(ANS – Lyons) – About 80 people, mostly young people, coming from all over France and from abroad, took part in the concluding ceremony of the eighth Festiclip, an exhibition of videoclips. It took place at the Jean-Bosco Salesian Centre in Lyons on 1 June last. The festival consisted of an exhibition of various short films made by the young people in the course of the scholastic year, on topics of interest to young people today, such as videogames, sexism, alcohol, AIDS, etc.

The whole atmosphere was cheerful and there were some humorous exhibits. Nine short films were entered for the exhibition and there was also a tenth which was not part of the competition.

At the end of each showing, a young man called Sendu, designer of the Salesian magazine Don Bosco Aujourd’hui and a member of the jury, did a quick on-the-spot sketch typical of the film which was shown at the side of the stage. Later, all the participants were asked to give a mark for each of the videos except their own.

Before awarding the prizes, the jury passed a comment, from a pedagogical point of view, on each of the films, pointing out the positive aspects and also the elements that could be improved in the future.  Sr Marie-Agnès Chetcutti, President of the Festiclip, then said, on behalf of all the members: “The jury would like to congratulate all the participants for the courage you have shown in dealing with topics that touch your lives and making a film about them. We are impressed by the great work you and your companions have done, teamwork in search of beautiful images and beautiful sounds.”

The audience prize went to “Replay”, a video directed by the young people of Campus Pouillé. This film looks at the question of sexual discrimination, and was appreciated by the audience for its originality, and its surprising turn of events. The jury prize went to Vengeance ou pardon” (vengeance of pardon), directed by a group from the Laurenfance community. It dealt with various topics such as the sense of guilt and the consequences of our actions. It was much appreciated also for the quality of the script.

The young people from the Private Technical High School Le Puits de l’Aune, with their video “Mario and Luigi” (Mario and Luigi at High School) received two prizes, one for humour and one for creativity. Their short film told the story of the difficulties encountered in getting into High School.  It showed great originality and had a number of funny jokes.

This eighth festival finished with the Goodnight given by Peter Hoang, a Vietnamese Salesian, a missionary in Project Europe and member of the Atelier Multimédia.  He did some origami for the audience, showing how many elements are needed to produce something beautiful. He compared this to the Festiclip project where several teams of young people, each accompanied by an adult, have done their best to make these videos.

The winners of the audience and jury prizes can be seen on the website of the France-Belgium South Province. Next year’s Festiclip will take place on 24 May 2014.

Published 17/06/2013