The Swiss Feature Service (SFD) has a new president: Ulrich E. Gut is taking over from Andreas Iten, who is leaving the post after a good seven years.  
The former member of the Council of States from Zug has headed the association since March 2000, as the SFD announced on Friday. Ulrich E. Gut, who holds a doctorate in law, worked as a personal assistant to Federal Councillor Leon Schlumpf in the 1980s on the revision of media and telecommunications law, among other things. According to the SDA, he was later editor-in-chief of the Zürichsee-Zeitung and president of the Zurich-Schaffhausen-Glarus section of the newspaper publishers' association. Born in 1952, Ulrich E. Gut currently works for non-profit organizations and as a communications consultant. He was a member of the Zurich Cantonal Council from 1991 to 1999.

 According to various press reports in the USA, the depiction of smokers is becoming a major factor in the classification of films. So whether a film is suitable for young people or not will soon depend not only on how violent or erotic a film is, but also on how smokers are depicted.  
Movies that glorify smoking will in the future be restricted in America to people older than 17. This does not go as far as many anti-smoking organizations wanted. These called for a general ban on smoking in movies accessible to those under 17. Previously, the rule was that only teenagers smoking should be hidden from children's eyes. Under the new rule, meanwhile, the American Film Association does not guarantee that smoking in movies will be rated as strictly as sex, violence or drug use. Joan Graves, chairman of the rating authority, allows for discretion: If, for example, a character smokes in a historically accurate manner, such as Edward Murrow in "Good Night, and Good Luck," that is still acceptable. But if Scarlett Johansson's Black Dahlia seductively sucks on her cigarette, that's not good for younger viewers. As an example of how smoking can even be made cinematically unappetizing, an anti-smoking group pointed to Emma Thomposon, who in "Stranger than Fiction" portrayed something like a human ashtray, thus depriving her nicotine addiction of any glamour.

 The platform for royalty-free media material has been completely redesigned. With a modern design and optimized navigation, editorial offices can now access the freely accessible press material more quickly and easily. The SDA subsidiary News aktuell Schweiz has announced that its press portal has been completely revamped. With a new layout and optimized navigation, texts, images, graphics and documents can now be accessed more effectively. Users also have the option of subscribing directly to the search results as an RSS feed. The obs. image database in particular has been equipped with many new functions, such as the mini-gallery, the info rollover and a magnifying glass. The portal also has a new image manager that can be used to save searches and automatically lists new images that match the search criteria. Image editors can thus find images quickly and registered users can view and download photographic material more effectively, according to the press release.

 The Locarno International Film Festival will take place this year from August 1 to 11. Today, the festival management announced the first names of the jury members.  
According to a statement from the festival, Chinese director Jia Zhang Ke, (winner of the Golden Lion at Venice 2006 with
"Still Life") and the Italian Saverio Costanzo (Golden Leopard at Locarno 2004 with "Private") have been announced for the jury of the international competition.  
In the competition jury
Confirmed "Cinéastes du présent" are the Swiss Marc-Olivier Wahler, director of the "Palais de Tokyo", a center for contemporary art in Paris, Nuria Vidal from Spain, journalist, curator and film historian and the Argentinian filmmaker Diego Lerman, who won the Silver Leopard in Locarno in 2002 with "Tan de repente".  
The Leopard for Best First Feature, a prize awarded to the best film in the International Competition and the Competition
"Cinéastes du Présent" is awarded by a three-member jury consisting of the Tunisian filmmaker Raja Amari, known in particular for "Satin rouge", the Portuguese producer Francisco Villa-Lobos and director Kornél Mundruczó from Hungary.  
Finally, the best short films will be awarded by German actor and director Christopher Buchholz, César winner Lyes Salem from France and Belgian filmmaker Olivier Masset-Depasse, who has already won two awards for his short films in Locarno and has published a highly acclaimed first feature as an author.  

 Star TV used to regularly report on local filmmaking in the "Swiss Made" program. Swiss film is currently booming like not since Chnächt Ueli's time, which is why Star TV is once again including "Swiss Made" in its weekly program from 22 May. Swiss commercial film production will also be given a place in the program.   
"The time is now ripe for this magazine to return to the program," says Paul Grau, Managing Director of Star TV, assessing the situation. From May 22, "Swiss Made" will report on Tuesdays at 8.30 p.m. in various sections on news from the Swiss film scene and everything that moves Swiss filmmakers. As Star TV announced on Thursday, these will be the following sections:
"News and Facts" shows news about the current film scene. "Big Picture" provides information about Swiss feature film productions and "Commercial" gives an insight into Swiss advertising film productions. In addition, "Swiss Made" reports alternately on short films, video clips and animations, where you can discover newcomers to the Swiss film scene. The best takes from previous "Swiss Made" reports will be shown on May 15 as an introduction.

  Publicis Zurich is the only Swiss agency to win a gold pencil at the most prestigious advertising festival in the USA.  
As the agency reported on Thursday, it won the following awards for the radio campaign developed on behalf of the Blue Cross
"Drunk Navigation System" the coveted award. The award ceremony took place on Wednesday night in New York. One Show not only counts in Donald Gunn's International Gunn Report, but also has the same number of points as Cannes in the Swiss Creative Ranking.

 IP Multimedia Switzerland is strengthening its TV Sales division with the appointment of media planner Gabriel Blume as Account Manager.  
IP Multimedia has made a new addition to its team: Gabriel Blume has been working as Key Account Manager in the company's TV division since the beginning of May, looking after various media agencies in the Zurich area. The 26-year-old Blume has been working as a media planner for national and international clients at MC Media Company in Zurich since 2004. Prior to this, Gabriel Blume successfully completed his dual degree in business administration (specializing in media and communications management) and worked for IP Deutschland in Cologne and Düsseldorf for three years in the areas of sales and product management.

 The University of Neuchâtel and the French-speaking Swiss training center for journalists (CRFJ) want to set up a university Master's course in journalism. To this end, they signed a letter of intent in Neuchâtel on Thursday. Students will be able to start the two-year course for the first time in September next year. By then, the University of Neuchâtel and the CRFJ will have to draw up the exact training modules for the Academy for Journalism and Media (AMJ). As the news agency SDA reports, the Master's course will consist of three pillars: journalism, management for media companies and media technology. Students will have to complete two two-month internships in a media company as part of the course. Funding for the new course is still unclear.

 The UN has appointed Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore (32) as the new ambassador for its food program. The organization wants to ensure that no Hollywood actress in the world has to go hungry any more.  
As a spokesperson for the organization said in Geneva, the UN could think of nothing more important than working to ensure that Hollywood actresses no longer fall victim to inhumane diets. It also wants to counter unworthy media campaigns that constantly beat up on overweight stars. With its commitment to Barrymore, the UN also wants to address the issue of child labor in Hollywood. Her case in particular highlights the dangers for children in this business: Barrymore, who flickered across cinema screens alongside the alien E.T. at the tender age of seven, suffered a breakdown when she was told at the age of 14 that there were no aliens at all. The actress was unable to cope with this and her early fame and was already addicted to drugs at the age of 15. As a first concrete measure in the fight against the poor treatment of women like Barrymore in Hollywood, the UN wants to lobby the US Congress this week to provide 360 million francs in funding for the serving of healthy meals in Hollywood canteens and restaurants, according to the press release.

 Greenpeace has filed a complaint of unfairness against the Petroleum Association because its advertising campaign "Heating with oil: for more climate protection" is said to be cynical and misleading. The oil association accuses Greenpeace of disinformation.  
Greenpeace describes the heating oil advertisements appearing in numerous newspapers as unfair because they conceal the fact that oil is the most climate-damaging fuel next to coal. Instead, it is claimed that heating with oil protects the climate. Greenpeace refers to the latest UN climate reports. Greenpeace has submitted the complaint to the Swiss Commission for Fair Trading. This commission is a self-regulatory body for the advertising industry.
 
The oil association defends itself against the accusations. It is the environmental organization that is spreading disinformation. The advertisements are about modern oil heating systems with significantly lower oil consumption. The use of condensing technology improves energy efficiency and reduces emissions of pollutants.

 The Zurich interest group Plakat, Raum, Gesellschaft (IG PRG) submitted a petition to City Councillor Kathrin Martelli on Thursday to halve the amount of advertising space in Zurich. The aim of the exercise: a more attractive cityscape. According to SDA, the resulting revenue for the city is in the per mille range of the budget. In their opinion, this is disproportionate to the negative impact of poster advertising on the cityscape. The association criticizes the dominance of poster companies in public spaces. The petition calls for half of the more than 8,000 advertising spaces in the city to be removed. At the same time, it demands a ban on the licensing of billboard advertising on private property. The petition was signed by a total of 567 people. The Tages-Anzeiger once ran the headline: "More advertising than a train station", wrote the initiators, describing a development that has increasingly affected the city of Zurich: The appropriation of public space and the encroachment of advertising spaces on the cityscape. Advertising is everywhere, and new ones appear every day: at streetcar and bus stops, often moving and illuminated, on house walls, along the streets, in underpasses, on video screens and building-sized "megaposters". Advertising posters follow advertising posters and fight for the attention of passers-by - with the effect that they are no longer noticed at all. The initiators are therefore convinced that not only the cityscape would benefit from a reduction in billboard advertising, but also the advertisers themselves.

 Nine works made it onto the shortlist for the Crossmedia Awards. Today it was announced who juggled the various media most skillfully, was innovative and left the best overall impression: gold goes to Jung von Matt for the "V-Team" campaign for Unilever/Knorr, silver to Publicis with the Migros campaign "Lieblingsprodukte" and bronze for Wirz Werbung with Mobiliar.  
The jury, headed by Geri Aebi from Wirz Werbung, did not have an easy time of it. On the one hand, the final nine were all valid candidates; on the other hand, quite a few of the jury members were confronted with work from their own company. In the end, Unilever/Knorr and Jung von Matt won the gold award for the "V-Team: let's fruit your friends" campaign. The check for 10,000 euros and the "golden compass" were presented to the agency by Klaus Kappeler, CEO of the Goldbach Media Group, to great applause. Publicis won silver with the Migros campaign "Favorite Products". Wirz Werbung's umbrella brand campaign for Mobiliar Insurance won bronze. An award for the best foreign cross-media campaign goes to Proximity Werbeagentur Wien for the Austrian Federal Railways.
 
Goldbach Media initiated and organizes the Crossmedia Award with the intention of supporting the industry's desire for greater efficiency in advertising. According to CEO Kappeler, the further development of the bsw leading swiss agencies training program in collaboration with Goldbach Media in parallel with the cross-media competition is intended to
"the knowledge and practice of cross-media efficiency factors are making further progress".  
The shortlist - Affichage
"Switzerland elects a new capital", Publicis - BANK-now, Contexta
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"Flying, Swiss made", Jung von Matt/Limmat - Migros
"Favorite products", Publicis - Mobiliar umbrella brand campaign, Wirz Werbung
- SBB
"Discover Switzerland", Jung von Matt/Limmat - Swisscom Fixnet
"Beck & Bondi, Contexta - Tamedia, Jobwinner.ch, Wirz Werbung
- Unilever,
"V-Team", Jung von Matt  
The jury - Geri Aebi, Wirz Werbung (presidency)
- Dani Matter, Matter & Gretener
- Claudio Dionisio, namics
- Andreas Gedenk, Bemberg, Gedenk, Media
- Markus Gut, Publicis
- Beat Lauber, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
- Regula Fecker, Strategic Planning
- Urs Schneider, mediaschneider
- Daniel Hartmann, Contexta
- Dominik von Matt, Jung von Matt
- Franziska von Weissenfluh, Berner Zeitung
- Marc Werner, Swisscom