The partecipants of the 16th FilmAT Festival awarded!
On December 17, 2021, the award ceremony of the 16th FilmAT Festival took place in the hospitable Sports and Tourism Museum in Warsaw.
Alexander V. Kammel – president of International Tourfilm Academy and Ivana Bilkova – president of the Jury of the 16th FilmAT Festival present the “TOURIST 2021” statuette to Aleksandra Czechowicz-Wożniak – deputy director of the Sports and Tourism Museum
As every year, the Board of the FilmAT Festival together with the Board of International Tourfilm Academy awarded the non-film tourist statuette for promoting Poland in the World. In the Olympic year, the TOURIST 2021 statuette went to the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw – Olympic Center. We wholeheartedly congratulate the Museum, which with such dignity, accuracy and great respect cares about Olympic traditions of our great athletes.
The main partners of the ceremony were: the Self-Government of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals CIFFT and the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw. The ceremony was hosted by: Aleksandra Czechowicz-Woźniak – deputy director of the Museum, Alexander V. Kammel – director of CIFFT and Ewa Kotus – Director of the FilmAT Festival.
Alexander V. Kammel honorary member of the international jury of the 16th FilmAT Festival presents the Grand Prix award for Her Excellency Mrs. Nomvula Mngomezulu – Ambassador of South Africa
The guests of honor at the ceremony were: Her Excellency Mrs. Nomvula Mngomezulu – Ambassador of South Africa, Her Excellency Mrs. Margarita Ganeva – Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Georgios Georgiou – First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nikolay Kostov – Consul of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mrs. Rasa Rimickaite – Cultural Attache of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania and Kalina Stancheva – Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, who received awards on behalf of the great winners from their countries.
Among the guests of the ceremony were also: Ivana Bilkova – chairman of the national jury and the winners of the 16th edition of the FilmAT Festival – International Festival of Tourist and Corporate Films. Everyone was delighted with the place where the awards were presented. It is impossible to imagine a better background for the awarding ceremony like a wall with Olympic medals of famous sports masters …
Alexander V. Kammel – Director of Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards presents the statuette to Aleksandra Czechowicz-Woźniak – deputy director of Museum of Sports and Tourism.
Last year, the World Tourist Film Center was established at the Muzeum of Sports and Tourism. The famous dolphin statuette of the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards Festival will join this international exhibition.
A joint photo of the participants of the ceremony
After the award ceremony, all guests were invited to visit the Museum. I was delighted to see the interest on the faces of our guests fascinated by the power of this exhibition. We all follow the victories of our athletes during the Olympics, but here in the Museum we can see the history of these victories up close – touch the sports equipment, feel the effort of many years of exercise …
We get to know the exhibition of the Museum
The ceremony ended with a symbolic glass of champagne and a piece of a beautiful and delicious cake prepared by the famous “Olczak i Syn” pastry shop. This cake in the form of an award – its decoration was the diploma accompanying the TOURIST 2021 statuette – was the real star of the ceremony, because there was really no person who did not take a commemorative photo.
Cake for the Sports and Tourism Museum from the Olczak i Syn Confectionery
However, this ceremony would not have been possible without hard work of two jury committees, chaired by Zbigniew Żmudzki – president of the international jury and Ivana Bilkova – president of the national jury. Both committies awarded a total of three Grand Prix statuettes and fifty awards from one hundred and fifty films admitted to the finals. What was the level of the movies?
Very interesting films came from the farthest corners of the World: from Africa, Australia, Japan. Representatives of such strong European tourist destinations as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Croatia also competed for the highest prizes. Austria and the important for the world culturally centre which is Vienna, has always a reliable place among the participants. We are also happy that Polish films are of an increasingly high standard, not only from large cities and institutions, but also those promoting local tourism. The difficult pandemic time inspired participants of small cultural institutions to create films that are unique in terms of cultural and historical values.
But let’s show the films that received the highest awards in the judges’ opinion:
The Grand Prix Tourism and the Big Tourist statuette in the international competition go to South Africa for the film “Chasing Lines” by WESGRO RTB.
The Grand Prix Tourism and the big tourist statuette in the Polish national competition is awarded to the film “Northen Kashubia – everyone will fall in love with something here” produced by LOT Kaszuby Północne
The Tourist Statuette and the Grand Prix Documentary in the international competition is an award for a difficult documentary by TVN Discovery – “Neurosurgery”
All awards are important because the films are judged by professionals, often giving the final rating after a long discussion. That is why I encourage you to watch all the awarded films on the Festival website www.filmat-festival.com
For the organizers of the Festival and for the jurors, the event of the year was the film “Western Masuria in MIG” produced by the West-Masurian Tourist Organization, because it is the first film in Poland prepared for deaf people and with their participation. The film won three awards: the first prize in the national competition in the Category Promotion of the Region, the special prize of the national jury and the award of Ivana Bilkova – the president of the national jury.
Which movies will remain in our memory? Certainly those related to the pandemic, because it is a strong topic concerning the whole world. All of them were noticed and appreciated, although each showed the problem in a different way. TVN’s film “Covid-19: World in Danger” presents the world at the beginning of a pandemic: surprise, chaos, human tragedies and a huge challenge for the world of medicine … The film won the award in the category “Ethnography and Social Affairs” / Documents . The film by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa entitled “Budryk – Mine, which I will not give back” won the award in the “Current Affairs” / Corporate Movies category, because it presents the problem of COVID in Mining in an extremely natural way, showing the same time the charming attitude of a miner who loves his work … A documentary for German Television by Andreas Ewels entitled “Slow Travel vs. Fast Tourism – Tourism after Corona” considers the difficult situation in tourism, leaving us hope for normal times without a pandemic. The film was awarded by Zbigniew Żmudzki – chairman of the international jury. The Festival Board appreciated the film “We act best when we act together” of the Marshal’s Office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, which shows how our awareness has increased during a pandemic, how important are often everyday matters and should not be postponed until later …
But a special memory of the 16th FilmAT Festival will be left by the Vienna Film Commission film “Vienna sleeping beauty”, presenting the undeniable charm of Vienna at night, which received the first prize in the “Tourist Product” / Tourist Communication category. I watched the jurors during the deliberations. Everyone was looking at the beautiful, empty Vienna, remaining in concentration and silence for a long time after the film … May this silence of the night never be associated with a pandemic.