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| ■Thursday
the 28th |
Just
after arriving at Antibes by TGV, I was kindly welcome
by a car from the organization and driven to the
Palais des Congres, where the Festival is held.
This friendly attention helped to balance the negative
feeling raised by the rainy weather. I must admit
that I was not prepared for a 15-minute walk under
this unusual rainﾉ
At the entrance of the Palais des Congres, a series
of magnificent deep blue pictures greeted the visitorsﾕeyes
: those photographs of whales were shot in Polynesia.
The main theme of the 31st Underwater Images Festival
was clearly set.
In the entrance hall, the most striking thing was
the numerous pictures hung on white boards. I did
not expect so many high-quality pictures, with such
a wide range of topics and situations. The colorful
tropical fishes ad mollusks had of course the largest
share in this hymn to diversity and nature, but
virtually all forms of underwater life were represented
in various dramatic or funny scenes, even including
humans... and mermaids. Interesting also was the
variety of exhibitors, ranging from book editors,
magazines, painters, sculptors, jewelry shops, T-shirt
sellers to scuba diving and underwater camera equipment
manufacturers.
There was definitely enough there to satiate the
appetite for knowledge of so many different types
of visitors: from the very young discovering the
mysteries and marvels of the sea, to the most experienced
divers looking for top-notch equipment. I personally
do not fit in any of those categories, being rather
an average city-dweller, not particularly knowledgeable
about the sea; and I learnt a lot.
To me, the most interesting part today was the variety
of documentaries on various species of mollusks
and crustaceans. The pictures were extremely beautiful
and the commentaries clear and right to the point.
Did you know that there are over 35.000 species
of mollusks and that only insects can boast a larger
variety? Did you know that the sea horse was a fish?
Shame on me, but I was ignorant of those simple
facts.
We ended the day with an unexpected wine tasting
session at the booth of a burgundy wine maker who
happened to have a passion for diving. The prices
were friendly and I bought a few bottles of delicious
Mercurey and Rully! |
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| ■Friday
the 29th |
After
swallowing a hot cafe au lait at the terrace of
the small Cafe in front of the Palais des Congres,
I started the day with a beautiful Japanese film
produced by the NHK. Called Satoyama, it was shot
near lake Biwa, and reminded me that underwater
life is not only present in the sea but also in
rivers and lakes. The pictures were very much applauded
by the audience, maybe because it showed a good
example of symbiosis of humans with the ecosystem
they live by (in this case, the river) and share
with other animals (here, carps and goby fishes).
This theme appeared in several other productions
and is obviously a shared concern among most exhibitors
and filmmakers. On top of that, the images were
clearly and precisely shot and the story well driven.
Even though it was not as spectacular as other films
shown during the festival, it was very refreshing
and moved many people in the audience.
Sitting in the Kobe Festival booth later in the
day, I had plenty of time to watch passers-by. Many
of them where families with young kids, who were
all very excited by the dramatic pictures of dolphins,
mysterious mollusks or fishes. As I myself was astonished
by those pictures, no wonder that the kids loved
them as well.
Another characteristic of the Festival is that the
atmosphere is extremely friendly... so friendly
that it is almost surprising. At first, I thought
that this is because the Festival is held in Antibes,
and the people in the south of France are known
to be friendlier than Parisians. However, the weather
was so bad that even in Antibes people should have
been in a bad mood! When chatting with other exhibitors,
I understood why people were so nice : they were
all sharing a common sense of membership to the
underwater world, and especially to the diving world.
They shared a common passion.
Friday ended with a show of Tamure, a traditional
Tahitian dance, performed on the main stage by beautiful
coconut-dressed Polynesian dancers. Later on, the
show went on in the alleys of the festival: the
same dancers taught that same dance to visitors
until late at night. |
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| ■Saturday
the 30th |
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Today, I spent most of
the day out of the Festival, visiting the old
center of Antibes and shopping in a Provencal
market. I came back to the Palais des Congres
in the afternoon to watch a few more movies and
attend the first part of the award ceremony. It
was too long to me (it took 2 hours to award over
70 different prizes) but at the same time, it
made me notice that I did miss a great part of
the works showed in Antibes, more particularly
all the diaporamas and diapositives shows. The
ceremony started with the election of Miss Plongee,
who happened to be a beautiful Italian girl called
Illaria. No wonder then that the photo prizes
were almost monopolized by Italian photographers.
As I had to take my train back to Paris in the
evening, I had to leave the ceremony before its
end and thus missed the Palme d'Or announcement
!
O.T.
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