During the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, the International Church Film Organisation INTERFILM held its 40th General Assembly on 10 February 2007 at the EKD Representative’s Office on Gendarmenmarkt. Following the adoption of his three-year report, Hans Hodel was re-elected as President, and the other existing members of the Executive Committee were also re-elected. There was a longer, stimulating discussion on the criteria for shaping INTERFILM’s future work.
Following the revision of the statutes in 2004, the International Church Film Organisation INTERFILM holds a General Assembly every three years, to which all members are invited to discuss the association’s principles, objectives, programme and its funding. At this year’s 40th General Assembly, 22 members from 9 countries (ranging from Canada to France, Germany and Denmark, and as far as Romania and Bulgaria) introduced themselves at the start of the proceedings and expressed their interest in INTERFILM. Among them were Honorary President Hans Werner Dannowski and Honorary Members Aleksandr Askoldov and Ron Holloway.
Following the approval of the minutes of the 39th General Assembly held on 30 April 2004 in Oberhausen, Hans Hodel presented his three-year report for 2004–2006, which is also available (in a slightly abridged form) in English. Following his introductory remarks, he welcomed the more than twenty new members who had joined during the reporting period, recalled the numerous activities organised in 2005 to mark INTERFILM’s 50th anniversary, paid tribute to the jury participation by many particularly dedicated members at a total of 17 film festivals and to the significance of the European John Templeton Film Prize, and mentioned several notable conferences and seminars, such as the one held at the Orthodox Academy in Crete in autumn 2004. Finally, he emphasised the importance of the exchange of information, which is ensured by the secretariat based at the GEP’s film culture centre and run with great dedication by Karsten Visarius; in doing so, he also highlighted the limitations of voluntary work for the INTERFILM network and its limited financial resources. A discussion paper on the future work of INTERFILM, drafted by Vice-President Werner Schneider-Quindeau under the heading ‘Focus and Deepening’, sparked a lively discussion following the report; the outcomes of this discussion were recorded in the minutes and discussed by the new Executive Committee. Hans Hodel (Switzerland) was re-elected as President for a further three-year term. For the Executive Committee, in addition to the re-election of the existing members, Film Commissioner Rev. Angelia Obert (Berlin) was elected at her own suggestion to replace Dietmar Adler.
At the meeting held two days later, the new Steering Committee was constituted in accordance with the statutes. The existing members of the Presidium were confirmed: Werner Schneider-Quindeau (Frankfurt am Main), Denyse Muller (Arles) and Andrew Johnston (Ottawa) as Vice-Presidents, and Karsten Visarius as Executive Director. Dietmar Adler was appointed as a co-opted member, alongside Daniela Frumusani (Romania). The Steering Committee approved the 2006 annual accounts, confirmed the existing membership fees for 2007 and, as part of its review of the discussions at the General Assembly, discussed, amongst other things, the composition of this year’s festival juries and the programmes for planned seminars in Wiesbaden, Edinburgh and Venice.