From June 24 till June 26, 2005 in Belarus there will take place the 1st International Festival of Documentary Films and TV Programs MAGNIFICAT 2005. The festival will take place in the town of Glybokaye as well as in the villages of Udziela and Mosar. Different confessions and various creative methods are united by the idea of evangelization and human values support by means of cinema and television.

The founders of the 1st in the history of Belarus Catholic festival: Catholic Association for Communication SIGNIS - Belarus, Independent Studio Stopcadr, Publishing House of the magazine Dialogue and Catholic structures of the region of Vitebsk. The Festival will take place with His Eminence Кazimierz Cardinal Świątek's blessing and support. Executive committee of the district of Glybokaye lends great help to organizers of the festival.

Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant TV channels and studios from Belarus, Ukrain, Russia, Poland, Mexico, Italy, Czechia and other countries are invited to take part in the festival. There will also be presented lay associations and singular creative personalities. Thus the festival has exceptionally ecumenical character. The only criterion for determination of winners will be high level of presented works.

The place of the festival is not chosen by chance. The district of Glybokaye has rich Catholic traditions; there are twelve parishes there. In Udziela there is Franciscan convent and the church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is one of Catholic spiritual centers of our country, which is considered to be the Belarusian Niepokalanow. This fact unites Magnificat 2005 with Polish festival Niepokalanow, which has similar aims.

Near Udziela there is the village of Mosar with the church of St. Ann, which is well known by the beauty of its surroundings. Tens of thousands of tourists from Belarus and other countries visit Mosar every year. Guests and participants of the festival Magnificat 2005 will have the possibility to see the church, to get acquainted with its dean F. Josef Bulka, Laureate of the State Premium For Spiritual Renaissance of Belarus, as well as to take part in the famous Mosar's feast on the day of St. John.

Entrance to film viewings and other festival events is free. You are welcome!

1. FESTIVAL STATUS AND PURPOSES

The First International Catholic Festival of Christian Documentary Films and TV Programs MAGNIFICAT 2005 is viewing of works of Belarusian and foreign masters in the domain of cinema and television, which are aimed at evangelization of society, support of human values and are created in different Christian confessions.

2. FESTIVAL TIME AND LOCATION

The festival takes place in Belarus at the end of June annually.

The festival is organized on the territory of the deanery of Glybokaye, the diocese of Vitebsk.

If necessary some showings and events may take place in other regions.

3. PATRONAGE AND ORGANIZATION

The festival is held under the patronage of the Head of the Conference of bishops of Catholic Church in Belarus and the Festival Honorary Committee.

FESTIVAL PROMOTERS:

• Catholic Association for Communication SIGNIS-BELARUS
• Vitebsk Diocese Curia
• Independent Studio STOPCADR
• Editorial board of the religious magazine DALOGUE
• Deanery of Glybokaye, Vitebsk diocese
• Parish in Udziela, deanery of Glybokaye

Festival promoters appoint an ORGANIZATIONAL Committee, which elects PRESIDENT.

PRESIDENT performs the function of guiding the festival.

Organizational Committee consists of professionals each of whom is responsible for his/her own part of work necessary for preparation and holding of the festival.

Organizational Committee appoints Festival Direction and its Director.

Festival Direction performs all practical work concerning preparation, organization and holding of the festival.

Festival Director performs his functions both during the festival and in the period between the ones.

Organizational Committee appoints Festival JURY inviting for this function both churchpersons and creatives.

4. PARTICIPANTS AND PRESENTATION OF WORKS

Festival is open for participants of all Christian confessions and is formed of:

• film and TV program makers, who took part in the competitive program of the festival, as well as representatives of studios (the number of representatives of each studio is defined by the Organizational Committee)
• creatives and churchpersons who do not present any work on the festival but are invited by the Organizational Committee

All the participants of the festival are supported by the Festival Direction (except payment of fares).

Films and TV programs of all the studios in Belarus and abroad (without any restrictions) may take part in preliminary selection for participation in the festival.

Organizational Committee divides all the works in two groups: COMPETITORY and INFORMATIONAL programs.

Selection for competitive and informational programs is performed by the Selectional Committee appointed by the Organizational Committee.

Selection of the presented films takes place since April 20 till May 7 annually.

5. FESTIVAL AWARDS

The festival has two systems of prizes; each of them is directed to a large evaluation of the situation.

1. PRIZES OF JURY:
   Jury gives the following awards:
   • GRAND-PRIX of the festival
   • Three special prizes with formulations stated by the jury
2. Prize of the Catholic Association for Communication SIGNIS-BELARUS
3. Prize of the Franciscans
4. Prize of the festival NIEPОКALANOV (Poland)

6. FILM COPIES AND DEADLINES

Films and TV programs for selection must be sent on video cassettes VHS, CD or DVD. Additional advertising materials may be sent by e-mail on goroulev@aport2000.ru

Preliminary cassettes and documents will be left in the Festival Archive and may be used for noncommercial viewings.

Each work must contain personal form of the participant. The work can be in original language if there are dialogue lists or subtitles in English or Russian.

The festival will take place in Udzielo, Mosar, deanery of Glybokaye (Vitebsk diocese) since the 24nd till the 26th of June of 2005.

Application for participation and all necessary documents must be sent to the Organizational Committee till May 7, 2005 to the following address:

First International Catholic Festival
Minsk-Mohilev Diocese Curia
pl. Svobody 9,
220030 Minsk, Belarus
e-mail: goroulev@aport2000.ru

Program

[in process]

Entry form

File in RTF format: magnificat2005-entryform.rtf - 45K