The World Catholic Association for Communication
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The World Catholic Association for Communication SIGNIS Executive Committee in Brussels - Le comité exécutif de SIGNIS à Bruxelles - El Comité Ejecutivo de SIGNIS en Bruselas BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Africa Mrs. Helen OSMAN (USA) Fr. Walter CHIKWENDU IHEJIRIKA (Nigeria) Fr. Alberto BUQUE (Mozambique) Vice-Presidents Mr. Lawrence John SINNIAH (Malaysia) Asia Fr. Paul SAMASUMO (Zambia) Fr. Joseph Anucha CHAIYADEJ (Thailand) Mr. Magimai PRAGASAM (India) Ecclesiastical Assistant Fr. Luis García ORSO (Mexico) Europe Mr. Ákos Lázár KOVACS (Hungary) Acting Treasurer Mrs. Magali VAN REETH (France) Fr. Pierre MURRAY (Canada) Latin America General Treasurer Mr. Carlos FERRARO (Argentina) Mr. Emmanuel BONNET (France) Mrs. María José CENTURIÓN (Paraguay) Acting Secretary General North America Mr. Ricardo YÁÑEZ (Argentina) Mr. Frank FROST (USA) Mrs. Pamela ALEMAN (Canada) Director SIGNIS Services Rome Fr. Fabrizio COLOMBO (Italy) Pacific Ms. Agatha Maria FEREI FURIVAI (Fiji Islands) Representative of the Secretariat Fr. Richard LEONARD (Australia) of Communications of the Holy See Ms. Natasa GOVEKAR (Vatican City) International organizations Dr. Terence ASCOTT (SAT-7 International, Cyprus) Dr. Sikares SIRAHKAN (ACN, Asian Communications Network, Thailand) 2 The fruits of the SIGNIS World Congress SIGNIS experienced another year of transition and progress in 2017. The World Congress, held in Quebec City in June, highlighted at least three elements of transition and progress: a new international board of directors was seated; we welcomed new members from around the world; and we met in tandem with one of those new members, the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada. The CPA is representative of an expansion of SIGNIS’ mandate to serve Catholic media professionals. As we respond to the Holy See’s invitation to reach out to Catholic journalists, we are seeing more activity globally focusing on journalism. This includes a first-ever meeting of Catholic journalists in Asia – and not just SIGNIS those who work for Catholic media outlets, but also Catholic journalists working ‘experienced in the secular media. Although it occurred in January 2018, I would be amiss not to mention the French Catholic media organization (another new SIGNIS another year of member) coordination of the first International St. Francis de Sales Days with transition and the Holy See’s Communication Office and SIGNIS. You’ll be hearing more about that meeting later this year. progress in 2017’ Of course, our members’ efforts in promoting quality films, television and radio programming, as well as our work in media education, were also robust in 2017. The international board is focusing on how we can strengthen our network by standardizing the guidelines for our international desks, which will include a chair who is a member of the international board, a secretary who is a staff member in Brussels, and a core team of SIGNIS members who bring their expertise from every region of SIGNIS. We are always open to new members of our core teams; please contact your regional board if you would like to join us! We also are seeing slow but steady improvement in our internal structures and processes, especially our financial systems, so we can confidently move forward in seeking more partners and collaborators. The executive officers have prioritized meeting with our longtime partners in dicasteries and offices in Rome, as well as seeking institutions and foundations outside of the formal Church structures who would share our vision in promoting stories of hope and building bridges of peace. Thank you for carrying that vision of hope and peace forward in your own work. While this annual report is just a snapshot of our common efforts, I hope it CONTENTS shows how we are all part of a much larger community of communicators! in English 3 en Français 13 Helen Osman SIGNIS President en Español 23 @SIGNIS www.facebook.com/signisworld youtube.com/user/signisworld flickr.com/photos/signisworld 3 Highlights of the past year Québec Congress The major event of 2017 was the World Congress and Assembly in Québec, on June 19th - 22nd. The theme of Promoting Stories of Hope was explored by other participants in keynote speeches, panel discussions and workshops. At the end, Jim McDonnell, the programme coordinator, identified four key themes: the challenge of the new, the power of creativity, the need for collaboration and the commitment to hope. He also underscored the power of story to inspire, to create and foster change. On June 21st there was a shared day with the Catholic Press Association (CPA). In the morning there was a special screening of Martin Scorsese’s film Silence followed in the afternoon by an interview with the director. In the evening he received a special award for Excellence in Film-Making given by both organizations. The week finished with the SIGNIS Assembly of Delegates. The Assembly elected Helen Key themes of Osman as President for four years. Lawrence John Sinniah from Malaysia and Fr. Paul ‘ the Congress: Samasumo from Zambia were elected Vice-Presidents. Emmanuel Bonnet from France challenge of was elected Treasurer. And Ricardo Yáñez from Argentina was elected Secretary General. the new, power Journalism Seminar in Kuala Lumpur of creativity, The first international seminar for Catholic journalists and writers was organized by SIGNIS in Kuala Lumpur. SIGNIS Asia, SIGNIS Malaysia and the SIGNIS Journalism Desk collaboration and brought together 20 young journalists from 13 Asian countries on 10th and 11th March hope 2017. During two days, the journalists from Pakistan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and ’ Singapore participated in an intensive workshop. At the end, participants came up with a plan to continue telling stories of hope to counter the spread of “fake news”. Suggestions included a blog, expanding the SIGNIS journalism network in Asia and starting an online helpdesk for media practitioners. Later the participants set up their own social media group on WhatsApp. 60 years at San Sebastián At the 65th San Sebastián International Film Festival, the SIGNIS Jury gave a special award, the “60 years of the SIGNIS Prize in San Sebastián” to Matar a Jesús (Killing Jesus) by Laura Mora. The prize commemorates its long contribution to promoting quality cinema and peace building. OCIC (International Catholic Organization for Cinema) gave its first jury prize in 1957. This year the SIGNIS Prize went to Life and Nothing More by Antonio Méndez Esparza. Encouraging and celebrating storytellers SIGNIS aims to help raise professional standards in media production and to promote creative storytelling that inspires hope and contributes to a culture of peace. One way to do this is to award quality media productions. Promoting values in cinema and TV Over the year more than 100 SIGNIS jurors from 30 countries participated in 36 international film and TV festivals. SIGNIS itself gave 37 prizes and commendations, 23 ecumenical prizes and four by interreligious juries. Some 29 European, 16 Asian, 9 African, 8 Latin American and 2 North American films were recognized. A full list of international SIGNIS and ecumenical prizes are on the website and in the annual list published at the end of the year. 4 Participants in the SIGNIS World Congress at the Laval University in Quebec, Canada Regional and national media awards Throughout the year SIGNIS promoted quality media at regional and national levels. SIGNIS Japan, in May, presented the 41st Japan Catholic Film Award to In This Corner of the World, an animation film directed by Sunao Katabuchi. I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach won the SIGNIS Europe Prize for Best European Film 2016. In North America in Québec in June, during the Catholic Media Conference, the Catholic Academy of Communication Professionals celebrated the 52nd annual Gabriel Awards for TV and radio. “Our goal is to recognize the best in creativity and programming that reflects the wonderful achievements of humanity,” said Susan Wallace, Chair of the Awards. The prestigious 40th SIGNIS Salutation Film and Teledrama awards in Sri Lanka were also held in October marking 70 years of Sri Lankan cinema. A special award was given to Lester James Peiris, the oldest (99 years old) living film director in the world. Connecting media professionals In 2017 SIGNIS continued to enable media professionals to network and meet to collaborate and share experiences. Coming together nationally and regionally As ever, meetings in different continents enabled members to share concerns and experiences. The topical themes of the SIGNIS Europe Assembly, held in Malta on April 24th-26th was “Communicating in the era of fake news”. The participants from 12 European countries 5 discussed, debated and reflected on different ways to become better Catholic communicators in all forms of media including radio, TV, cinema and social media. The fifth South East Asia Conference on “Families and Stories of Hope”, organized by SIGNIS Japan in Tokyo (11-12 November), was attended by some 40 scholars and professionals from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau and Taiwan. For the first time, presidents of the different national associations of SIGNIS in Latin America met together in April for three days of reflection in Quito, Ecuador to share their concerns regarding situations caused by “abuse of power by the governments who violate human rights”, as well as the consequences of climate change, which makes hundreds of victims in the region. 19th European TV Festival of Religious Programmes The story of how eight Dutch monks in a monastery originally built for 120 moved to For the first an island in the north of the Netherlands, won the International Jury Prize at the 19th time,‘ presidents European Television Festival of Religious Programmes in Paris in June. Altogether 29 television programmes from around Europe were selected for screening. of national The festival is organised by the European sections SIGNIS and the World Association associations of for Christian Communication (WACC).