The 1976 Festival

The 16th Rose d’Or Festival took place from May 2 to May 8 1976. Thirty programmes were originally submitted to the competition and all-time record for the Festival. However, Portugal withdrew its musical show Huit Chansons Portugaises (Eight Portuguese Songs) on the grounds that the technical quality of the copy that was sent was defective and therefore not suitable for screening. Australian entry Guston Norman The Show - Episode 5 and Sakal Ban Phool Rahi Sarson from Pakistan were finally shown out of competition because they did not provide a jury member. Article 7 of the regulations stated: «Each organisation participating in the competition has seconded a member of the jury». Whereas Nigeria particiapted in the competition for the first time, the 1976 Festival was held without participation from the big American studios, an absence which was strongly felt.

The Festival programme this year brought back an event which had been abolished two years earlier, in 1974 following a survey of participants. It was a «Marché Dansant» and organised as part of the gala evenings. On both occasions music was provided by Paul Kuhn and his SFB Big Band.
As in previous years there was a conference in 1976.

This year's conference theme was The Talk Show. Although these had been around since the 1960s and were extremely popular in the U.S., the phenomenon was very new and modern in the German-speaking world. Since these programmes tended to be very heavy however, it was seen as difficult to submit them to the competition. Therefore the issue was discussed by 500 experts, using current examples discussed and examining new developments.

The Rose d'Or Festival was not alone in putting great emphasis on international cultural cooperation in the field of entertainment television. On the opening evening of the 1976 Monte Carlo Film Festival 1975 Golden Rose-winning show Fatti e Fattaci was screened. In response to this the Rose d'Or Festival 1976 featured a special screening of the Monte Carlo winner - TV movie The Night That Panicked America about the unexpected events surrounding the famous radio programme War of the Worlds by Orson Welles.

Representatives of the norwegian television with the Golden Rose, the Chaplin Price and the Press Price. ©Photo Gilbert Blondel, Radio-Télévision Suisse Romande

The Juries presented the Awards as follows:

1. Golden Rose to Norwegian Television for The Nor-Way to Broadcasting.
2. Silver Rose Russian Television for La Lanterne Magique (The Magic Lantern).
3. Bronze Rose to Picnic from the BBC.

The Chaplin Award for Best Comedy also went to The Nor-Way to Broadcasting.

In addition to the Silver Rose, La Lanterne Magique received a special mention from the press jury for the excellent acting and choreographic performances. The show, a remarkable spectacular on the history of film was certainly in stark contrast to previous entries from Russian television, each of which had been very folkloric in character.