14-16 June 2017, Paris

The 2017 WACC-SIGNIS European Television Festival of Religious Programmes will take place in Paris, 14-17 June 2017 – the 19th such festival since the first was held in Monte Carlo in 1969. 

This is a unique opportunity to present and highlight the very best of European television programmes that express, explore and examine values in relation to religion, faith and ethics. If your organisation has produced and broadcast programmes since 16 April, 2014, enter them into the Festival by 24 March (Entry fee for each film is 100 Euros).

Organised by the European sections of the international media/communication organisations WACC (World Association for Christian Communication) and SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication, Roman Catholic), the festival showcases broadcast programmes that engage with the challenges and complexities of faith and ethics in today’s world.

Whether or not you are involved in broadcasting, plan to attend to view and discuss how media and religion engage in the issues facing European society today. The participation fee for the festival is 250 Euros if you register before 23 April, 300 Euros afterwards – this covers meals, receptions, social events and screenings for the whole period of the festival.

The English website for more information and to register is at: http://www.tvfest.eu/en/. For French, visit http://www.tvfest.eu/

In today’s Europe there are impassioned public debates about cultural, social and political and religious diversity, pluralism and identity.

Ecumenically-organized, the festival welcomes television programmes that come from producers of any faith or none that deal with issues of ethics and faith. The winner at the last festival held in Hilversum, Netherlands, in 2014, came from Joodse Omroep, (Jewish Broadcaster), receiving both the first prize and the audience prize.

The hosts of the Paris TV festival are the French Protestant and Roman Catholic television services, under the auspices of the Protestant Federation of France (FPF) and the Jour du Seigneur, responsible for producing programming for the French public broadcaster France 2, which recognises the value of the festival by hosting the first evening of the TV festival at its Paris headquarters.

The TV festival was initiated, among others, by Robert Geisendörfer, a co-founder of the World Association for Christian Communication and was the director of the Evangelischer Presseverband für Bayern and later the Gemeinschaftswerk der Evangelischen Publizistik, the German Protestant media association. He saw the need for ecumenical co-operation among religious television broadcasters, who had, he believed, the expertise to mount an international TV festival of equal quality to the secular TV festivals.

History of the Television Festival

Host country and festival presidents:

1. 1969 – Monte Carlo, Radio MonacoYear 2007, Festival Winners

   Robert Geisendörfer, WACC-European Group

   Fr Agnellus Andrew, President UNDA-World

2. 1971 – Baden-Baden, Germany, ARD

   Robert Geisendörfer, WACC-European Group

   Count Alvise Zorzi, UNDA-Europe President

3. 1973 – Salzburg, Austria, ORF

   Robert Geisendörfer, WACC-European Group

   Count Alvise Zorzi, UNDA-Europe President

4. 1975 – Brighton, UK, BBC and IBA

   Robert Geisendörfer, WACC-European Group

   Count Alvise Zorzi, UNDA-Europe President

5. 1977 – Montreux, Switzerland, SRG – SSR

   Michael de Vries, WACC-Europe President

   Helmut Ehrler, UNDA-Europe President

6. 1979 – Stockholm, Sweden, SR

   Michael de Vries, WACC-Europe President

   Josef Gemperle, UNDA-Europe President

7. 1981 – Amsterdam, Netherlands, NOS

   Michael de Vries, WACC-Europe President

   Michel Dubost, UNDA-Europe President

8. 1983 – Dublin, Ireland, RTEYear 2010, Festival Winners

   James Keegan, WACC-Europe President

   Michel Dubost, UNDA-Europe President

9. 1986 – Mainz, Germany, ZDF

   James Keegan, WACC-Europe President

   André Babel, UNDA-Europe President

10. 1989 – Hilversum, Netherlands, NOS

    Hans-Wolfgang Hessler, WACC-Europe

    President

    André Babel, UNDA-Europe President

11. 1992 – Bolzano, Italy, RAI

    Hans-Wolfgang Hessler, WACC-Europe

    President

    Peter Düsterfeld, UNDA-Europe President

12. 1995 – Buxton, UK, BBC and ITC

    Helen Alexander, WACC-Europe President

    Maria Ter Steeg, UNDA-Europe President

13. 1998 – Toulouse, France, UNDA/WACC

    Helen Alexander, WACC-Europe President

    Maria Ter Steeg, UNDA-Europe President

14. 2001 – Helsinki, Finland, YLE

    Bengt Bergius, WACC-Europe President

    Ged Clapson, UNDA-Europe President

15. 2004 – Warsaw, Poland, TVP

    Gianna Urizio, WACC-Europe President

    Jim McDonnell, SIGNIS Europe

16. 2007 – Kristiansand, Norway, NRK

    Piet Halma, WACC-Europe President

    Jim McDonnell, SIGNIS Europe

17. 2010 – Berlin, Germany

    Jim McDonnell, SIGNIS Europe

    Juha Rajamäki, WACC-Europe President

18. 2014 – Hilversum, Netherlands, NOS

Jim McDonnell, SIGNIS Europe

Praxedis Bowman (WACC)