GB,
France, Czechoslovakia, New Caledonia, Hong Kong, Austria,
USSR, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Poland, Holland
and Greece. Over 400 slides and more than 110 prints were
entered in the respective competitions. Fifty16mm films (approximately
30 hours viewing), 26 videos, and 5 audio visuals were shown.
There was also a competition of childrens' paintings based
on the theme of sea (70 entries), The Jury definitely had
a hard time deciding upon the winners.
The
lst prize in the slide competition was awarded to Linda Pitkin
(UK) for her slide *Salps". Arnold Rodiger (FRG) got
lst prize for the complete series of his slides; 2nd prize
went to Sergio Montanari of Italy and 3rd to Karl Thurner
(Austria).
In the colour prints category, Valter Righetti (1) was awarded
first prize for the complete series of his prints. Two photographers
were awarded 2nd prize for individual photos: G. Bar (FRG)
and K. Thurner (Austria).
In
the l6mm film category Ist prize went to the film "Le
Museé sous la Mer" by Alain Trellu (25 min) from
France, 2nd prize to *Big Bonnie" (24 min) from the UK,
and 3rd to the film "Expelled from Eden" (12 min)
by Frantisek Soukup from Czechoslovakia.
Ist
prize in the Audio-Visual Section war, awarded to Laurent
Leguere (France) for two really suberb presentations using
4 slide projectors....
One
of the main aims of U.R.S.O. is marine conservation and since
our festival was held in the European Year of the Environment,
special golden prizes were awarded to the best film on the
marine environment - David Attenborough's "The Open Ocean"
from the BBC series "The Living Planet" and an A/V
presentation on marine conservation and pollution by B. Tselentis
in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund. A special golden
award was presented to Mr Margaritoulis for his work on the
protection of the Sea Turtle on the island of Zakynthos.
Special
golden prizes were awarded to the best film on Nautical History
- "Vasa" from Sweden; to the best film an Submarine
Archaeology -"Autopsi d'une Epave" by Andre Chernia
(France); to the best film an submarine phototechnology -
Nikon company.
The
festival included many speeches, the most interesting and
informative being that of Prof. Piergiogio Data, Head of the
Physiology and Hyperbaric Medicine Department of Chieti University
and Director of the Italian Committee for Underwater Study
and Research (CIRSS) on "New Trends in Hyperbaric Medicine,"
The
Honorary Committee of the Festival included amongst others:
Fergus O'Gorman (Honorary vice-president of the Festival)
(Ireland); Mary and Thomas Smith from the Editorial Board
of the National Geographic Society (USA); Honor Frost, vice-president
of the Society for Nautical Research (UK); Danier Mercier,
Director of the Underwater Festival Antibes-Juan-les-Pins.
The
epilogue, one can imagine very tired but happy faces, many
photos and slides to be returned, many prizes to be sent off
and a lot of running around trying to persuade the equipment-hiring
firm that we don't really have all that money - it is recession
time isn't it.
We
were pleased with the results, and we plan to improve our
work in the future by even closer collaboration with our friends,
ultimately creating environmentally conscious divers which
is tantamount to good underwater photographers. See you soon. |
