Fribourg International Film Festival received this Thursday 10th October the Prize for bilingualism of the Canton of Fribourg. That prize honours the initiatives which favour the use of both official languages of the Canton, that is French and German. The ceremony took place during the Bilingualism Day at the state parliament.
That prize encourages the Festival in its work. "We recently added bilingualism in our medium term goals. The Festival is very happy to receive that prize," comments Philippe Clivaz, FIFF director of operation. The objective has not yet been reached yet, as he explains: "We are flattered by this recognition while being well aware that there is still a long way to go".
The work of the Festival toward a complete bilingual offers continues. Its communication is entirely in French and German, and in English. Close to 20% of its audience speaks German. FIFF wishes to see the entirety of its screenings accessible for both the French speaking and German speaking audience, that is, to have every movie with subtitles in French and German (every film is screened in original version). The main impediment is a financial one. The creation of subtitles is a substantial work implying great costs. The Festival tries each year to get as much films as possible with subtitles in both languages.
FIFF thanks the Canton of Fribourg and the selection committee for this prize.
