MIA Olympic Special has made the short list for the “Sport Movies & TV” Festival 2007. Having been selected from out of 975 entries from 43 countries, MIA Olympic Special will be one of the 200 works to be shown at this prestigious festival. Malta’s entry will also be in the chance to be given the title Guirlande d’Honneur in the competitive section entered. Final outcome will be announced by end September.
MIA Olympic Special is the Maltese Olympic Committee’s (MOC) flagship television programme that promotes and highlights the Olympic Movement in Malta and local sport.
Produced in collaboration with Education 22, this programme is a unique magazine sports programme that contributes to raising the profile of local sport, Maltese athletes and the MOC in a way that is educational, informative and entertaining.
MIA Olympic Special first came to Maltese screens in October 2006 and was broadcast on Ed22 every Friday (9pm), Sunday (10am) and Monday (2.30pm) and on TVM every Thursday (5pm).
This series was made possible through the financial support of the Olympic Solidarity and co-production with Education22; MIA Olympic Special is also sponsored by the Malta International Airport which supports sport in Malta and reflects their corporate social responsibility policy towards promoting a healthier lifestyle and instilling a greater sense of national pride.
Indeed, Rule 5 of the Olympic Charter states, “The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organise assistance to NOCs, in particular those which have the greatest need of it. This assistance takes the form of programmes elaborated jointly by the IOC and the NOCs, with the technical assistance of the International Federations, if necessary.”
This programme began as a pilot version produced with the assistance of fourth year communication students at the University of Malta undergoing the credit Video Production 3 in 2005; under the guidance of tutor Daniel Zerafa and Susan Ronald from the Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC). From a brief set out by the MOC, students came up with a stylized and new approach to how a Sports programme could be produced. Last year, the pilot was given a green light for production and since then, a total of 38 half an hour programmes have been broadcast, with the active participation of Video Production 3 students as well. Come October a new series with a total of 13 programmes will be produced.
The programme targets youngsters and people who practice sport in addition to MOC’s own sporting family i.e. 47 affiliated associations (their members and athletes).
Sport Movies and TV 2007: international event for television
FICTS (Fédération Internationale Cinéma Télévision Sportifs, recognised by the IOC – International Olympic Committee) associated with 101 Countries, has assigned to Milan “Sport Movies & TV 2007 – 25th Milano International FICTS Festival”, the most important International Festival dedicated to sports television and movies, World-wide Final of the “World Ficts Challenge 2007” (articulated in nine seats that will take place in the five Continents) that will be held from October 27 to November 1 2007. (web site: www.sport moviestv.com).
The event which will include an unpublished video-photographic exhibition of the CIO on “The woman and the Olympic values”, will be articulated into 200 Projections (selected, in 2006, among the 975 sent by 43 Countries), two workshops, eight meetings, two exhibitions, five side events and awards, in Palazzo Giureconsulti in Milan, in Piazza Mercanti, 2, meet Piazza Duomo, where there will be a maxi-screen to show the highlights of the videos in competition and some live broadcasts of the most important sports events that will involve over 200,000 spectators.
Short listed works sent by the most important Production Companies, Broadcastings Television, Olympic Committees and Sports Federations, will compete for the assignation, on November 1, of the Guirlande d’Honneur in the six competitive sections.
IOC launches ‘The Best of Us’ campaign
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched the first element of its new global promotional campaign, entitled “The Best of Us”.
“The Best of Us” is a simple, powerful theme that transcends cultures and borders, reminding us that sport can bring out the best in us all.
The television advert is now on the IOC’s website at: www.olympic.org. It was also broadcast over the air for the first time on the IOC’s broadcast partner NBC in the United States during the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Osaka on 26 August.
The video features young sports people from across the world, including Armenia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United States. The IOC’s 2007/8 promotional campaign objective is to communicate the key Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect to a global youth audience. The theme of the campaign is “The Best of Us” – a simple, powerful idea that transcends cultures and borders, motivating young people around the world to participate in sport by proving that sport can bring out their best.
The campaign has been developed by the Voluntarily United Group of Creative Agencies (United), part of WPP. This first phase of creative development was led by Sra Rushmore / United, Madrid.
The IOC will work with United on a multi-dimensional campaign approach, comprising TV, online, print, viral promotion, experiential and PR activities. The global campaign will be rolled out in a phased approach in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and beyond.
The first Maltese waterpolo team at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928
The Malta waterpolo team on its debut against Luxembourg on 5 August 1928. At the back: Turu Rizzo (face hidden by hand) Mr. M. Boissevant (attaché in Amsterdam to the Malta contingent), Capt. H. Sammut (team official – partly hidden), Victor J. Pace (reserve), F. Cassar Torreggiani, R. Fiorini. In the middle: L. Darmanin, J. Nappa (goalkeeper), V. F Busietta. In front: H. Bonavia, ‘Meme’ Busietta, E. Magri, R. Vella
The photo was signed by Victor J. Pace who was the last member of the contingent, who passed away some years ago. (Charles Camenzuli collection)
The enrolled countries to ‘Sport Movies and TV 2007’
Participants from 43 countries have entered works for the FICTS Festival, among which USA, China, Australia, Japan, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Iran, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Hungary, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Vietnam, Sweden, Slovenia, Romania, Russia, Spain, Greece, Portugal, France, Canada, Uzbekistan, Malta, Poland, Serbia, to whom will be added all the works of the Arab Countries winning the Sixth Teheran International FICTS Festival”.
Selected works will offer a complete view on sport and the sports traditions in the World, in addition to competing for the Guirlande d’Honneur.
This festival will be held under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, the Patronage of the IOC – Information Management Department, in collaboration with the Regione Lombardia, Comune and Province of Milan, European Commission, the Chamber of Commerce of Milan. Partners: Istituto per il Credito Sportivo and University Milano-Bicocca. Media Partner: AIPS (International Sports Press Association), daily sport magazine Gazzetta dello Sport, Datasport and Sportlife.
Authorities and famous personalities of SSport, Cinema and Journalism will attend the Opening Ceremony (October 27) and will be awarded with the Guirlande d’Honneur on occasion of the 25th year of FICTS Foundation. During the last editions among others there were: Pelè, Marcello Lippi, HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Sergey Bubka, Hugh Hudson, Robert Redford, Leni Riefenstahl, Jury Chechi and Larissa Latynina.
China to monitor police for slack behaviour in preparation for Olympics
BEIJING: Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Chinese have been told to line up, use proper English and stop spitting. Now police are being told that slack behaviour such as shooting the breeze or smoking could get them in trouble.
China is conducting a wide-ranging experiment in social re-engineering in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. The thinking is that anything less than upstanding behavior by officials and the public could reflect badly on the country as a whole.
“We will spare no effort to do a great job for the Games and beyond,” Beijing traffic officer Zeng Qinghui was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper.
Members of the public are being encouraged to report officers they see smoking, eating, or chatting on duty _ all of which are regarded as “harmful to the image of the police,” the newspaper said.
Patrolmen will also be monitored on how they respond to requests for help from the public, along with the proper wearing of uniforms and badges, it said. The campaign will be focussed on patrolmen in the six cities, including Beijing, that will host Olympic events.
Authorities have targeted a wide range of perceived unflattering behaviour ahead of the Games, including obscene chants by sports fans, jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving.
Beijing is adding thousands of surveillance cameras in and around Games venues, and city cab drivers are under pressure to learn some English, stop sleeping in their taxis and brush away the garlic – a key ingredient in Chinese cooking. English signs on billboards, menus and storefronts are also being revised to eliminate nonstandard language.
Even with the cleanup, the Games are an enormous challenge to Beijing, which struggles daily with choking pollution and snarled traffic.
The city will ban at least one-third of its 3.3 million vehicles during the 17-day Olympics and close dust-spewing building sites and sooty factories. Billions of dollars have already been spent moving heavily polluting industries out of town.