An interview with Andrzej Fidyk, documentary film director and screenwriter, and representative of TVP’s board of directors for the organization of the INPUT conference.

Donata Subbotko: This is the first time INPUT has been organized in Poland and is part of the 20th anniversary of the overthrow of communism. How do you assess the changes in TVP that have taken place since 1989?
Andrzej Fidyk: I don’t want to assess TVP in terms of political turbulences, but in terms of the quality of our television programs, we needn’t have a complex when compared to any television in the world. We send our programs to INPUT every year and every year a couple of them go through the complicated selection system. This year, 83 programs from public television from all over the world qualified for the conference, including three of ours: the series “Londoners” from TVP1, the educational animated series “Pucul and Grzechu” from TVP Kultura, and Grzegorz Fedorowski’s documentary film “Almost Perfect” produced by TVP1.

DS: Who is the role model for public television?
AF: As always, the BBC. At every television festivals it is unquestioningly agreed that the head of jury should be someone from the BBC. British television has such a good reputation that they can permit themselves to broadcast even a controversial program or one bound by no rules, one that could cause a commotion in other stations, but everyone takes their hat off to the BBC. Since the BBC chose such a program, it means that’s the way it should be. It’s just a symbol of quality.

DS: Do you see any chances of there being a “Polish BBC”?
AF: People make television. We need to strive to have the best specialists in the field directing a given program. Whoever’s the best in entertainment, should run entertainment programs in TVP, the best in stories – should run that, and so on. Once documentary films enjoyed a measure of success because I was the best person to run that department; I knew documentary films and I knew television.

DS: You actually made documentary films important in TVP, now their kind has lost its power, to put it mildly. How is it with documents in public television?
AF: We have Polish documentaries all the time, there’s just no good time to put them on the air. At this moment, no one believes that documentaries could effectively compete with other kinds of television programs.

DS: A few days ago, a couple hundred people , including many important people in the field of culture, called for politicians to reject the KRRiT report and the change of TVP authorities and then later work on the new media law. Despite that politicians didn’t react. Is TVP owned exclusively by politicians?
AF: I don’t want to talk about politics. I can only say that our public television is a phenomenon. It’s so strong, even though there has been so much turbulence, it is a leader not only in Poland, but in all the entire region. I think this is a kind of a miracle.

DS: INPUT was created on the assumption that public television can change the world, promote values, and tolerance. Does TVP fulfill that function?
AF: I don’t want to give my opinion on that. There are many programs in TVP that operate in the public interest: TV theater, documentary films, and reportages.

DS: The new media law is being worked on. What advice would you give the politicians who are creating it?
AF: They should guarantee that given programs in public television be run by the most qualified people. Do you know what once gave me strength, which once helped me secure such a position for documentary films? I could afford to lose my job. At any time I could’ve gone back to being a director. I had international connections which allowed me to make large-scale films and I didn’t have to give in to any pressure from TVP. If you hire such people, they’ll make good public television.

INPUT has been committed to the exchange of high quality, progressive television programming for over thirty years.
The founding meeting, held in 1977 in the Italian town of Bellagio, was attended by a small circle of fifteen participants from North America and Europe, including the avant-garde artists Nam June Paik and Bill Viola from the U.S.A. In the meantime, INPUT has become an international network of television professionals – and a lived inter-continental communication exchange among various countries, institutions and individual people. Strengthening the cultural asset of television “With its selection of outstanding international television productions, INPUT provides an excellent survey of the quality standards and innovative formats in public-sector broadcasting”, says Annette Rupp, who, as consultant for audio-visual media in the Department of Film, Television and Radio at the Goethe-Institut in Munich, is a member of the INPUT International Board. “More and more Goethe-Institutes all over the world are organising so-called ‘mini-INPUTS, where local partners discuss these standards and formats based on an INPUT selection.” A major interest is the strengthening of public-sector television in each country, guided by the idea that television is a cultural asset which is a mirror of society and a key medium that can reach great numbers of people.

2009 in the heart of Warsaw
Every year the INPUT conference is organised in a different city. In 2009 it took place for the first time in Eastern Europe.

From May 10 to 15, the Polish television station TVP invited more than 1,000 programme makers and media managers to Warsaw. “The emphasis was on central and eastern Europe,” explains William Gilcher, film author, producer and staff member of the Goethe-Institut in Washington, who has directed preparations for various conference sessions. “It was about the development of public-sector television in the previous Warsaw Pact states.” Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he says, it was high time that “we become better acquainted with the media landscape in this part of the world”.   The Warsaw INPUT took place in the Palace of Science and Culture, a construction from the Stalin era in the heart of the city. “A perfect historical backdrop,” says Gilcher – also for an exchange about the constantly growing challenges from commercial broadcasters. “We invited participants to discuss the particular opportunities and responsibility of public-sector broadcasting in a democracy.”

In Warsaw the INPUT conference showed a total of 21 television fiction films, 32 documentaries and 30 broadcasts with unusual TV formats from all continents.
There were also surprises from Poland and its neighbouring countries. And in addition, cross-media productions were on the programme.
The makers of all the productions traveled to Warsaw and were present at the screenings and discussions. The small INPUTs after the INPUT After the conference, the programmes now is available for television conferences in individual countries.
Here the Goethe-Institut assumes an important international role. For instance, the Goethe-Institut in Munich receives copies of the programmes shown at INPUT and can make them available to its cultural institutes and centres.
In this way the Goethe-Institut in Bosnia and Herzegovina organised the first mini-INPUT in Sarajevo in 2008. It invited editors, television and film makers from all over the country to discuss the possibilities and opportunities open to its public-sector broadcasting using the example of the programmes.
In addition, “The Best of INPUT” makes available television programmes from the last three international conferences.
There is now a centre in every continent that helps with the acquisition of programmes for national INPUT conferences. The INPUT archives at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona has over 1,600 film copies and a database listing over 2,800 programmes.

A world-wide network
The annual conference is the climax of months of preparation by so-called shopstewards, national coordinators and the INPUT international board. They are all television professionals, whose engagement is on a voluntary and honorary basis and who are obliged to adhere to no other statute than the ideal of promoting public-sector broadcasting. This gives the INPUT conferences a well-nigh anarchistic note. The core of the INPUT network is its “international board”: sixteen recognised television experts from various countries. They choose the national coordinators, who in turn use a quota system to choose appropriate programmes from their countries for pre-selection at the conferences. The number of programmes is determined according to the television landscape of each particular country.
The eighteen shopstewards from all over the world are the heart of the INPUT conference. From the hundreds of submitted programmes, they choose those that will be shown, assemble the screening blocks thematically and often independently of genre, invite the programme makers and lead the discussions. The name "Shopsteward" comes from the labour movement and they stand for its role as the representative of INPUT’s grass roots. And then there are the participants of the conference, who will engage in intense exchanges for five days and return home with an immense wealth of experience. The encounters here often develop into international co-productions.
Thus, thanks to INPUT, the key medium of public-sector television has the opportunity to become part of a world-wide network.

For the first time, we achieved the goal of having an INPUT with a programming split of 1/3 documentaries, 1/3 TV-specific programming, 1/3 fiction. This was not easy for the Shopstewards working on the international selection to achieve – as we can only select from the programming submitted.

As usual, some people were happy about the selection and some were not – but INPUT is always like that. From what I heard during the evaluation session and while wandering the hallways in Warsaw, the delegates were pleased that INPUT's programming expressed the fact that INPUT is a uniquely PUBLIC TELEVISION conference. That's what we wanted to hear.

Emerging media continued its natural progression as the evolving norm of public television work. Although we had one specialized session on hybrid programming (television + internet), many other sessions included discussion of web-based components.

For INPUT 2010, I hope that the National Coordinators will make a point of selecting programmes that use cross-platform components in the most creative ways. This is no longer our future - it is our present, so it's time for INPUT to concentrate on the most innovative concepts for the rest of us to "borrow" and adapt for our own countries.

Four times a year, INPUT will be sending out a Newsletter, which will aim at keeping the INPUT delegates together - at least virtually.

Please register for the Newsletter, by filling out the registration.
At the registration, you can manage exactly how you would like to receive the Newsletter, and you can stop receiving it at any time you choose.

If you would like to raise an issue which might be whorthwhile to discuss in the INPUT content, simply send François Smit-Löffler an email with the article you would like posted in the next Newsletter.

At the Board meeting during the International Selection in February in Berlin, NPO kindly accepted to host the International Selection as of 2010 in Hilversum, The Netherlands.

In what is probably the most complex broadcasting structure in Europe, NPO (Netherlands Public Broadcasting) plays a central role.
Firstly, it provides the framework within which all national public broadcasting organisations in the Netherlands collaborate. It is responsible for joint activities like audience research, contractual arrangements, international relations and the sales and acquisition of programmes. NPO also represents Dutch public broadcasting in international organisations like the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Secondly, it decides on the scheduling of the three television and six radio channels (and of several thematic channels) and on the use of the internet resources of www.omroep.nl.

National Coordinators will send the results of their National selection to the International selection, where the Shopstewards will jointly set-up the conference programme for INPUT Budapest.

The International Selection is usually held in the first two weeks of February.

The National Coordinators (NC's) send out the "Call for Submissions" in their constituencies, and from the national submissions forward productions to the international selection - within a quota system.Each NC now has the chance to use the INPUT Website as a tool to publish the Call for Submissions and Mini-INPUT's.The National Platforms is an idea decided on at the Warsaw Conference, where vital information about INPUT can be published in the language of choice. The National Coordinators welcomed this idea, as their job (voluntary) to bring the best programmes from their consitutiency to the International Conference is rather daunting.One after the other, the websites of the different countries are starting to take shape. It is a new tool, and in due time, all the NC's will have information about their national selections published on their own websites.The National Coordinators are all respected programme makers, who are appointed by the International Board. Their task is to keep feeding innovative and groundbreaking programmes to INPUT and to send those programmes to an international selection where, in turn, the most fitting for the upcoming Conference is selected. National Coordinators represent INPUT to their regional constituencies.

Countries without NC's are represented by the International Programme Coordinator, currently Sergio Borelli, who also has a website to inform about the process of selection for the conference.

The programme for the second Mini-INPUT in Srajevo, scheduled for 19 - 21 November has been finalised.
Several Shopstewards and NC's will travel to Sarajevo for this Mini-INPUT, with the kind support of the EUNIC centres in Sarajevo

Thursday, 19 November 2009 
Opening Session  
18:00 - 18:45 Opening
18:45 - 20:00 Openingfilm: The Tale of Nicolai & The Law of Return (Israel)
20:00 Reception  

Friday, 20 November 
1. Session: Mingle, Swap or Divorce?
10:30 - 11:40 Divorce Albanian Style (Bulgaria)
11:40 - 12:10 Teen Scene XL (The Netherlands)
12:10 - 13:00 Discussion
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch break  
2. Session: Respect
14:00 - 16:35 Cloud 9 (Germany)
16:35 - 17:05 Discussion
17:05 - 17:35 Tea break with refreshments  
3. Session: Respect
17:35 - 18:25 How I Am (Italy)
18:25 - 18:50 Almost Perfect (Poland)
18:50 - 19.15 The Golden Oldies (Denmark)
19:15 - 20:00 Discussion  

Saturday, 21 November
1. Session: TV-Specifics
10:00 - 10:25 Stars of Pest (Hungary)
10:25 - 11:10 Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister (Canada)
11:10 - 11:20 Pucul and Grzechu (Poland)
11:20 - 11:35 Invisible Wounds (Sweden)
11:35 - 12:45 Liverpool Nativity (United Kingdom)
12:45 - 13:30 Discussion
13:30 - 14:30 Lunch break  
2. Session: This is my point of view
14:30 - 15:25 Sonderkommando Auschwitz-Birkenau (France)
15:25 - 15:55 Unseen (Russia)
15:55 - 16:40 Discussion
16:40 - 17:00 Tea break with refreshments  
3. Session: Stand alones
17:00 - 17:55 The Famine Scam (Norway)
17:55 - 19:10 The Moods of Marianne (Switzerland)
19:10 - 19:55 Discussion  

Simply follow us on twitter, to stay abreast of everything happening at INPUT.

twitter.com/INPUTTV

Or help spread the word of the value of TV in the public interest, by becoming a fan of INPUT at Facebook.

Now INPUT has taken important steps to accomplish that by rebuilding its organization and way of working for public service as a driving media force within society.

INPUT’s former internal organization and work was created in principal in the late 1970-ties, later revised in small portions a few times and, as the Presidium stated in August, had now become ready for a significant rebuilding to catch up with the needs of a voluntary and independent organization for professionals in its best shape.

Gathered in Budapest in September 11th INPUT Board decided unanimously to change the internal organization and way of working in several important aspects. Later the same day the decision was confirmed in force by the highest instance of the new INPUT, the Assembly (more below), as its first decision.

The following is a short news summary of the changes.

Individual Membership

INPUT is now introducing individual membership in the organization. This is a great change from the former situation were INPUT was “owned” by the Board members only.

Membership can be gained by professionals in public television and other individuals who support INPUT’s scope of activity. There will be an annual fee to constitute the membership for all members.

More detailed information about the registration of INPUT membership will be published at INPUT website when the delegate registration for INPUT 2010 Conference opens at the beginning of next year.

The membership fee 2010, including the member’s reduced delegate accreditation fee for INPUT 2010 Conference in Budapest, will be €50,-.  

International Assembly

In the old organization the Board elected itself. One fourth of the Board was elected per year for four years. Nobody else was mandated to review the Boards operations. The non-existing transparency were disadvantages for INPUT in relations to banks, tax agency and other external parties. INPUT had difficulties to be recognized as a non-profit organization by international law.

The new Statutes introduce a new body, International Assembly, and new reviews and elections of the Board. As the highest instance of INPUT the Assembly will meet during the Conference 2010 and on and scrutinize and discuss the Board’s operations and finance reports for the last year. The Assembly will then elect Board members for terms up to four years.  

The Assembly comprises of INPUT registered members who both have registered and paid the membership fee for the current year, and also have registered as delegates for a minimum of two annual Conferences in the previous three years. It also comprises of members of the acting Board.
 

Titled “Best of INPUT Korea 2009”,  the event will be held on 24 - 25 November in Seoul. It will feature screenings of some of the most discussed outstanding programmes showcased at this year’s Warsaw INPUT. The KBS as a strong supporter of INPUT and annual host of Mini-INPUT in Korea suggested to MBC to work together and co organize Mini-INPUT considering that MBC hosts 2011 INPUT.

Consequently, it’s co-hosted by KBS and MBC. It definitely enhance INPUT network in Korea. Therefore, it is anticipated that not only more of the nation’s TV industry professionals will join the event but also the MBC will get some of useful knowledge and experience for the preparation to host Main INPUT.

Dear friends, 
many thanks to you for good reception and interesting conference.
Svetlana Bychenko, Alexander Gundarov
Directors of Crystal World
Russia

I take this opportunity to say that you and TVP deserve a huge bravo fort this outstanding conference. Every detail has been take care of in an efficient way.
Congratulations.
André Provencher
Président
La Presse Télé, Éditions La Presse
Canada
 
I would first like to thank you and your colleagues for all the efforts you have put it to host such a wonderful event. It was my first time at INPUT and I had a great experience in the beautiful city of Warsaw with the opportunity to watch creative works and to meet people from all over the world.
Ki Yeon Kim
Host of Input 2011
International Business
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC)
Republic of Korea

Many thanks for a well organized and interesting festival.
Linn Aubert
TV2
Norway
 
Je vous félicite encore pour ce beau travail de coordination que vous avez fait pour faire en sorte que INPUT 2009 soit un succès.
Claudine Cyr
Coordonnatrice Nationale de Input
Canada
 
Thanks for all your good work for INPUT on the web, the IT and communications contact. I hope you got a more formal thanks from the Board and perhaps some individual messages of recognition like mine. Well done!
Helen Doherty
IADT/National Film School
Ireland

I must congratulate you and your team for a wonderful job done.
The pdf file of the bible is a great idea - so was the idea of three small details with the ID card.
Let me thank all of you and hope we meet some day some where.
Abhijit Das Gupta
International Board of Input
India

It was indeed a very pleasant and enriching experience at INPUT 2009 in Warsaw. Thank you very much for all your efforts and coordination.
S V Raman
Goethe-Institut
Kolkata/India

Warm greetings from Armenia !!!
Again and again thank you for helping us to discover for ourselves the phenomenon of INPUT . And I should say,I really fell in love with Warsaw ...
Liana Sargsyan

Head of International Relations Department

Public TV Company
Armenia
 
I have got home successfull, with full of memories from Warsaw. I really, really enjoyed with Conference and Team which could organize it all on excellent. Thank you very much one more time.
Rustam Akhmedkhanov
Television Safina
Tajikistan

It was a very good input, very well organized, fruitfull, friendly.
Thank to all the team and polish friends.

André François

National Coordinator
Belgium

We had a very nice trip and we arrived in Montenegro with a lot of beautifull impressions about Input, Warsaw, and everything we had lived during our stay in your charming country!
Thank you to invite us and give to our television RTCG  a chance to take part of this important TV event.
Jovanka Kovacevic - Djuranovic & Zorka Kovacevic - Burzanovic
Program editors of Montenegrian TV
Montenegro

Thanks for your hospitality. It was very well organized, and everything was perfect. I got a lot information about INPUT and the Bosnian delegation will take part in the next INPUT - it's sure.
Haris Prolic
Director
Bosnia and Herzegovina

I want to thank you for a great conference this year.  It was well organized, beautifully orchaestrated, and efficient.  Being a host sometimes feels quite thankless, that said, you deserve a big hand for what you have accomplished.  I thought the programs were the best we had in about four years, the venue worked well, and the staff were smart and efficient.  There was no way to see that you had to cut any costs.  I for one, thoroughly enjoyed myself (it's easiest if you are not hosting).
I am now impressed with Poland and TVP!!
Judy Tam
International Board of Input
Independent Television Service
United States

Hardly back from Warsaw, I'd again like to thank you for all your work to secure such a perfectly organised conference. The way the screening rooms and shops, all on the same floor, near each other, allowed everyone to move fast, meet and you even managed to turn the so impersonal surroundings, intimate.
Noemi Schory
INPUT President
Israel

INPUT was a very successful event.
I thought it was a good one, and certainly has its place amongst the best INPUT's I have attended.
Nick Radlo
International Board of Input
United Kingdom

 

Employees of YLE were offered a great immaterial Christmas gift by various public service televisions from around the world. It was called Best of INPUT. Three days lunch time screenings in location next to the main restaurant in YLE made it possible for people to come and go as they like, and even take your meal with you and have a civilized and exuberant lunch break.

Programmes shown during these three sessions were:

How Mad Are You?
Manshow
Invisible Wounds
The Gruen Transfer
Embarrassing Bodies

Twenty Show
Straight Talk – Down Syndrome
Gaza/Sderot
What Do You Do?
My Street

Keep Looking
Can’t Get You Out of My Head
DR2 Premiere
Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister
Teen Scene XL
Crystal World
Liverpool Nativity
 

And that day it happened that the deadline came. …

Before that tens of national selection committees around the world had worked hard, screening hundreds of programmes, longs and shorts, fasts and slows, interesting and excellent to be sent to Berlin to be taken to Hilversum to be selected  to be part of next INPUT. And all the selection committees could imagine François sitting on the top of pile of DVDs, guessing how many entries there are.

And then the deep peace descended upon the selection committees. Everything was done what could have been done. It felt like in the Christmas eve, after all the hassle and hurry, and at last it was time to relax, take glass of whatever, sit and think.

And of course it was number seven which invaded one’s thoughts.
Because (of course this relates only countries with the quota of six…) always at the final straight it happens that almost everything is clear with the selection, except that there are always seven programmes.
What is the magic with the number seven then?
Of course we know that it is the fourth prime number. But for some reason it is also the number of the days in the week. We talk about the Seven seas. Almost all the mammals have seven cervical vertebrae and it is the number of spots on a seven spot ladybird. Isaac Newton identified seven different colours in the rainbow.  There are seven hills in Rome. We try to avoid seven deadly sins. There are seven musicians in a septet. Akira Kurosawa counted seven samurais. Seven years itch is something to avoid, which is something that Snow White and seven dwarfs probably didn’t think. ...

Well; at the end you always get rid of that programme number seven, of course. But since that you keep on thinking that what if the rejected one after all should have been chosen. But then, it would be very hard to pick one of the seven Wonders of the Ancient world and say that this is not a wonder after all!
 

Over seven days, the twelve Shopstewards watched and discussed over 270 programmes in Hilversum - The Netherlands, hosted by the Dutch NPO.
These 270 productions were all submitted by the National Coordinators in hard and dedicated work, to form the basis of the conference which will be held in Budapest from 8 - 12 May 2010.

Of these 270 programmes, the conference schedule has been put together with 80 productions. The schedule reflects what TV makers from around the world are currently confronted with. Not only content wise, but for INPUT more important; the craft of  TV-making.

Some of the issues that were clearly evident: Independence, being creative in a budget crisis, finding new audiences, managing to think and create in different media, giving a voice to minorities, or showing an unslanted picture of globalization, entertainment for local audiences with a global impact (and vice versa)  and simply making good Television programmes.

INPUT is a conference about making television. The selected programmes show this clearly, more than 40% of the conference programme consists of TV Specifics (game shows, magazine programmes, service programmes etc.).
Three sessions will be devoted to fiction this year. Several programmes clearly tackled difficult issues for "fictioneers": Brave new storytelling techniques and several surprising production decisions that make and break TV Fiction will be shown in this year's conference.
Documentaries that have been taken into the programme this year typically tackle a specific broadcasting related issues that are of importance to a broad TV making audience.

Also remarkable this year: Productions that use the Internet in a way which goes over and above a mere distribution platform. Productions that use the media specifics of the Emerging Media are ground breaking for what Public Service Television might be in future.  

More than 40 countries submitted productions - 29 countries will be represented with good quality TV programmes:

Contact    Australia/France
John Safran's Race Relations    Australia
Re-enchantment    Australia
Wilfred Series 2 , Episode 1 - Kiss Me Kat    Australia

Also Tested on Humans    Belgium
Michel Daerden twelve's works    Belgium (French)
Once upon that day: King Baudouin and abortion    Belgium (French)

The Feast on our street    Belorussia

BELIEVERS    Bosnia & Herzegovina

Don't Tell Mom    Brazil
Trapped!    Brazil
Minimetragem    Brazil

CLUB NATIVE    Canada (English)
Make the Politician Work    Canada (English)
All about me    Canada (French)
THE WOMEN OF BRUKMAN    Canada (French)

The Farmer    Denmark
Kristian    Denmark

Balthazar Ushka Ice Man    Ecuador
Divergent    Ecuador

The Police Station    Finland
I Think - Therefore I Am    Finland
The War Without Victory    Finland
 

The INPUT database is an online version of the annual conferences catalogs. It contains information about the more than 3300 programmes presented since 1978.
Furthermore, The INPUT Archive, that is part of the Pompeu Fabra University Library, preserves copies of all programmes since 1994, and many of the former ones. You can consult which programmes it preserves by using the new catalogue.

INPUT - International Public Television Conference

By clicking on the above link you will be redirected to the Facebook Fan Group. simply become a fan, and please spread the word of good quality public Television through the social networks.

The Facebook Fan groups gives you a unique chance to be in touch with colleagues from around the world, not only running up to the conference, but also after the conference in May.

If you are more of a Tweeting person - then simply follow our Tweets. Be sure to use #INPUTTV when you talk about us. Thanks!

The Conference Schedule is now online. Of the All in all 27 Sessions are scheduled for this year's conference. In these sessions several topics will be covered, ensuring a vast array of interesting sessions for all participants.

INPUT is a TV conference: The productions shown during the conference will demonstrate issues relating to the TV making industry, and how these issues are tackled in different countries, in different genre's.

The Sessions follow a theme which was born during the international selection, where all the submitted productions were discussed and evaluated.
The twelve Shopstewards curated 21 sessions, with careful thought given to what would interest TV making colleagues from around the globe.

3 Sessions are Produced Sessions, meaning that the topic these sessions are focussing on are of special interest top TV makers - or they are more specialised, more detailed concerning the issue of the session.

3 Evening Sessions have been organised by the conference hosts - MTV. They tackle more local issues, but still have a global TV making impact.
In this year, the three evening sessions are titled:
The Role of Culture in Public Television Programmes
Co-productions in European Television, ARTE Workshop 
Public Service TeleVISIONary; Finances of PSB in Economic Crisis

The event will take place at MTV's newly-built headquarters on the Danube in Budapest. It aims to place the trade of TV-making centre-stage by showcasing productions from all genres: TV Fiction, TV Documentary and TV-specific programmes like magazine-, game-, news- and sport shows.

INPUT 2010 will centre on dialogue and exchange, providing a platform to discuss and challenge the boundaries of public TV. Panel discussions and workshops will complement screenings which will be hosted and moderated by TV specialists.

More than 1,000 TV professionals from around the globe, including commissioning editors, authors, directors, journalists and channel heads and managers, are expected to attend the event. They will include seven participants sponsored by the EBU's Special Assistance Project for Members in need.

A - Accreditation
The registration fee is €52,-. The registration fee allows all participants the possibility to take part in all of the conference sessions.
Online registration is possible until 1 May 2010, there after registration will only be possible at the registration desk during the conference. To register - please go here

A - Airport Ferihegy -Travel
From Ferihegy Airport - there are three possibilities to get to your hotel.
1. ZÓNA TAXI:
Since May 2006 Zóna taxi provides an exclusive taxi service from Budapest Airport (Ferihegy 1 and 2), and offers fix prices on the basis of zones within the city. For further information, visit the www.zonataxi.eu address.
You can find a ZONA TAXI immediately at the exit of both terminals or you can pre-order a minibus 12 hours before your trip via e-mail  or via phone: (+36 1) 365 5555
2. AIRPORT SHUTTLE from Ferihegy 1 or 2:
You can order your reservation online
3. PUBLIC TRANSPORT
BUS SERVICE from the Airport to the Metro station:
BUS Nr 200E –goes from Ferihegy 2 via Ferihegy 1 to Kőbánya Kispest metro station (M3) on weekdays, Saturdays and bank holidays from 4.52 a.m. in about every 10-15 minutes until 00.16 a.m.

From Kőbánya Kispest Metro Station to separate hotels:
Hotel Ibis Heroes’Square: by M3 to Deák Square, change to M1 to Heroes’ Square Station
Hotel Ibis Váci út: by M3 to Dózsa György  út Station
Hotel Danube Margitsziget: by M3 to Árpád Bridge Station, change to Nr 26 bus, three stops to Hotels
Mercure Budapest Buda: by M3 to Deák Square, change to M2 until Déli Pályaudvar Station.
Novotel Budapest Danube: by M3 to Deák Square Station, change to M2 to Batthyány Square Station
Art’otel: by M3 to Deák Square Station, change tp M2 to Batthyány Square Station
Alfa Art Hotel: by M3 to Árpád Bridge Station, change to Nr 34 bus and it is 18 stops to Benzinkút Station. Budapest Lido Hotel: by M3 to Árpád Bridge Station, change to Nr 34 bus to Nánási út Station (14 stops).

B - (Brief) History of Budapest Baths
Budapest baths have a long history. The first settlers in the area, the Celtic tribes had already discovered and used the healing waters. They named the place Ak-ink, meaning abundant water.
The Romans occupied the settlement and called their province Aquincum, refering again to the abundancy of water in the area. They had developed bathing culture at home that they wanted to enjoy in Aquincum as well. They built the first baths here, the excavations in Óbuda discovered 14 of them from this era.
After the Romans the Hungarians used the baths for centuries.
Budapest spas and bath culture were developed significantly during the Turkish rule in the 16th-17th centuries.
Budapest lies on a geological fault - between the "Plains" and the "Mountains" - allowing natural springs to surface in the city.

C - Cooperating Hotels & Shuttle Service
We have negotiated preferred rates with hotels during the INPUT conference. Please contact the hotels directly to make a reservation by using the code "INPUT Conference - MTV" to make your reservation.The official hotels will also be serviced by a shuttle service to and from the conference venue. For a full list of the hotels - please go here.
In the morning, the first coach of the shuttle service will leave hotels as of 8:30 and will run between the hotel and the MTV headquarters until 10:30.
In the evening, service will start at 18:00 and will continue until 22:00, i.e. the end of the evening special panels. On Saturday 8 May, service from the hotels to the MTV headquarters will start at 12:00 and will run until 14:30. In the evening, coaches will leave the MTV headquarters from 23:00.
On Monday 10 May, some coaches will transport participants to the museum starting from 19:00 (please note that everyone going to the museum should take care of their transport back to the hotel).
On Wednesday 12 May, service will start from the hotels one hour earlier, i.e. at 8:00 and in the afternoon will be available from 13:30 to 15:30.
The exact timetable will be available to delegates at their hotel upon check-in.

C - Conference Kit
Upon arrival at the conference venue, please check-in at the INPUT registration desk. Here, upon receipt of your accreditation confirmation, you will receive all the conference material, including your badge and conference catalogue with useful information like a detailed programme and other orientational information. At the registration desk, participants who have not registered online in advance, may register as well. It will only be possible to register using cash.

E & F - Eating out & Food
Conference participants can use several canteens and restaurants on the premises of MTV. The conference venue boasts great little courtyards and a lovely garden to escape to during the session breaks and lunch hours.
Budapest offers the hungry traveller a wide choice of eateries, from the inevitable McDonalds to high cuisine. Hungarian food itself is certainly worth a try. Best known of the excellent meat dishes you can have is perhaps Gulash, but there is a lot more to Hungarian cuisine. They have some particularly tasty game dishes, like Almával töltött fácán (pheasant stuffed with apples) or Szarvastokány erdei gombával (venison stew with wild mushrooms), and the sweet water fish is not to be sneezed at. In most restaurants, menus will be available in English and German. Major credit cards will be accepted in many establishments. But do check beforehand if you don't want to get a nasty shock.

The hosts have recommended some restaurants close to the hotels - and the conference venue. Look at them here.

H - Hotels
For a full list of INPUT Hotels - please use this link.
Please contact the hotels directly to make reservations. The contact details are listed on the above mentioned link.

M - Money
The Hungarian currency is Forint (abbreviated as Ft. or HUF). Banknotes come in denominations of 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000 and 200 HUF, coins in circulation are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. Please note that some exchange offices charge a commission of up to 10%. Major credit cards are accepted by most restaurants, shops and supermarkets. An ATM is situated at the Conference Venue.
 

Television professionals from more than 40 countries have registered to take part in the 2010 conference.

Eventhough the online registration is now closed, it is still possible to register on-site in Budapest. For the details of how to do that, and how to book hotel rooms for your stay, please take a look at the 2010 conference site.

The professional debate, discourse and exchange that is the trademark of INPUT promises to be interesting - representatives from all the continent will gather in Budapest to debate Television in the public interest.

What are the broadcaster relevant TV trends 2010?
Many productions seem to have waived the strict rules of specific genres. Fiction, entertainment and documentary are woven into a single TV production, giving the audience the chance to explore the theme, instead of the format.
Many craft related issues have become visible: "Old" or rather traditional TV making standards have been taken out of the closet, have been given a good polish and are again used to entertain, inform or educate the audience in ways the audience might not be accustomed to (any longer).   

During the 2010 INPUT conference, the host, MTV provides for all the necessary technical conditions to prepare your interviews, reports and reportage on spot.

A Press Room (Building A, room 10) equipped with WiFi, studio cameras, professional grips, microphone is at the disposal of journalists or TV staff, in the headquarters of the Hungarian Television. Please bring a mini-DV cassette with you!

The MTV staff can also provide you with raw material about the most significant events of INPUT in the form of a DVD.

Broadcasts from the venue of the Hungarian Television is bound to a separate permission.  

On Saturday 8 May, the 2010 conference was opened officially - typically for INPUT with only 10 minute introductions by the INPUT President Noemi Schory and the MTV Hosts - Dr. Lidia Marton. Immediately after sessions started luring the participants into the studios.

The sesssions are lively. The participants are eager to share their points of view about programmes, and the discussions are professional, yet very relaxed.
"Once again, we realise why we come back to INPUT each year" - say Hansruedi Schoch from the Swiss National broadcaster SF - "...the passion we have for our profession is a valid driving force to bring us together from around the world for these four days in Budapest."

More than 560 registrations have been made. This year, INPUT is faced with a lot of changes that might not be visible on the first glance.
This is the first INPUT where INPUT is a registered Non-Profit organisation. This might seem arbitrary at first, but it does make a difference for the future development of this rather anarchic organisation.
This 34th INPUT Conference is also the first time the General Assembly met, and voted for five new International Board Members.

The INPUT hosts have proved amazing flexibility to make all the participants feel welcome at the new MTV headquarters. The conference logistics are running smoothly, and everyone feels that they are in Budapest for one thing: TV.
 

10 May 2010, 19:00

43 Members of the International Assembly 2010 elected the following 5 candidates as members of the International Board of INPUT for the period May 2010 to May 2014:
Judy Tam, USA
Hans Hernborn, Sweden
Kim, Kyung-Hee, South Korea
Fuminja Koike, Japan
Hansruedi Schoch, Switzerland

The International Board of INPUT is now composed of 15 members:
Timo-Erkki Heino, Finland - elected till May 2011
Andrzej Fidyk, Poland - elected till May 2012
André de Margerie, France - elected till May 2012
Moss Bresnahan, USA - elected till May 2012
Mvuso Mbebe, South Africa - elected till May 2012
Claudia Schreiner, Germany - elected till May 2013
Claudine Cyr, Canada - elected till May 2013
Roek Lips, The Netherlands - elected till May 2013
Bill Gilcher, USA - elected till May 2013
Susanne Hoffmann, Germany - elected till May 2013
Judy Tam, USA - elected till May 2014
Hans Hernborn, Sweden - elected till May 2014                    
Hansruedi Schoch - elected till May 2014    
Kyhun-Hee Kim- elected till May2014

Fumina Koike - elected till May 2014

 

This will be a great chance to meet Asian counterparts and to plan collaborations on new projects. It is highly anticipated that Seoul conference will be a practical source for finding digital age innovations and visions for the future of public service television.

The rapid changes of technological environment brought numerous challenges to us. The upcoming Seoul conference is going to provide an opportunity to discuss freely and find various ways to differentiate from commercial televisions at this critical time.

KBS and MBC invite you to Seoul, the city where ingenious energy meets technological evolution. Join us and experience various Asian contents and creativity here in Seoul!

The Sunny Side of the Doc festival in La Rochelle, France, is one of the leading gathering space for documentary co-productions worldwide.  300 international key decision makers and 2 000 professionals from 50 countries will gather over 4 days to participate in forums and workshops to understand the latest technological and financial issues facing their profession.

Strictly speaking, "The Sunny Side of the Doc" is the essential rendezvous for all documentary film professionals. An excellent reason for the two industry names to get together.

INPUT traditionally important on the "bread and butter" front of public service television (TV Specific programming, TV Fiction etc.) sees a partner in the Sunny "Side of the Doc" not only in reaching a new target audience, but mostly in ensuring that TV-makers in all professional levels of the industry keep debating the key issue of INPUT: Television in the Public Interest.

Susanne Hoffmann, Secretary General of INPUT, Dr. Claudia Schreiner, International Board member and Kenny Kihyung Bae from the 2011 conference hosts (South Korea) will show productions screened during the 2009 Warsaw conference as well as the 2010 Budapest conference with discussion background from the screenings, to show Sunny Side of the Doc participants exactly what INPUT is about.

On Saturday 8 May, the INPUT 2010 conference was opened officially - typically for INPUT with only brief introductions by INPUT President Noemi Schory and  Dr. Lidia Marton representing this year's host organisation MTV. Immediately afterwards sessions started luring the participants into the three studios of Hungarian Television.

About 80 selected programmes were presented in the 26 four-hour-long sessions held over the whole week. The themes that shaped the sessions were based on issues that are valid to broadcasters and programme makers from around the world like: "Taking a chance with shrinking budgets", "How to build and educate future audiences", "Economy on TV", "re-inventing archives", "eMerging Media: from a TV maker's perspective", Programming TV-events", "Investigative TV journalism". The conference ended with a joint session on one of the most crucial questions broadcasters all around the world have to answer:"What' s the pitch? A journey to new formats on international television".

The 560 participants who had made their way to Budapest from 49 different countries were eager to share their points of view about the programmes presented, and the discussions were professional, yet very relaxed. "Once again, we realise why we come back to INPUT each year" - said Hansruedi Schoch from the Swiss National broadcaster SF - "...the passion we have for our profession is a valid driving force to bring us together from around the world for these four days in Budapest."
 

Noemi Schory and Bill Gilcher

What might seem arbitrary at first, has already made a difference for the future development of this rather anarchic organisation. INPUT being "legal" meant for example that MTV was able to apply and receive funding from the Visegard Fund to stage the conference.

On 10 May 2010 for the first time in the 34 years of INPUT's existence the new members of the International Board of INPUT were not elected behind closed doors but in the open by the 43 members of the INPUT International Assembly.

The International Board of INPUT now comprises the following 15 members:
Timo-Erkki Heino, Finland - elected till May 2011
Andrzej Fidyk, Poland - elected till May 2012
André de Margerie, France - elected till May 2012
Moss Bresnahan, USA - elected till May 2012
Mvuso Mbebe, South Africa - elected till May 2012
Claudia Schreiner, Germany - elected till May 2013
Claudine Cyr, Canada - elected till May 2013
Roek Lips, The Netherlands - elected till May 2013
Bill Gilcher, USA - elected till May 2013
Susanne Hoffmann, Germany - elected till May 2013
Judy Tam, USA - elected till May 2014
Hans Hernborn, Sweden - elected till May 2014                    
Hansruedi Schoch - elected till May 2014    
Kyhun-Hee Kim- elected till May2014

Fumina Koike - elected till May 2014