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Topic: Is there life after BFCC?
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Christian Bjorgen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 996
From: Kvinnherad, Norway
Registered: Oct 2009
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posted November 11, 2013 01:57 PM
For me, having to pay £150-200 in mere travel expenses to attend either convention, it's not going to bother me if it's 7, 12 or 20 pounds to come inside and enjoy it. Most people should be fully able to pay i.e. £15, which would more than double the income from fees if everyone still attended.
And to be honest, it's all in the hands of the collectors now.
I have many times thought of doing a convention in Norway/Scandinavia, but most times I end up with the same result: lack of enthusiam from collectors. Not pointing fingers here, but there was a lot of "good reasons" floating around for not doing it. I get John here, we should be glad that we have the BFCC and stop arguing about it's date, venue or whatever. If this goes on, we'll have no conventions left in a few years, and it'll be over.
-------------------- Well who’s on first? Yeah. Go ahead and tell me. Who. The guy on first. Who. The guy playin’ first base. Who. The guy on first. Who is on first! What are you askin’ me for? I’m askin’ you!
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted November 11, 2013 09:04 PM
I'm sure our friends who come from overseas and collectors in the USA who travel long distances to attend conventions must be surprised that some in the UK are put off by a journey within the UK that may (e.g) take 3 or 4 hours. Going to the capital city or a popular seaside resort (and many of the major attractions are still open in November) can add to the fun. But some of the people I spoke to at Ealing were from the north, and a good proportion of the Blackpoool dinner bookings I've received are from people from London, the south coast, Northern Ireland, Scotland, etc. For us it's a short holiday with a film convention being the major attraction, and no one thinks that travelling a few hours to go on holiday is a problem.
I appreciate that overseas visitors won't want to come twice in 3 weeks, so they have to make their choice and perhaps could alternate between the two. But I doubt if many UK collectors have spent so much at Ealing that they can't face another trip - it's not like the old days when it was easy to spend a fortune on new releases. If you're a Super 8 collector, unless you're buying new material from CHC, it must difficult to spend a great deal because a large majority of the films on sale nowadays seem to be from before the 1980s revival, so most of us have had plenty of time to find anything from earlier years that we want.
-------------------- Adrian Winchester
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Christian Bjorgen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 996
From: Kvinnherad, Norway
Registered: Oct 2009
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posted November 12, 2013 06:02 AM
Indeed, Adrian, that was the deal when I tried aswell. Lots of overseas who wants to come, especially from the UK, but of the 30-odd collectors I know locally, everyone had excuses. And to be honest, you can't base such an arrangement on people attending from abroad, because you never know if they can make it, afford it etc. considering it's a 2-day trip at the least.
For me, I don't care where the collectors come from, as long as they come and have a good time, making the arrangement worthwhile. And not to make excuses, but for me the economic aspect has been an issue for previous conventions in the UK. As you may know, I am a student working part-time, and I have two mortgages, so spending 300+ pounds (about 1/3 my salary) on a single weekend to London is risky.
-------------------- Well who’s on first? Yeah. Go ahead and tell me. Who. The guy on first. Who. The guy playin’ first base. Who. The guy on first. Who is on first! What are you askin’ me for? I’m askin’ you!
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Dominique De Bast
Film God
Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013
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posted November 12, 2013 03:11 PM
You may be refering to "Les Cinglés du Cinéma" ("cinglé" means crazy) in Argenteuil (about 15 minutes in train from the center of Paris). Although there are less sellers and visitors than it used to be, it is still there. At the moment, it is set in September but there are discussions to see if it will not be set back in January as it was before. There are three rooms but one is now dedicated to paper (magazines, posters...). There are some projections in a small room but what is nice to see is that several sellers projects also in the two "selling rooms" where films and material are sold. The convention is held during three days. The first (a Friday) is a "sellers day", so there is an 15 euros entrance fee for non sellers, but the two following days are free. There is new organisator, so things may change. You can see pictures of this convention in another thread. Another thing to add is that you can also find films and materials in Paris (for example at the shop "La bande des cinés", the name of the shop plays with the prononciation between des cinés and dessinée, la bande des cinés means the group of ciné(ma)s and la bande dessinée means the comic strip ; at the beginning the shop sold comic strips, then they opened a second shop with films and material). And of course, Paris worths (more than) a visit. I was told about another interesting convention in Roubaix, which is located in North France (interesting for our British members, maybe). I haven't been there but several French people told me it is growing.
-------------------- Dominique
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Robert Crewdson
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1031
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2013
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posted November 13, 2013 09:17 AM
As in any group discussion you will always get differences of opinion, it would be a boring world if we were all identical. Even if our views have been taken on board it doesn't mean that it's possible to change things; the matter might be out of our hands, but it's good to listen to the other persons view.
I haven't read all the comments from the beginning on either forum, so I don't know who these people are taking a delight in all this. The only thing I am aware of happening behind closed doors was John's posting. Not exactly closed as this Forum is open to anyone, and the messages can be read without being a member, though not as well attended as this forum. Many of the people on the other forum are also members here, and as far as I know they have shared their knowledge like the rest of us, putting their time to good use.
My previous post has been deleted. John kindly wrote an explanation, there was more going on than I was aware of. Nothing further is to be gained by prolonging this thread. [ November 13, 2013, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: Robert Crewdson ]
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