The international church film organisation INTERFILM celebrates its 50th anniversary with an ecumenical matinee at the film festival in Locarno (3rd – 13th August) on the 6th August this year. The programme starts with a lecture of the German theologian Julia Helmke about the history of INTERFILM that she studied on for her dissertation that will be published this year. After that, representatives of the church film work presented by INTERFILM president Hans Hodel will discuss the relevance of a “Christian view” on film. Among the participants are three members of this year’s Ecumenical Jury: Peter Malone, president of the Catholic World Organisation for Communication SIGNIS, the American Theologian Rose Pacatte and Karsten Visarius, INTERFILM’s executive director and director of the Film-Cultural Centre within the GEP, further Christine Stark, film representative of the Reformed Media Zurich, Charles Martig, film representative and manager of the Catholic Media Work Zurich and finally, INTERFILM’s honorary president Hans Werner Dannowski.

After the panel discussion, Karsten Visarius, this year’s president of the Ecumenical Jury, will award the German director Wim Wenders with a special prize in the name of INTERFILM. Thus, the church film organisation does not only honour him for his excellent cinematic work, but also for his profession of the Christian faith. (For the awarding and the eulogy see the “Forum” section of the webiste.)

A personal meeting with Wim Wenders - who will be awarded with the Honorary Leopard by the film festival before the screening of his new film “Don’t Come Knocking” that evening on the Piazza Grande - will be possible afterwards for an amicable drink in the hall of the Ramada-Hotel Palma au Lac. The special guests for the following dinner with about 120 participants will be - apart from representatives of the church media work of Switzerland and the local churches – the representative of the Federation of the Protestant Churches in Switzerland (FEPS) Mrs Helen Gucker-Vontobel, the representative of the Evangelical Church in Germany  (EKD) and newly appointed director of communications OKR Udo Hahn, the representative of the Conference of European Churches Luca Negro, and Karin Achtelstetter for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) – the two last mentioned are also representatives of the World Association for Christian Communication Europe (ERA – WACC).

On the occasion of the jubilee, INTERFILM member Dieter Olaf Schmalstieg from Bellinzona will hold the ecumenical sermon that has been held for many years within the framework of the film festival on the first festival Sunday in the “Chiesa Nuova”.

See also: http://www.kirchen.ch/filmjury