2023-11-14 | |
On October 5th 2023, the International Oriental Film of Geneva (FIFOG) held its Extraordinary General Assembly. At the end of the meeting, Mr Fatsah OUGUERGOUZ (Jurist, consultant in international law, independent international arbitrator, and Rector of the African Institute of International Law) was unanimously elected President of the FIFOG. He succeeds to the former president Romaine JEAN, whom the General Assembly thanks for her contribution to the success of the 2023 FIFOG edition. We also welcome Diane HENNY (psychologist and artist, CAS in cultural and musical project management, director and co-founder of Terrasses Sans Frontières), who was elected Vice-President.
The General Assembly was an opportunity to strengthen the Committee with new members. The Committee now counts 19 members with strong interests in cinema, Geneva’s cultural life and relations between the East and the West. This Committee stands out for its gender equality, professional diversity and balanced representation of the communities that co-exist in the canton of Geneva.
From the outset, the Committee was keen to emphasize the importance of the FIFOG’s place in Geneva, specifically at a time when the world is going through geostrategic upheavals and an unprecedented upsurge in violence. It rightly felt that the festival, by contributing to the promotion of quality cinema from the East and the West, should make it easier to understand conflicts and help to reduce misunderstandings, thereby promoting harmonious co-existence of communities.
Finally, the Committee reaffirmed its desire to continue in the same spirit as in previous years, i.e. to strengthen the festival’s roots in the city of Geneva, broaden its international reach and contribute to the pacification of relations between the East and the West.
The Committee approved the theme for the year, proposed by Artistic Director. The next edition, which will take place in the spring of 2024, will be dedicated to The Knowledge and Recognition of Others.