Festival presention

At the beginning it was…

The digital world currently enters in a more mature phase. After years of incredibly fast development, we have now tools of an extreme quality, accessibility, performance and stability. Software used are giving us the possibility to express our creativity at a level never seen before. Digital cameras, mobile phones and computers are the tools of today’s creations. Mode than a hype, this is a new way of life, which starts to take over. But the possibilities of diffusing this creativity are still too light compare to the tools we own. Of course, we saw the birth of numerous forums on the Internet where everyone is able to present his work, to progress, to exchange… But this is still too limited and too related to the World Wide Web.


What if virtual and real worlds could meet ?

The foundation idea of the festival was born around end of 2005 to help all digital tool users to share their creation with as many people as possible. Our creativity and talent are put in front of the scene regardless to their level (amateur, professional, passion…) during this International festival. Digital art needs to be part of our cultural heritage, so be the actors of this art.

During its first edition, the International Image and Digital Photography Festival already regroup more than two hundreds exhibitors.
More than a thousand artworks were shown in the magnificent theatre of the Phoenix Park in Nice. The event was not only regrouping artist but sponsors as well which were all seduced by the idea and the scale of the festival. During this first edition, not less than 22 private sponsorships were signed. The Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur county, the Alpes-Maritimes council and the city of Nice gave a large contribution to the launch and the organisation of this event. The success was such that for this new edition the exhibition hall of the Phoenix Park was too small.


FESTIMAGO 2008 needs more space.

Thanks to the help of Jean-Pierre Mangiapan, PACA and Alpes-Marritimes councillor - already very involved in the first edition of the festival – we managed for this year to get hold of a unique and prestigious place: the Saint-Elme medieval citadel of Villefranche-sur-Mer.
Litteraly built on water and situated in the most beautiful harbour of the world, this citadel – one of the most visited place of the Cote d’Azur – will be the host of your artwork, which will cover the walls of its inside courts.
A hall equipped with giant screen broadcasting all day long digital artwork will be married to unique sound ambience created specially for the occasion by the electro acoustic class of the Nice conservatory under the direction of the compositor Michel Pascal.
Creative workshop, photographic safaris and displays are on the program, which will ease the meeting between professionals, amateurs and the public.


“Planet Earth”

The theme of this year edition is « Planet Earth ».
Image and digital photography give an endless liberty of creation to illustrate the beauty of our planet, its mysteries and its infinite variety of subjects.
The digital platform allows us as well to sound the alarm on a spectacular way about the ecological dangers, which are growing rapidly and particularly the ones that our kids will have to face in their unsettled future.
The festival wants to bring by its participants, a testimony of Earth beauty and the risk that it is at.


Digital Photography and Digital Art…

Why dividing the challenge of the festival in two categories: the digital photography one and the digital arts one? Although the idea of the first festival was to create a link between all the digital creations, it looks like it might be difficult to regroup computer graphics and photography in the same basket. Indeed, if we were showing, under other circumstances, paintings and pictures, could we say that they are the same just because they are both images and so by deduction, that it is useless to make the difference between these two forms of art? This is obviously impossible. This is the same for the digital. So during our festival, we will present them, as two different branches of the digital art so both will have the possibility of fully expressing itself.

However, we are going to try to gather these two expression ways…

This challenge will award several prizes
The Gold Hercules, Major Award of the Festival. It will be awarded to the artist, photograph or infographist, who will be able by his creations, to touch our sensibility and our imaginary.
• Digital picture award : it will be awarded to the best technical picture.
• Digital art award : it will be awarded to the best computer graphic technique.
• Public Award : it will be awarded by the web users (yourselves) by voting on the website Festimago.com.
• City of Villefranche-sur-Mer award : Created by the initiative of Gerard Grosgogeat, Mayor of Villefranche, it will allow to display a selection of artwork throughout the city. The inhabitants and the tourist will vote following a trail printed on a guide.