"It never fails to amaze me as Festival Officer just how much incredible
talent exists in the non-professional world of film making - this year
especially.
"Subjects range from middle England to amazing close-up video photography
of animal life in the Pyrenees, from Antarctica (what an alive world that
is) to the capture of a very dangerous tropical plant, from the wild
life of Africa to motor car racing. Animation styles go from the stunning
mix of live-action-plus-computer-generated-imagery of films like
225 and Rebel to the superb work of the cell
animators. There are just so many, many more excellent films of all sorts,
that are the results of brimming ideas and very hard work often over a long
period of time.
"It is also amazing to see just where and how videographers set their lenses
from the metres of wide angle right through to the fractional millimeters
of macro - so close you can count the facets of a fly's eyes, (given the
time)!
" With 121 films entered from around the world - and so many of a very high
calibre - there is a great deal for the judges to get through and make
constructive and very fair decisions about. This takes hours of viewing and
writing. As usual our judges independent decisions are proving difficult
for them because of the quality and ideas so apparent in the many films entered.
"Selecting the major winners this year again will be a very close-run thing."
Professionals and Students
"The Students and of course the Professional film makers also score well
in their own classifications. This is the only Festival that accepts professional
short films and judges those using people from the professional world. The
Student entries, we employ judges in the same age group.
"It is this quality of film making and our judges constructive decisions
that have made and continue to make The Cotswold International Film and Video
Festival the prestigious event that it is."
Lee Prescott, comments :