I recently made a post about interesting Christian film organizations overseas, and Interfilm came up. I don't think we have had much, if any, conversation about them at A & F, which is surprising as they are probably the largest and most active "church and film" type organization out there. (Ahem me if we have parallel threads to this.)

Their past president said this in the 2003 address, the year they elected The Man Without a Past as film of the year, an award akin to our Spiritually Significant Film. This is one of the better statements I have read about film and Christianity:

"And one thing will remain the same: if film is really a work of art and church stays with what it should, then film and church will never be identical. Film participates in the specific character of the arts that is determined by structural openness and polyvalence. Esthetical experience is – at the core of its understanding of itself – much more interested in stimulating questions than in answering them, in confusing rather than in calming, in the search for meaning rather than in the teaching of meaning. Yet thus, the esthetical experience – in films too – creates a tension with regard to the position of the church that I also think is not to be given up. Church and theology are and will be related to a revelation of history, they have to tend to a certain non-opposition at least, to a unity of world and the experience of God, to the answers. Thus, there remains a border between the two different horizons of experience. But just as the acceptance of borders is a part of man's life, so is the crossing of borders. And thus, the vivid crossing of borders between film and theology may save the film from the banality of cinema and festival business, and it may also save the church from the deep sleep of the habitual and the always known."

There is a document online that lists the films that were awarded by the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes, with which Interfilm participates annually, here. Pretty rich and surprising list.

1974 Angst essen Seel auf (Fear Eats the Soul) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1975 Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (Kaspar Hauser) - Werner Herzog
1976 The Ecumenical Jury did not give an award
1977 J.A. Martin, photographe - Jean Beaudin/La dentellière (The Lacemaker) - Claude Goretta
1978 L’albero degli zoccoli (The Tree with the Wooden Clogs) - Ermanno Olmi
1979 Bez znieczulenia (Without Anesthesia) - Andrzej Wajda
1980 Stalker - Andreï Tarkovski/Constans (Constancy) - Krzysztof Zanussi
1981 Czlowickz zelaza (Man of Iron) - Andrzej Wajda
1982 La Notte di San Lorenzo (The Night of San Lorenzo) - P. et V. Taviani
1983 Nostalghia - Andreï Tarkovski
1984 Paris Texas - Wim Wenders
1985 La historia oficial (The Official History) - Luis Puenzo
1986 Offret (The Sacrifice) - Andreï Tarkovski
1987 Pokayaniye (Repent) - Tenguiz Abouladze
1988 A World Apart - Chris Menges
1989 Jésus de Montréal - Denys Arcand
1990 Stanno tutti bene (Everybody's Fine) - Guiseppe Tornatore
1991 La double vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Veronique) - Krzysztof Kieslowski
1992 Il ladro di bambini (The Stolen Children) - Gianni Amelio
1993 Libera me - Alain Cavalier
1994 Huo Zhe (To Live) - Zhang Yimou/Outlomlionnye Solntsem (Burnt by the Sun) - Nikita Mikhalkov
1995 Land and Freedom - Ken Loach
1996 Secrets and Lies - Mike Leigh
1997 The Sweet Hereafter - Atom Egoyan
1998 Mia eoniotita ke mia mera (Eternity and one Day) - Theo Angelopoulos
1999 Todo sobre mi madre (All about my Mother) - Pedro Almodovar
2000 Eureka - Aoyama Shinji
2001 Safar e Gandehar (Kandahar) - Mohsen Makhmalbaf
2002 Mies vailla menneeisyyttä (The Man without a Past) - Aki Kaurismäki
2003 Panj é Asr (At Five in the Afternoon) - Samira Makhmalbaf
2004 Diarios de motocicleta (Motorcycle Diaries) - Walter Salles
2005 Caché (Hidden) - Michael Haneke
2006 Babel - Alejandro González Iñárritu

Anyone have any experience with this organization? Judging from that list, A&F would have a lot in common.

Interfilm joins with a similar Catholic group (Signis -- I keep meaning to ask SDG if he's familiar with it) to do ecumenical juries at several festivals. They also sponsor the bi-annual class at the Montreal festival that I took part in a year ago. At the class in Montreal, we had time to meet with the jury (this was early in the festival, so they probably had time at that point -- it really would be a sizable job.) I know some people who have served on ecumenical juries for Interfilm. I have a hard copy of a 50 years of Interfilm article that I could snail mail to those truly interested. Also a article on "Talking Film, Talking Faith" (the course at Montreal) by Jim Wall who has served as NA president of Interfilm (as well as NCC's person who works with MPAA on film ratings).

It is more active in Europe than in North America. This is very apparent on their website. Right now Montreal is the only festival in North America that has an ecumenical jury. A friend who served on the ecu. jury in Montreal is trying to contact other festivals to see if they would be willing to have such a jury. If anyone has inroads, I'll pass them on.

I think it may be affiliated in some way with the World Association for Christian Communication.

Thanks for additional info in your post.

I have a link to an online copy of that in the Interfilm section here. Some really interesting history, and forward-thinking Christianity involved. SIGNIS is an equally underappreciated film/theology group, but so far the Interfilm sight provides better access to past and current juries then Signis.