Report on Imago’s 2013 Annual General Assembly

By Richard Andry, AFC

par Richard Andry La Lettre AFC n°229

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Imago’s Annual General Assembly (IAGA), 2013 edition, was hosted by our Belgian friends of the SBC on 15-16 February. It kept its promises and allowed us to travel from Brussels to Mons with the help of the Bureau d’Accueil de Tournage Cinéma (Movie Shooting Welcome Office) of the Province of Hainaut.

45 Directors of Photography were present at the 2013 IAGA to represent their member associations.
First round : Cinemark Brussels. After a brilliant welcome speech dedicated to the 7th Art and its preservation, given by Nicolas Mazzanti, the master of ceremonies and one of the best experts in the world on the archival of cinematographic and audio-visual works, we had the pleasure of attending the screening of a little jewel : 1001 Films (1989), a short film that was André Delvaux’ final work for the cinema. The film discusses the deterioration of nitrate films as a way to recompose images. Then followed a debate on the theme of “new technologies and creativity”, moderated by Anton Mertens SBC. The panellists were Christian Berger AAC, Sean Bobbit BSC, and Stephan Poulman of the Dutch Filmfoundation. The debate was on a very high level and could have lasted all day if we hadn’t had to leave to visit the Magritte Museum (I then had to attend a board meeting) and then go to Mons, where the IAGA took place the next day.

This IAGA had a very full schedule. After the usual speeches, we voted to accept the ASBH (Bosnia-Herzegovina) as the newest member of our federation. We appreciated the great enthusiasm of its representative, Sahin Sisic, in his introductory speech. Then followed the ritual presentations of the activities of the various committees and the conclusions of the commission in charge of studying the problems that integrating non-European countries into Imago’s governance processes might cause (phew !). Personally being in charge of that commission’s work, I proposed a compromise that had been devised by a lawyer : every associate member (non-European) can become an active member (with voting rights) if that member agrees to pay membership dues at the same rate as European associations. Imago will remain a European federation, the President will always have to be European, and the board of directors will remain at least 2/3 European in its membership. That seemed to please everyone. A draft revision of the association’s statutes will be voted on and must be approved by 2/3 of the active (European) membership in order to be adopted.

The other important subject was the renovation of Imago’s website. Many people felt that it wasn’t worthy of what was to be expected from an “international federation”. Eric Guichard, representing the AFC, presented (in English) a complete, precise, and documented study that was prepared conjointly with Oniris Productions (Alexandre Catonné) and that proposed solutions to this problem. It is true that (without wanting to unfurl an undue amount of Gallic pride) our website is generally held to be one of the best in the field. Eric’s presentation was cut short by the visit of Prime Minister Elio di Rupo, who had, with no fuss, come to wish us a warm welcome. After this official intermission, Marc Galerne, one of the sponsors of this IAGA, spoke to say that Imago’s website did nothing to help promote the K 5600 or make it more visible. We weren’t able to finish our discussions, but we made progress on subjects that have been really bothering us all for a while.

The quality of the event’s organization and the welcome given us by our Belgian friends was close to perfection. I won’t be able to name them all, but I would like to thank Willy Stassen, President of the SBC, Louis-Philippe Capelle, general secretary of Imago for tirelessly and selflessly preparing and organizing this IAGA. Thanks to Kommer, Anton, Kaat de Jonghe, who moderated the IAGA’s debates with charm and talent and was a worthy successor to the little lab we love so much and that I recommend to all those who don’t yet know it. And I nearly forgot…Jacques Delacoux of Transvideo, who is, as always, faithful and ready for duty.