AICA PRIZE 2011 guest of Cinemambiente

by Silvia Musso

Sunday June 5th, during the Cinemambiente International Festival closing evening, the AICA Prize 2011 has been given, confirming the collaboration between AICA association and the Festival itself.

The prize is divided into three categories: “Communicating with citizens improves environment”, the Special Prize “Communicating the Kyoto Protocol” and the Career Prize “Beppe Comin”. The first category focuses every year on a different topic that this year is “Communicating the forests”.

The winners of the three categories awarded at the Massimo Cinema in Turin were:

INTERNATIONAL FOREST FILM FESTIVAL a festival organized by United Nations Forest Forum in occasion of the International Year of Forests 2011;

MINISTÈRE DE L’ÉCOLOGIE ET DU DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE for the campaign “Il n’ya pas de petits gestes quand on est 60 millions à les faire” (“There are no small acts if we are 60 milions to do them”) aimed at promoting among the citizenship the environmental policy of the French government;

PIERO ANGELA, science avisers and well known Italian television character.

On behalf of the United Nations Forum on Forests, the Director Ms. Jan L. McAlpine received the Prize. After explaining how the Festival idea developed claimed: «It is only thanks to the support of public that events like this can succeed. When we launched the idea of the International Forest Film Festival did not think it would the participation of over 160 films and that the public interest would be so wide. This is a sign that among the public there is a widespread environmental awareness that we must continue to grow».

For the French Ministry was present instead Jacques Faye, General Director of the prevention of major risks, which stated: «The Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development is a large container that deals with various issues. The main objective of this campaign as well as many others that we have fostered over the past few years, is to make environmental communication also public and institutional. That is why our campaigns are increasingly addressed to the whole citizenship and use the national media such as radio and TV».

Roberto Cavallo, President of AICA, taking the slogan of the French Ministry campaign - There are not small things if we have millions of people to do them - reminded, finally, the next important event in Italy on June 12th in which all citizens are asking to take part: the vote for the referendum on nuclear power and public water, two environmental issues that were two of the main themes of the 2011 International Festival of Cinemambiente.