Alcatel Space Wins Grand Prize at 1st International Space Film Festival
Toulouse, October 5, 2001 – Alcatel Space (Paris: CGEP.PA; NYSE: ALA) was
awarded the Grand Prize at the International Space Film Festival, organized
by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, the French space agency (CNES)
to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Astronautical Federation
(IAF) Congress in Toulouse.
This first international festival of “space in the movies” took place in
the Toulouse Cinémathèque on September 29 -30. The trophies will be awarded
on Friday night during the closing ceremony of the IAF congress.
Alcatel Space won the festival?s Grand Prize for its animated film entitled
“Did You Say Satellite?”. This innovative cartoon answers the questions
“What is a satellite?” and “What do satellites do?”.
Competing in the festival were films produced by companies and public
sector organizations in the space industry. The competition was open to
films presenting past, present or future space projects. A total of 14
films were presented by a variety of organizations, including NASDA, the
Japanese space agency, NASA, the American space agency, ISRO, the Indian
space agency, Astrium, Starsem, EADS Launchers, CNES and others.
The jury for the first festival was chaired by Hubert Curien, former
Minister of Research and President of the French Academy of Sciences.
The members of the jury were:
– Dominique Baudis, President of the CSA (France?s media oversight agency)
– Pierre Cadars, Director of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse,
– Bernard Menez, actor,
– Dr. George Muller, former NASA administrator,
– Georges Pessis, General Director of Anatec,
– Bernard Thomas, Director Toulouse Journalism School,
– Professor Matsuo, ISAS (Japan).
About “Did You Say Satellite?”
The idea for this animated film was spawned by the fact that many people –
visitors to the company, new recruits, and even the general public – simply
do not know much about satellites.
Many people have only a very partial idea of just how important satellites
are in our daily lives, and much of the technical or even basic vocabulary
surround the world of satellites remains obscure to them.
The idea was thus to produce a educational film to “initiate” people about
satellites. The script is modeled around the answers to two fundamental
questions: “What is a satellite?” and “What do satellites do?”.
The emphasis was on a straightforward teaching approach that does not
feature our company (in fact, Alcatel Space is never mentioned in the
movie). At the same time, people who are familiar with our work note
subtle references to our products, satellites and systems.
We also chose simple animation based on two small characters to present
simple technical concepts that are essential to an understanding of
satellites. The result is a film designed for a wide audience, spanning
schools, TV, museums and exhibitions, media libraries, etc.
About Alcatel Space
Alcatel Space ranks among the world’s leading space systems prime
contractors. Leveraging its dual expertise in civil and military
applications, Alcatel Space develops satellite technology solutions for
telecommunications, navigation, optical and radar observation, meteorology,
and scientific applications. Alcatel Space established its world leadership
in satellite orders in 2000, winning the most orders for geostationary
communications satellites, with a total of 10 satellites (27% of the
market). A fully-owned subsidiary of Alcatel (100%), Alcatel Space
generated 2000 revenues of 1.4 billion euros and has 6,000 employees.
About Master Image
Master Image has offices in Paris and Toulouse. The group generates annual
revenues of about 40 million French francs. Our global approach to
audiovisual communications allows us to manage large-scale projects in all
areas of audiovisual and multimedia. We set high aesthetic and creative
standards for the production of advertising spots and other materials,
developed in partnership with top directors who propose innovative concepts
tailored to the communications objectives of major advertisers. We are in
fact a multimedia company since our business encompasses production of TV
ads, corporate films, TV programs, webcasts, and multimedia programs. Our
movies, documentaries, CD-Roms and interactive programs provide
comprehensive and competitive solutions in compared with production
companies that tend to be compartmentalized.
About Alcatel
Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA; NYSE: ALA) builds next generation networks,
delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to
established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers
worldwide. With sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000 and 110,000 employees and,
Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
