Belief on Screen

20th European Festival of Religious Television and Online Programmes

27. - 30. September 2023 Berlin

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The Belief on Screen Festival 2023

Organized by WACC and SIGNIS opens a unique window onto the world of religious programmes on
television and online. A warm welcome to the Festival and to Berlin!

WACC (World Association for Christian Communication) and SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication) invite you to participate in this 20th edition of the European Festival of Religious Television and Online Programmes. A warm welcome to spend some inspiring days in Berlin from 27th – 30th September 2023.

The Festival is usually held every three years, though due to the Covid epidemic it has been much delayed following our last festival in Paris in 2017. Now, at long last, we are delighted to invite you once again to take part in this unique event. Its aim is to present and reward the very best of television and online programmes made in Europe that express, explore and examine values in relation to religion, belief and ethics. 

The theme of the Festival is Belief on Screen. Questions of belief, religion, values and identity are posing fundamental challenges to European societies. During the Festival we will be exploring the challenges of building bridges of understanding in increasingly polarised and dangerous times.

How is religious broadcasting adapting to the changed media and social environment? How does it remain relevant and accessible to new audiences? As broadcaster Roger Bolton said at the Hilversum Festival in 2014, religious programme makers “have the best stories and the best questions.” How can those questions and stories be fostered now and in the future? 

Festival Program

Wednesday
27. September 2023
  • 18:00: Opening event and registration
    Location: (TBA)
Thursday
28. September 2023
  • 10 to 17 Uhr: Film screenings
    Location: Babylon
  • Evening: freetime
Friday
29. September 2023
  • 10 to 17 Uhr: film screening
    Location: Babylon
  • Evening: Reception
    Location: (TBA)
Saturday
30. September 2023
  • 10 bis 16 Uhr: Film Screenings
    Location: Babylon
  • Evening: Award ceremony and final dinner
    Location: (TBA)

Registration

  • Early bird (up to 28.February 2023): € 300 (including VAT)
  • Full price € 350 (including VAT)

A reduced fee for students and low-income earners is available on request.

In exceptional cases it is possible to reimburse the fee. 

This fee includes lunches, receptions, social events, screenings for the whole period of the festival. The fee doesn’t include the cost for accommodation/hotels

Payment should be made to the bank account of the Festival via electronic transfer:

Receiver: SIGNIS/WACC Festival

Pax-Bank Berlin

BIC: GENODED1PAX
Account number: IBAN DE 92 3706 0193 6003 5600 05

Please indicate in the reference/message field: “TV-festival/ Participants name”.

Please register here 

Should you have further queries, you may write an e-mail to info@beliefonscreen.tv or call the general manager of the festival, Joachim Opahle, +49 (0)172 38 85 782

The Contest

Submissions

How to submit your programme for the competition:

Submissions can be entered via FilmFreeway.com only (use the FilmFreeway-button below)

  • Register on the site
  • Fill in the entry submission form that includes a short (not longer than 1500 characters including spaces) resume in English, describing the programme contents.
  • Upload at least one still photo of the programme (300 dpi)
  • Make sure the preview file is working correctly
  • If the programmes submitted for pre-selection are in or subtitled in a language other than English, they must be accompanied by a dialogue list or script in English.
  • Programmes should be a maximum of 60 minutes in length. If the programme is longer than 30 minutes the producer may be asked to provide a shorter version for public screening. The Festival reserves the right to screen a section of the entry.
  • Make the payment € 100 (including VAT)
  • Final date for submissions is the 31st of May 2023
  • Only those who submitted programmes selected for screening will be notified personally


Technical recommendations from FilmFreeway:

  • FilmFreeway accepts all major video formats in full quality HD up to 10 GB. FilmFreeway transcode videos for playback compatibility and performance and recommend that you use settings close to our output settings:
  • Maximum video bitrate: 2200 Kbps, H.264, mp4
  • Audio: 128 Kbps, AAC, 2 channel stereo
  • Aspect ratio preserved; maximum video height of 720 pixels

Jury

  • The Jury shall consist of five people, of which one shall represent SIGNIS and one WACC. The jury members shall come from different language areas and cultures. The members shall be media professionals.
  • Should a jury member have a professional link with any entry in the competition they must declare it and take no part in any discussion about or voting on that programme.
  • The Jury will elect its own Chairperson. All Jury decisions are final and shall be taken by simple majority vote.
  • A Secretary (without voting rights) shall be appointed to assist the Jury.

Prizes

The International Jury will select the best programmes for Prizes from those in competition.

Jury Prize

  • Awarded by the International Jury, this prize will honour the film which has been judged best overall in competition.


Special Prizes and Commendations 

  • The Jury may, at their discretion, award a limited number of special prizes or commendations to other programmes of their choice.


Audience Prize

  • At the conclusion of the screenings, each member of the audience will be invited to vote for the best film. The vote will be by secret ballot.

Venue

The main venue of the festival will be the Babylon, a cinema rich in tradition in the bustling inner city of Berlin (www.babylonberlin.de). The guests of the festival will get together here for three days for screenings and exchange of ideas. Furthermore you are invited to evening receptions and to the final festive awarding ceremony at representative locations nearby.

Accommodation

Downtown Berlin there are many hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts and homestays. You can find the best for Your personal needs. We do recommend some Motel One – hotels close to the venue of the festival (Berlin-Hackescher Markt, Berlin-Alexanderplatz, Berlin-Spittelmarkt and Berlin-Main station) as well as other hotels in different categories. 

A Brief History of the Festival

“Religion is of such importance in people’s lives that it must continue to find a place on TV” (Peter Frey, the Chief Editor of ZDF, Berlin Festival 2010)

Some 50 years ago, what was then called the International Christian Television Week took place in in Monte Carlo from 24 February to 1 March 1969. It was the result of a joint initiative of the European regions of WACC (World Association for Christian Communication) and UNDA (International Catholic Association for Radio and Television). Since 2001 the collaboration has been between WACC and SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication), the successor to UNDA.

The success of the first festival meant that it continued in a different European country every two years and, from 1986, every three years. Germany, and the Netherlands have both hosted the Festival three times; France and the UK twice. Other countries were Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Poland. Each event is a collaboration between a public broadcasting company or companies and WACC and SIGNIS.

In 1969, some 108 participants from 23 countries attended the Festival. The last few Festivals have each attracted up to 100 participants involved in religious broadcasting from around 20 different European countries.

Though the majority of programmes submitted have been documentaries, other genres have been screened too: drama, documentary, music, liturgy and worship, programmes for children and young people, reflections, interviews and magazines, and today programmes made for the internet.

Prize winning programmes have come from around 20 countries and the most successful broadcasters have been the Dutch company IKON, the BBC and the Irish broadcaster, RTE.

Though it began in an era when religious broadcasting was dominated by the Churches, the Festival has now become much broader. The topics covered have reflected changing interests and tastes of broadcasters and the viewing public. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on how people of diverse beliefs and views and can live and communicate with each other.

In 2014, in Hilversum, the winner of the documentary and audience prize was a co-production of Jewish Broadcasting and production company Beeld called Spot the Differences. The programme itself highlighted the relevance of the festival theme: ‘Behind the front door or in plain sight: religion in a pluralist society’. A similar theme underpinned the 2017 Paris Festival and the journey of exploration will continue in Berlin in 2023 under the title “Belief on Screen”.

Today the Festival it is still the only arena specifically dedicated to presenting and celebrating the best of European religious programmes on television and now, online. It fosters a pluralistic vision of broadcasting, that engages seriously with the beliefs and values shaping the world and the lives of their adherents. The 20th edition in Berlin 2023, will be a fitting tribute to the pioneering vision of Robert Geisendörfer of WACC, and Fr Jacques Schneuwly, the Secretary General of UNDA who co-founded the Festival half a century ago. 

Organizers

The Festival is a joint effort of the European regions of the international associations SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication) and WACC (World Association for Christian Communication).

The local organization of the 2023 Festival has been entrusted to the german church corporations EKD (Protestant church) and DBK (Catholic church). The general coordinator of the Festival in Berlin is Mr. Joachim Opahle. You‘ll get in contact to him by info@beliefonscreen.tv or by phone: +49 (0)172 38 85 782

Registration

This is to certify that I have registered my participation in the TV-festival Belief on Screen from 27 – 30 September 2023 in Berlin

Fees:

  • Early bird (up to 28.February 2023): € 300 (incl. VAT)

  • Normal fee: € 350 (incl. VAT)

Payment

Payment should be made to the following bank account via electronic transfer:

Receiver: SIGNIS/WACC Festival
PAX-Bank Berlin, BIC GENODED1PAX
Account number: IBAN: DE 92 3706 0193 6003 5600 05

Please indicate in the reference/message field: “TV-festival/ Participant’s name”.