18 In anticipation of the upcoming annual Prix Italia, the RAI-organized radio, TV and Web program competition, VideoAge spoke with Paolo Morawski, the Prix’s Secretary General, before he left his Rome-based office and headed to Turin, where the six-day event will be held for the seventh consecutive year, starting September 19. Before settling in Turin, the Fest was an itinerant guest of Italy’s most beautiful cities. Right off the bat, Morawski stated that this year the traditional conferences won’t take place. Instead there will be a dozen Prix Italia Labs (two a day), three Prix Italia Lectures and a BBC lecture, a brainstorming session and two celebrations (one for radio and the other for TV). “As for the topics we will discuss — because this year is the year of the ‘Power of Storytelling’ — the focus will be on plot, themes, formats and languages o f the narrative,” Morawski said. “One of the Prix Italia Labs will focus on ‘Telling Difficult Stories: Trafficking in Human Beings and New Forms of Slavery,’” he said. In partnership with the View Conference of Turin (an annual international event focusing on computer graphics, interactive techniques, digital cinema, 2D/3D animation, video games, and visual effects), Morawski is arranging a joint meeting at Prix I talia on the new frontiers of communication. He also explained that the 2015 theme is “‘The Laboratory of Creativity. The Power of Storytelling.’ Why? Because we dream of outlets capable of producing and transmitting highquality cultural programs. To us, innovation and creativity are twins. That’s why the first key word is ‘Laboratory’ and the second is ‘Creativity.’ “What struck me personally is that the center of the enormous halo of technical possibilities is always the archaic ability to create and tell stories, stories that leave their mark. That’s why ‘Power of Storytelling’ is the theme of this year’s Prix Italia,” he said. The new elements this year are part of the Prix’s three-year plan (2014-2016). Morawski added: “Prix Italia is now 67 years old and the majority of its members are the most important public radio and television companies in the world, which are turning into media companies capable of producing high-quality content for all platforms. Prix Italia wants to be a part of this transformation for radio, TV and Web.” Last year, the Web Prize was expanded with two categories: Best Storytelling and Best Trans-media Experience. For the 2015 edition, Morawski has launched the “Prix Italia Golden Award for New Radio Formats,” open to all digital platforms. The prize is 7,000 euro, for the radio program that stands for “innovation, courage and language.” Another new element this year is the establishment of a small and informal Prix Italian International Advisory Board for Web and Trans-media Strategies consisting of experts and scholars such as Simone Arcagni (University of Palermo), Juan Carlos De Martin (Nexa Center for Internet & Society at the Politecnic of Turin); Nathan Jurgenson (social media theorist); Catherine Lottier (France Télévisions); Carlos Scolari (University Pompeu Fabra). This group will meet during Prix Italia for a brainstorming session about “The Video Generation and the Web in 2025.” Indeed, said Morawski, “The mantra of the Prix Italia and my personal view is that everyone can go home with at least three good ideas to develop.” But there are also some pragmatic aspects. “We established the Prix Italia Golden Award for International Television Co-productions that rewards, with 7,000 euro, a program coproduced by a member organization of Prix Italia, with at least one other member from a different country,” he explained. A final new element is Prix Italia’s website, which is nowcompletewithhistorical references. The site even carries a compilation of VideoAge’s coverage of the Prix starting in 1981. “The past is never dead. Neither has it passed,” said Morawski, and “if you don’t know where you come from it is difficult to know where you’re going. Prix Italia has 67 years of great history. RAI has organized Prix Italia since 1948 and strongly believes in the viability of this international competition by continuing to invest in it. Obviously, we would not have reached the 67th edition of the Prix Italia if the event was not always able to attract the new, to capture successive bursts of curiosity and if it didn’t have foresight.” Morawski continued: “The establishment of the Competition Web in 1998 is surely an example of foresight. At the time the Internet was a 56K modem, and to bet that it would be the seed of the future of broadcasting was not a trivial intuition.” At Prix Italia, “It is impressive to revisit the extraordinary gallery of artists who fill our roster of guests and winners,” Morawski said. “The latest example is the Polish movie director Pawel Pawlikowski, Oscar winner in 2015, who won the Prix Italia in 1991 in the Arts category,” he said. “It is equally exciting to re-read the many papers that the Prix Italia has published over the years: from the portrayal of violence in the early ’70s to new experimental programs for TV satellite in the early ’80s. “The glorious history of the Prix Italia pushes us — here is its lesson: To always be alert and open. But there’s more. For some time I have observed the warning of Vint Cerf, VP and chief Internet evangelist for Google, who worried that ‘we could see our most precious memories consigned to dust.’ And Cerf, perhaps, would take comfort in knowing that many of Prix Italia’s members share his concern. Just browse the projects submitted to our competition in recent years, to find dozens of conservation initiatives, sharing, re-evaluation of archives, documents and collective memories.” This explains why Prix Italia is rebuilding “its own memory by digitizing the archives and putting it at the members’ disposal. The new project is to reconstruct the history of the Prix Prize Web Italia from the 1998 edition.” Creativity, Innovation, Foresight Mark The Fest’s 67-Year Run June/July 2015 RAI ’s Prix I tal ia Preview Paolo Morawski, the Prix’s Secretary General, presiding over a session last year.
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