Concept

SIMFEST is a TV festival – competition, the only one of this kind in Romania and one of the few in Europe. It is organised every year, at the end of August, by “SIMFEST Cultural Association”, which supports and promotes the creators in visual arts. SIMFEST stands for professionalism and for the freedom of expression of the journalists and the media producers. The festival promotes, at the same time, local journalism and community mass-media.
It is a complex manifestation for electronic mass-media. It is the annual meeting point of the TV’s world specialists from Romania and from Europe, of students, independent producers, and of media enthusiasts; it is a competition that it’s designed to find and form values and talents, to give them the needed validation and for connecting them with the medium in which they can develop. It is a competition and, at the same time, a media school and a cultural event.

The Competition is opened to all the media creators, reporters, cameramen and media producers from Romania but also from other countries, but is also opened to freelancers, to students and territorial correspondents of central televisions, production houses, as well as to all multimedia creators. It has eight sections. Exceptionally, the 2018 edition has a unique section, entitled “CENTENARY”

• NEWS (unique section among the television festivals from Europe)
• JOURNALISM (REPORTAGE/ DOCUMENTARY/ INQUIRY/ ESSAY / TALK-SHOW etc.)
• ENTERTAINMENT
• VIDEO
• MULTIMEDIA
• STUDENT CREATION
• TOURISTIC MOVIE
• FICTION
• CENTENARY Section – specially created to mark the 100th anniversary of the Unification of all Romanians and the end of the First World War, which led to the formation of several nations.

The jury of the competition consists out of well-known personalities in the field of journalism, TV and cinema from Romania and from other countries. Until now, have confirmed their participation in the jury: Assoc. Prof. PhD Lucian Ionică (West University of Timișoara), Assoc. Prof. PhD. Ion Stavre (SNSPA), Gheorghe Tuică (director of photography, TVR), Univ. Prof. PhD. Brândușa Armanca (”Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad), Codruț Pânzaru (independent producer, Bucharest), Dorin Ion Ilie (director of photography, France TV, Paris), Steve Teers (DIVA TV producer, London), Charles Fletcher, MBE (journalist, BBC trainer, SKY One correspondent, Edinburgh), Leontina Vatamanu (director, OWH Studio Chișinău).

The Summer School for journalists and media creators  was founded and included within the festival in 2007, and through it, SIMFEST became in the past few years the only institution in the country of non-formal education of media creators, especially from the audiovisual section.

The journalists Romeo Couți and Brândușa Armanca (TVR), the writer Bogdan Hrib, Assoc. Prof. PhD. Ion Stavre (SNSPA), Assoc. Prof. PhD. Lucian Ionică (West University of Timișoara), the director Ștefan Fischer (Germany), Charles Fletcher, MBE (Scotland), TV producer Codruț Pânzaru, TV producer Tamas Barok (Hungary), Geo Tuică (director of photography, TVR), the director Copel Moscu (UNATC Bucharest), Iulia Badea Gueritee and Raymond Clarinard (Courrier International Paris), Assoc. Prof. PhD. Avram Tripon (”Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureș), Beata Biel (Google expert, Poland) and many others held lectures and led workshops or held masterclasses within the Summer School.

Among the masterclasses that are scheduled for this year include: Creative writing workshop  – trainer: Bogdan Hrib, writer and screenwriter, Bucharest; The internet and television – trainer: Assoc. Prof. PhD. Ion Stavre; What’s New in News? – trainer: Charles Fletcher, MBE (Caledonia Media, Scotland), How to make a movie about H.M. The Queen of U.K – trainer: Steve Teers (Diva TV, England); Film and TV make-up masterclass – trainer: Georgiana Teers, make-up artist, London. All the participants of the festival have free access to courses and masterclasses.

The official program of the festival  is available for the public with the purpose to, on one hand, construct a way of communication between the creators of media and those whom they serve: the consumers of information in order for the audience to correctly understand the messages transmitted through mass-media. On the other hand, it offers a space of free expression and a non-formal platform for professional development for the journalists. Therefore, SIMFEST is a festival not only a TV competition but also a cultural complex. The 2018 program (still under elaboration) consists of – beside others:

• 15th Anniversary SIMFEST exposition: a multimedia event consisting of photos, projections of productions awarded during previous editions of the festivals, the exposition of objects, posters, program books etc.
• Public projections of the productions sent in for the competition (August 28 – September 2) in the presence of the creators, followed by debates
• Public projections of historical documentaries dedicated to the Unification Centenary
• Public projection of an artistic movie from the archives of The International Festival of Political Movies CINEPOLITICA București
• Masterclass coached by movie director Iosif Demian and the public projection of the artistic movie “Baloane de curcubeu” (Rainbow balloons) which was banned before 1989 and rediscovered in the archives after thirty years
• Documentary journey in the county, projection, in Sîngeorgiu de Mureș village, of a documentary about the Danube Delta, produced by France TV (Thursday, August 30)
• Anniversary events dedicated to the supporters (sponsors, partners, volunteers, etc)
• Flash-mob events dedicated to the Unification Centenary
• Gala of the laureates including musical recitals and poems (Saturday, September 1)

Public projections will take place at the Cinema Arta from the downtown.

The days of books and music  looks like a books and musical CDs market, which purposes to bring new editions and releases closer to the people, hence it being organized for a few years already in the open air at one of the most frequented places in the city. At the fair, visitors can find many editions from a wide of domains from media (Tritonic, Polirom, NICO Tîrgu Mureș) as well as editors and book and music distributors (LIBRIS Brașov, Călăuza Deva). There will take place books and CDs releases on the Day of the Romanian Language (August, 31): the release of books written by Romanians living abroad (U.S.A, U.K), and on the day dedicated to the centenary there will take place – beside others – the Romanian premiere release of the book titled “Sfatul Țării. Unirea Basarabiei cu România (The Country Council. The Union between Basarabia and Romania)” written by Alexandru Bobeica, a journalist from Soroca (Moldavia). Other releases will be dedicated to books written by journalists. Every release will take place in the presence of the authors.

International recognition: SIMFEST is known and recognized in the Romanian mass-media as a role model in the promotion of artists’ free expression and for the promotion and being an advocate of real media professionalism. Most of the creators attending SIMFEST for the past years, have also won international recognition at competitions organized in Sibiu, Prague, Belgrade, Bucharest, London, Kishinaw and Tel Aviv. SIMFEST is also in collaboration or in partnership with other similar manifestations: CRONOGRAF Chișinău, DETECTIVEFEST Moscova, etc.

The festival and its partners will be promoted through its own publications (posters, banners, program books, website, Facebook etc.) and through media partners. Through the years, SIMFEST has closed partnerships with numerous media institutions all over the country. In the past fourteen years, there have been published more than one thousand articles and TV reports.

ORGANIZERS:
The Cultural Association SIMFEST
President: Ioan Ceaușescu
Tel: +40 722 214787
E-mail: office@ 2018.simfest.ro, ioan_ceausescu@2018.simfest.ro
www.2018.simfest.ro