UNESCO news

IFACCA/Artshub,
28 May 2002, France

List of Representative Works of World Cinema UNESCO will continue its celebrations for the International Year for Cultural Heritage this week, with the launch of a project to develop a List of Representative Works of World Cinema, in collaboration with the International Council for Cinema and Television (ICCT). At the close of the 164th session of UNESCO's Executive Board, on 30 May, six films by one of France’s cinema pioneers, Georges Méliès (1861-1938), will be shown, including A Trip to the Moon, made 100 years ago. According to a news release, the list will select films which typify a movement in filmmaking, a social trend, a historic period, a new technique, a culture, or ethical value. To be compiled with the assistance of film archives from around the world, as well as museums, professional film associations and interested government bodies, the list will aim to raise awareness and arouse interest in films in need of restoration, preservation or digitisation. Africa Day UNESCO celebrated Africa Day on 25 May, marking the date of the 1963 founding of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU). With the theme of ‘Africa celebrates’, this year’s celebrations included: a round-table discussion on the concept of ‘Negritude’, a poetry reading, an exhibition of sculpture and jewellery, concerts and other cultural and culinary events. The day also paid tribute to Léopold Sédar Senghor, the poet-president of Senegal, who died on 20 December last year.