From the President

George A. Willis csc, sasc

Irecently returned from Belgium, where the IMAGO conference (IAGA) and Awards Gala was to be held in Brussels in March. Just a reminder, IMAGO (International Federation of Cinematographers) is an organization of which the CSC is a full member. Each year, 54 societies from around the world gather in a (host) country to attend the conference, followed by the IMAGO Awards Gala. This year the host society was the SBC (Belgian Society of Cinematographers). Usually, two days are devoted to the IAGA conference, where a substantial agenda is tabled to deal with issues that relate to the various cinematographic societies from around the world who are members of IMAGO. The first day (in this case, the only day) began in the usual way, with delegates attending from around the world ready to address the many issues associated with international filmmaking. This IAGA agenda called for, amongst other items, the election of a new president, revised statutes, financials and various specialist committee reports such as authorship, inclusiveness, education, technical and working conditions, as well as a host of other topics that are all part of conferences in general. It was not too far into the first day – about two hours – when the first reports related to COVID-19 started coming in and then everything went sideways, as the saying goes. The most important announcements related to travel, border closures and the like. Of course, this was something akin to a small spark being fanned into a huge fire. While most of the society delegates are from Europe, there were many from other parts of the world including us, from Canada. Quite apart from the realization that major changes were in the works, the fact was that due to issues completely beyond control, the IMAGO Awards Gala was also being cancelled. This in itself was a major blow to the host society (SBC) because the resulting changes would mean severe financial consequences. All the delegates representing their societies, including the CSC, had to make immediate decisions regarding travel arrangements. Reluctantly, we had to accept this situation but were very surprised when the President of IMAGO suddenly explained that he had to leave for the airport immediately. He was now booked on the last flight out of Brussels, as the airport in his home country was shutting down. In reality, having revised travel itineraries many times before for different reasons, this did not seem to offer too much other than inconvenience for us all, but this opened up a new learning curve. Attempting to do what in another circumstance is merely a formality, took on a very different challenge. Communication with airlines via telephone or online was met with frustration and ineffectiveness. This necessitated a specific trip to the airport to change flight details so that we could be assured of getting a flight back home. While extremely disappointing and frustrating, there was at least the confirmation, reassurance and relief that we would not be in a situation where we would be unable to return home. This was indeed a possibility, as various international airports and borders were being closed. We did not take this turn of events at all lightly because of the unknown factors. On the morning of our departure, all restaurants, bars, etc., were closed, and had we decided to stay after the IAGA to visit other cities in Belgium, as was our original intention, we would no doubt have had to deal with a lot more than inconvenience. The quote from Irish novelist Oliver Goldsmith, “He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day,” now has a very significant meaning.