The 18th edition of CineRail, the international railway film festival (“Train & Metro on Film”) was successfully held from March 2 – 9 in Paris. The world’s only such event of its kind, the festival is organised around the themes of the train and the cinema, and offers the public over the course of a week a broad range of productions, short and feature-length films, documentaries, television spots and corporate films, from around the world. The common feature of all the films is that they turn the spotlight on all aspects of the railway world, from train journeys and stations to the lives of people and staff working in the railways.
CineRail is the sole international venue to place centre stage the universal role of the train as a means of exchange between human beings, and of audiovisual communication as a medium between ideas and art, cultures and dreams. UIC wholeheartedly plays its role in this international event promoting the railways and intercultural exchange, alongside other players from the railway sector (SNCF, UIC, UITP, RATP, etc.) and a number of other partners. CineRail is chaired by Bernard Emsellem, Deputy Managing Director for Communications and Sustainable Development at SNCF.
As part of this 18th edition, the 4 and 5 March were dedicated to corporate communications and advertising films, audiovisual productions commissioned by UIC member companies, public transport companies and the railway supply industry. These screenings were organised at UIC in the presence of member delegates as well as communications and audiovisual professionals.
An international panel of judges chaired by Margrethe Sagevik, UIC Senior Adviser for Sustainable Development, and composed of Bernard Dumas, Ralph Klingsieck and François Lopez, assessed the corporate and advertising films entered for the international competition, representing almost every part of the world. The panel awarded several main prizes, the “CineRail” awards, to those works singled out for their outstanding audiovisual and artistic quality.
The prizes awarded at the 18th edition of CineRail are as follows:
– Golden CineRail for Corporate Film: Dream Express, Latvia, produced jointly with Latvian Railways (LDZ) for the Riga Railway History Museum
– Golden CineRail for Advertising Films: Giant, Belgium, produced for SNCB Holding
– Special Jury Prize: Robel Presentation 2009, Austria, produced for the Robel company
A selection of films awarded a special mention by the 18th edition of CineRail (competitions for the general public and corporate and advertising films) will be distributed on DVD to UIC members.
