WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Q&A: Tiburon Partners’ Founder Martyrossian Bullish On Asia

Feb 2 2012 | 9:02am ET

Mark Martyrossian is a founding partner of UK-based Tiburon Partners and responsible, along with Mark Fleming, for managing the firm’s Tiburon Taipan and Taurus funds. Martyrossian was based in Hong Kong for a number of years—first with Crosby Securities, and later with Warburg Dillon Read—before leaving to establish Tiburon Partners with Richard Pell-Ilderton. He remains focused on—and bullish about—Asia and spoke recently to FINalternatives Senior Reporter Mary Campbell to explain why.

Can you tell me something about the fund you run, it’s the Taurus Fund, is that correct?

Yes, Taurus is the Asian fund that we’ve been running since 2003, it’s Asia ex-Japan and it’s about $50 million in size. [It] was bigger, obviously, before the shenanigans of 2008…and we’re gradually building it back up.

How have the Asian markets changed since you first began investing there?

They have grown enormously. When we first started investing there was no market in China and markets in India, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia were closed to foreigners. Those markets that were open were limited in scope: Hong Kong consisted of a couple of banks, several property companies and some utilities; Singapore had banks, some plantations and property.

That has all changed with the number of stocks rising and the markets comprising a decent range of sectors. But perceptions sometimes lag. I remember marketing in the U.S. in 2005 and there being a fair amount of consternation about whether the Asian markets were big enough and broad enough to actually allow you to run a sensible long/short strategy. They are. This growth and the increased liquidity has been reflected in the fact that borrowing costs have fallen dramatically. When we launched the fund, the cost of borrowing in a couple of our jurisdictions was 6-7%. In those same markets now, the cost to borrow is 2 [%]. Asia’s a big place, clearly, and the markets, while still categorized by some as developing have come a long way.

What can you tell me about your investment strategy?

We’re bottom-up stock pickers. Fundamental analytics is the name of the game for us and whilst we do pay attention to momentum and other indicators which perhaps go to market timing or market smarts, really, the sine qua non for any investment we make is simply, ‘Is this stock cheap or expensive?’

You describe yourself as “keen on Asia,” why is that?

…[B]ecause Asia doesn’t display any of the horrifying, debt-laden trades of the developed market counterparts, whether in Europe or the United States…[A]lso, fairly critically, we see ample evidence that Asian governments have policy flexibility, and by that I mean, quite simply, they are in a position to cut interest rates and are doing so. For example, China reduced the reserve requirement ratio a [late last year]. The RBA has cut rates twice [in December]. We believe that other Asian central banks will follow; whereas, again, their Western counterparts have thrown the monetary kitchen sink at their economies but failed to stimulate any growth at all.

At the corporate level…you get a lot of gloom-mongering about Asia. I think people do hark back to the days when Asia was seen, perhaps rightfully, as a manufacturing workshop for cheap products and the whole of Asia was built on export-led industries. That is no longer the case. Clearly, there are big export sectors in Asia and, equally clearly, those same sectors are going to face trade headwinds with Western consumers not spending anymore. But there’s a lot of other stuff going on in Asia other than just exports…it’s the domestic economy, the development of local infrastructure, the galvanizing of the Asian consumer to spend some of his savings into spending, that’s really what the main attraction in Asia is.

While momentum will slow in the region by dint of the recession in the West, Asian economies are still growing. So whilst the rate of growth may slow somewhat, it is still a roaring rate of growth….[A] hell of a lot of ink is spilt on China slowing from 8 to 9%—big deal. It’s not a piddling little economy, it’s the second-biggest economy in the world. So, we are fairly sanguine about it slowing.

That’s not to say the number 8 rather than 9 [won’t] temporarily undermine the dumb money’s confidence, but I think at the macro level, growth still looks pretty well underpinned and there are already signs of the Chinese government beginning to loosen. Just this last month we’ve had four provinces given the go ahead to issue bonds on international capital markets which will be guaranteed by Beijing. There’s a…policy that banks must start allocating more money to SMEs who have been relying upon the third market, the sort of underground banking market that does charge usurious rates of interest….

A number of these policies are already being implemented. They don’t tend to get too much press coverage, but it is happening and it does show that Beijing is doing something about it because they can. The macro story still looks pretty damn good to us. However, we invest in stock markets and the stock markets have clearly been under the cosh for much of the last year and recently have suffered pretty badly by dint of the mayhem that’s going on in Europe. I think there’s been a fairly wholesale reaction to the travails of the euro and Asia, perceived as a high beta part of the world has come clattering back just as much as Europe.

But this has thrown up some great with valuations in Asia coming back to the levels we last saw in the depths of the Lehman crisis in 2008. In terms of valuation—and remember, valuation is our starting point for every stock that’s in the portfolio—we’re seeing a lot of stocks that are dirt cheap. And our net exposure, which typically ranges between 20 and 50%, we’ve actually been putting a bit more money on the table lately.

You feel the Western press is negative in its coverage of China, why do you think that is?

I don’t have the answer but I can conjecture, I think partly it’s Schadenfreude… I think it’s partly commercialism, in the sense that I think there are a lot of business editors out there that, on a quiet news day, ring their reporters and say ‘Bring me a scare story on China.’…[T]o give you an example, last March the FT ran a full-page article about China and the photograph at the top of that article showed a New Town development in China which was empty…The article itself was pretty measured—there are two or three of these places in China which is not, statistically, particularly relevant. But…the text was considered. It didn’t say, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s a property bubble and this is typical and it’s all going to end in tears’... What made the impact though, was the photograph.

In November last year I was in New York and the New York Times ran the same article. Not in the business section but on the front page of the main paper — I don’t know, was that a quiet week? I can’t remember what was going on that week. But it was the same damned article and interesting from my point of view because…I’ve been going to China since 1986 [and] at the moment I think it’s in pretty good shape. People are upset about the level of local government debt. Well, it’s effectively guaranteed by Beijing so should we get really worried about that? I don’t think so, in the near term. They’re upset about bank NPLs going up because, after all, Beijing did tell the banks to open the credit floodgates in 2008 in order to stimulate the market after the GFC. Yes, NPLs will go up, but Beijing stands behind them and we’re not invested in any of the Chinese banks so, are we worried? No. And, obviously, property prices at the luxury end of the market in the major cities are high so headlines are obsessed about a property bubble. But there isn’t a hell of a lot of leverage in China and, of course, it is leverage rather than the price of property that poses a systemic risk, so again…I’m not worried about the Chinese property sector dragging down the economy as the subprime sector did in the United States.

Another Chinese story that made headlines was the Sino-Forest deal, what did you make of that?

Well, you know, there’s an old proverb that says Caveat emptor. To start with, when something is described as a backdoor listing, what do you immediately think?

Why do you have to be a backdoor listing? Why couldn’t you use the front door?

Exactly. That’s exactly what we think. The second thing is, I don’t know whether Sino-Forest owns those trees or not, and the fact that I don’t know makes me think that I should be investing somewhere else. I don’t want to sound holier than thou or too clever by far, we’ve invested in things that have gone wrong on us, but I think, from that bitter experience, when Chinese companies which are in a new sector where property rights are not capable of easy proof come through the back door for a listing, even when it’s a brilliant story, I think risk-adjusted returns are better elsewhere.

In your company materials you say you like to let your portfolio managers, within agreed limits, pursue their own investment styles. What’s the thinking behind that?

When we set the business up, each of us had come from bigger firms…We’d pursued our careers in equity investment and we learned a lot, in our formative years, from working in larger organizations. When firms become too big then the manner of decision making perhaps becomes sub-optimal. When we launch a fund, we’ll have a lead manager on that fund and that lead manager, not to put too fine a point on it, carries the can. He has the ultimate responsibility for picking the stocks, forming the portfolio, monitoring the metrics, everything. He might have people supporting him and giving him advice, he might have analysts, but he’s where the buck stops.

And we think that’s a good thing because we think managing by consensus where you have joint managers or teams of senior portfolio managers who all have to agree on things before they go to the bathroom is, as I said, sub-optimal. When we take on a new partner with a view to launching a fund for him, he will manage that fund according to his experience and his beliefs. Consequently you do not get a Tiburon process across all the Tiburon funds—each fund follows a mandate or process with which the lead manager is familiar. For example, our Asian strategy lead manager is my partner Mark Fleming who is a fundamental, bottom-up stock picker. The Japan fund is managed by another partner, Rupert Kimber, again, he’s a stock picker but Rupert has an added layer in his process—he is looking for companies that are cheap and where he believes that there is some sort of restructuring process going on which will positively impact the share prices. It’s a different process. He also runs 20 stocks in his portfolio; we run 40 to 50 in ours.

Taurus Fund started as the Tiger Fund and it has become a UCITs fund. What was the reasoning behind the decision to launch as a UCITs vehicle? Does operating within that framework present any challenges?

As I said, 2008 was rather hairy and although, as you’ve seen by our numbers, we had regained our high-water mark by 2009, the investment world was still pretty battered and bruised. Risk appetite really didn’t start appearing again until third quarter 2009 and when it did, people had become enthralled by the UCITs concept. I think the trauma of 2008 had, perhaps justifiably or perhaps unjustifiably, led investors to conclude that it had been a failure of regulation in the financial world and therefore anything that was regulated was going to be better than anything that was unregulated. They wanted the safety of a regulated vehicle. Consequently, we decanted the small amount of funds that were left in Tiger—about $15 million—into the new structure and we started to get investors interested [and] it has grown, not by much, but it is growing and I think it has got some traction.

We used to have monthly liquidity in Cayman and, we took the commercial decision to go with UCITs for the reasons I’ve mentioned and we made it daily liquid. Now, we could do that because it didn’t make much odds to us whether it was monthly liquid or daily; we invest in liquid underlying stocks, so it didn’t pose any change in what we were doing anyway, so why not give the benefit of that greater liquidity to our investors?

In Depth

Q&A: Portfolio Advisors' Brian Murphy On The Advantages of A Private Markets Platform

Jan 2 2018 | 11:05am ET

Most private markets firms reference their platforms as a source of competitive...

CFA Institute To Add Computer Science To Exam Curriculum

May 24 2017 | 9:25pm ET

Starting in 2019, financial industry executives sitting for the coveted Chartered...

Guest Contributor

Steinbrugge: The Top Hedge Fund Industry Trends for 2018

Jan 2 2018 | 12:22pm ET

Each year, Don Steinbrugge’s Agecroft Partners compiles the insights gained...

FINalternatives Trending

From the current issue of


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Truncated: length

WARC-Type: response

text:
finance homework help Fundamentals Explained

As know-how developments, it really is vital we teach college students to achieve a computational globe. Discover the Ignite My Upcoming in School assets to begin effectively engaging pupils with the foundations of computational wondering throughout core topic regions Currently.

You turn out to be the scientist in this highly effective electronic Mastering expertise. Investigate the science of addiction as well as impacts of heroin and prescription opioids over the Mind and body by way of a self-paced scientific exploration.

Teens who movie an authentic PSA warning their friends of the risks of opioid misuse have a chance at around $10,000. Encourage pupils to sign up today and guide the alter in educational facilities.

Loans are customized to satisfy The actual necessities of a project. The credit rating possibility might be taken fully from the EBRD or partly syndicated to the market.

New IRS federal tax-withholding suggestions really should give tens of millions of usa citizens increased paychecks in 2018.

Elon Musk attended a now-infamous function in a Silicon Valley Trader's home that has been called a "sex celebration."

Our professionals learn how to style and design lessons based on the way you're Understanding. Which means we do not just document classroom classes and place them in our Self-Paced prep—we layout lessons FOR Self-Paced.

What do gecko’s ft, spider legs, and fireflies have in popular? They have all inspired 3M improvements in science! Stream the Younger Scientist Virtual Subject journey these days to learn more about how nature evokes 3M science.

The limit is calculated within the partnership level where by a project is owned by a partnership. Any interest that cannot be deducted by the partnership as a result of Restrict would be allocated for the companions in exactly the same ratio as Internet revenue and decline and held by the associates to be used exclusively to offset any upcoming "extra" profits They may be allocated by the partnership. These deductions cannot be specially allocated to associates.

When you need a Tier 4 student visa to undertake a Grasp's programme in the united kingdom, be sure to upload an in depth private statement outlining why you wish to check this precise course, at Town, College of London, and also conveying how your earlier scientific studies have prepared you for this study course And the way it'll help you to definitely progress as part of your occupation.

Use the secured organization personal loan calculator to estimate the EMI volume that will be focused towards the SME loan. Enter the tenure and the quantity of the financial loan together with the curiosity price during the mortgage calculator. Using this type of, you may pick the most suitable financial loan choices for your online business.

With tales from survivors, Local community members, and those Performing tirelessly to produce a change, you're going to be introduced to all her latest blog aspects of a Neighborhood in recovery through this important, particular consider the opioid epidemic.

Evaluate the risks contained in just a project such as the Euro Tunnel. Two governments sponsoring the project and nine billion lbs . of finance ring-fenced by way of a Specific objective corporation to accomplish it.

The danger Device is created to guide officers to ascertain if link the small-threat grant arrangement template is suitable for a certain grant/granting action. Officials are inspired to employ the danger tool before using the Commonwealth low-danger grant settlement template.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-149-109-157.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-05
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for January 2018
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
Wheat it

- "The rise in wheat prices in the last few weeks has raised concerns about renewed upward pressure on European inflation. In 2007-08, strong food price inflation, accompanied by sharp increases in energy prices, pushed euro area and UK inflation rates to extremely high levels. That high inflation almost certainly kept monetary policy tighter than it otherwise would have been and the pressure it put on real incomes probably contributed to the slide into recession."
- "So is there a risk this happens again? At present, we think that’s unlikely. The rise in wheat and soft commodity prices in the last few weeks is significant, but so far it is not as large, or as broad-based, as the rise seen in 2007-08. So, for now, the rise in wheat prices isn’t enough to suggest food price inflation rates of close to 10% as we saw then."
- "That said, in the past year or so food price inflation has subsided to very low levels in the euro area and is currently close to zero. It has also fallen in the UK and is currently running at around 2%. Some upwards drift in food price inflation from these levels was to be expected in the coming year, and the rise in wheat prices makes that even more likely."
- "Following on from the analysis done by our Emerging Market colleagues, we take a look at the potential impact of the rise in wheat prices on inflation in Europe. A modest rise in food price inflation – by around two percentage points or so – may well be on the cards. With a weight of roughly 10% in the CPI in the euro area and the UK, that could have a small but noticeable effect on headline inflation. We’ve raised our inflation forecasts accordingly. But, given its starting point and the behaviour of other components of inflation, such a rise may prove to be more problematic for the UK than for the euro area."

CreditSuisse European Economics 20100812

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Credit Markets in 4D: Double-dip & debt-deflation?

- "To clarify one thing right at the start: neither a (global) double-dip recession nor a debtdeflation process is our base-case scenario. The most likely path is one of sluggish growth, a scenario that would be – at least in theory – preferable for credits. Nevertheless, there are plenty of signs that the tremendous recovery is coming to an end. Hence, with a slowdown of economic activity ahead, investors will ask themselves “where will the slowdown stop – above or below the zero line”? It is this discussion in a fragile environment that we are concerned about, as investors do not wait to discount an adverse scenario until it really unfolds. Moreover, developments over the last couple of years have shown that investors do not necessarily have to be the “follower” of economic developments, they can be the “leader”. An adverse economic development can be triggered by an erosion of confidence in financial markets. The problem is that – in particular in the European periphery – governments lack the financial flexibility to weather another storm. Investors should not forget that the major ingredients for a Great Depression-like scenario were “too much debt” and “deflation” – two factors that are also hanging like a Damocles Sword above us in the current scenario."
- Macro Outlook: "Reducing macroeconomic disequilibria in the eurozone implies the need for significant internal devaluation: Lessons from the Baltic countries, which are undergoing a similar problem, suggest huge challenges for the economies."
- Micro Fundamentals: "With government yields at record lows and piles of cash on corporate balance sheets, the question is whether a new M&A boom is imminent. We take a look at leverage of European corporate bond issuers to gain more insight."
- Debt-Equity-Linkage: "M&A activity and the loan market are two sides of the same coin. As M&A activity remains subdued so does loan origination."
- Credit Quality Trend: "The default rate forecast is driving spreads, but what is driving the forecast? Is it really highly sophisticated economic forecast models?"
- Market Technicals: "Loan origination volumes grew rapidly before the crisis and collapsed afterwards, partly due to the turmoil in the CLO market."
- Valuation & Timing: "Our fundamental concerns are more on a mid-term horizon. But on a short-term perspective, investors' focus on eurozone periphery sovereign debt, the 3Q earnings season and the outlook for 2011 could present catalysts for a more pronounced spread widening in the coming weeks."
- Other Credit Markets: Derivatives: "The rapid growth in credit derivatives over the last few years enlarged the spectrum of hedging possibilities also in EEMEA credits, albeit the market is still small and in most cases illiquid. Securitization: Update on European and US housing market. EEMEA Credits: Two-speed recovery also bears some deflationary risks."
- Allocation: "We leave our defensive credit portfolio allocation unchanged."
- Model Portfolio: "Our financials portfolio outperformed the benchmark by 9bp, while the non-financials portfolio outperformed by 6bp."

Unicredit Euro Credit Pilot Sep2010

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Tag-Archive for » western esoteric traditions «

What Is Wicca All About? Part II

In Part I, I talk about the basics of the deities and ethics in Wicca. Rituals and mythology play a key role in the Wiccan faith and I will discuss them here. The practice of magick is a defining feature of Wicca, as is the complex and interesting theology of the God and Goddess.

Wiccans, along with other neo-pagans and occultists, often use the spelling “magick” or “magik” to refer to the mystical practices in their faiths and traditions. They do this to make it clear they are referring to the special body of practices in Western esoteric traditions. “Magick” is contrasted with “magic”, which is the illusionist trickery used by street magic performers and stage magicians. Magick is regard as a real phenomena that appeals to deities for intervention or utilizes the natural, mystical laws of the universe.

Find Love, Stars and Spells is Stephen Fry proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache


text:
Tuesday, March 13, 2012

St. Patrick's Day card

Just wanted to share a clean and simple card I created for my Mother In Law. I stamped a Docerela Creations stamp for the sentiment "Happy St. Patrick's day" which I added some green decorative scarf (which I have had for months and never used)to. Then I stamped a four leaf clover from the Joanne's dollar bin six times along the bottom.
You can't see it in this picture but I inked the back edge of the card.

I am entering this in the following challenges.

Scrappy Moms Terrific Tuesday Challenge
Use It Tuesdays - The green decotaive scarf was the hoarded item I used.

1 comment:

  1. Great work on your card. Thank you for using Docerela Creations stamps.


text:
finisterra logo

Regulation 2018

Article 1 | Organization

  1. The Finisterra – Arrábida Film Art & Tourism Festival, hereinafter identified by Festival, is an annual event promoted by Arrábida Film Commission Association;
  2. The organization of the festival is the responsibility of:
    1. Carlos Sargedas Director;
    2. Arrábida Film Commission;

Article 2 | Objectives

The Festival objectives are to reward films and audiovisual works that effectively promote tourism, in any of its multiple dimensions:

  • To promote the implementation of good practices in tourism, according to the assumptions of social responsibility and sustainable development;
  • Encourage young people to engage in directing and producing travel movies.

Article 3 | Movies Genres

The Festival accepts, selects and shows audiovisual productions of eight genres:

  • Advertising Movies, lasting up to 3 minutes;
  • Dissemination / Promotion Movies, lasting up to 15 minutes;
  • Documentaries ou report movies lasting up to 70 minutes;
  • Short Documentaries, up to 20 minutes;
  • Timelapses;
  • Drone films;
  • Music Tourism films;
  • Video blogger/vlogger and youtubers Tourism Films, up to 20 minutes;
  • Santiago Cities Tourism Films.

Article 4 | Access Conditions

May participate in the Festival movies that meet the following requirements:

  • Must be produced less than three years;
  • Must contain English or Portuguese subtitles.

Article 5 | Movies application

  1. Entries must be submitted online, until March 11, 2018, on the Filmfreeway site
  2. If the candidate has doubts about whether the film meets the criteria for entry, the applicant should make a provisional registration by sending the film and making the online application. If the opinion of the Executive Committee is favorable, the candidate must make the final registration
  3. The participants will be notified when upon acceptance of their registration.

Article 6 | Authorial Rights

Each participant is responsible for the content of his work and for eventual authorial rights problems. The participant is the holder of all rights regarding the use of his work, according to the liability to third parties. The executive committee has the right to reject films whose content or technical quality, does not satisfy the requirements for the Festival.

Article 7 | Pre Selection

  • A selection committee (appointed previously by the executive committee, and composed of experts in the fields of audiovisual arts and tourism), will make a preliminary evaluation of the films in the competition.
  • The selection committee may propose that certain films be presented extra contest.

Article 8 | Jury

  • The jury, appointed by the organizing committee is made up of some of these elements: film and television directors, tourism experts, film critics, journalists, film producers and higher education teachers of related scientific areas.
  • The jury will evaluate the materials selected by the selection committee with full independence, and whose decisions are final.
  • The jury as a whole or each of its elements has no responsibility for prizes that can be assigned by the executive committee. If it sees fit, the jury may award prizes "ex aequo".

Article 9 | Evaluation Criteria

  1. The films pre-judged favorably by the selection committee will then be assessed by the jury based on the following criteria:
    1. Visual Quality (including photography and editing)
    2. Sound Quality (including music and sound)
    3. Value of Information
    4. Concept
    5. Creativity and Innovation
  2. The score in each of the five criteria mentioned above will vary between a minimum of 1 point and a maximum of 10 points: Poor (1 and 2), Enough (3 and 4), Good (5 and 6), Very Good (7 and 8) Excellent (9 and 10).
  3. The scores will not be disclosed. Only the three highest scores films in each category will be released.

Article 10 | Appointments and Awards by Category

  1. The five highest rated films in each category make up the Festival shortlist (nominations);
  2. Depending on the number of films entered in each of the themes categories, the following prizes will be awarded:
    1. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prizes, if the minimum of films entered is more than eight films;
    2. 1st and 2nd Prizes, if the minimum for films entered is between 5 and 7;
    3. 1st Prize, if the number of films entered is 3 or 4;
  3. No prize will be awarded if the number of applicants is 1 or 2.

Article 11 | Grand Prize

The Arrábida Grand Prize will be awarded to the film that the jury considers to be the best among all the movies that integrate the Festival nominations (shortlist), regardless of the specific category that competes.

Article 12 | Artistic Prizes

  1. The jury also distinguishes with a trophy, the movies that stand out in the following technical and artistic categories:
    • Best Photography;
    • Best Music / Soundtrack;
    • Best Script / Screenplay;
    • Best Creativity / Innovation;
    • Best Visual Effects and Post - Production
  2. Will also be awarded with a trophy, the best films from each genre - "Thematic" Categories:
    • Religious Tourism Films
    • Mountain Tourism Films
    • Beach & Sea Films
    • Travel Tourism Films
    • Destinations Tourism Films
    • Diving Tourism Films
    • Nature and Wildlife Tourism Films
    • Places in History Tourism Films
    • Human Life Tourism Films
    • Golf Tourism Films
    • Hospitality Tourism Films
    • Wines Tourism Films
    • Sports Tourism Films
    • Animation Tourism Films
    • Events Tourism Films
    • Business Tourism Films
    • Tourism of The Sea Films
  3. Also as an incentive, encourage participation and filmmaking to students from schools Cinema, Tourism, Technology and Audiovisuals will be awarded a Diploma with the top 3 of all films regardless of the specific category it competes.

Article 13 | Special Awards of the Organization

In addition to the jury’s awards, the Executive Committee and the Festival Directors may decide to award films, personalities and organizations for their contribution in promoting tourism.

Article 14 | Participation Certificates

The Executive Committee, awards a participation certificate to all the movies enrolled in the Festival.

Article 15 | Cession of broadcasting rights

By signing the entry form, the applicant authorizes the display of his film for promotional purposes and the public exhibition during the Festival:

  • On the website of the Festival;
  • In academic events, universities or colleges, for dissemination of the Festival and / or training of students;
  • In any event the Festival is held, where participants or winners are cited.
  • On "CINETURISMO" TV Program of the Festival on Sporting TV (National TV)

Article 16 | Exclusive rights of the Executive Committee

  • The Executive Committee decides on the date and Festival Schedule, including the films exhibition sequence.
  • The Executive Committee also decides the exclusion of films, where it considers justified, and acts on any other issues not included in this regulation, but related to the organization of the Festival.

Article 17 | Additional Information

To clarify any questions or additional information, contact the Executive Committee by e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or phone 00 351 938 857 701.

Article 18 | Acceptance of regulations

Participation in the Festival is dependent upon acceptance of this regulation.


text:
The Don Quixote Remedy

Recently my wife and I were treated to an extraordinary performance of Man from La Mancha at the Avon Theatre in Stratford, ON.

Neither of us had ever seen the production before, and we found it a highly moving experience. Dale Wasserman wrote this great musical in the 1960s about Miguel de Cervantes, one of Spain’s greatest writers and author of Don Quixote.

The musical relates an incident in Cervantes’ life whereby he and his manservant are wandering around Spain performing plays when they are summarily tossed into prison for committing an offense against the Church.

The story unfolds in the prison while he waits for his trial before the Inquisition. He and his manservant are set upon by the jailer and the other prisoners, both male and female, who take their possessions.

Among those are found his masterpiece manuscript Don Quixote. Seeing no value in this sheaf of papers, the jailer orders that it be dispatched to the fire pit. Horrified, Cervantes must create the performance of a lifetime as a distraction to save his work.

The genius of Wasserman is that he has Cervantes create a series of performances that are pure improvisations based upon the stories in his manuscript.

As I watched this incredible story unfold on stage, I saw Cervantes talk the jailer and prisoners into becoming actors in these performances. Imagine, hardened criminals with their jaded views of humanity and the purpose of life, bringing all that they were into these improvisations! It was moving and terrifying too. The audience watched the gradual transformation as they began to buy into Don Quixote’s sacred Quest, embodied in the song The Impossible Dream.

Cervantes as Quixote rides into battle with his Manservant.

Cervantes as Quixote rides into battle with his Manservant.

Early in the performance I had given myself up to the incredible story unfolding before us. I laughed at their ribald humour, I suffered through the inhumane assault on  Aldonza whom Quixote called Dulcinea, and I cried at the end when soldiers of the Inquisition led Cervantes away while the jailer and prisoners left behind sang The Impossible Dream.

As I left the theatre, I thought about the message of Don Quixote. Cervantes was reaching across the centuries, using Quixote’s words as a bridge to bring meaning to an audience in the Twenty-First Century:

I have lived nearly fifty years, and I have seen life as it is. Pain, misery, hunger … cruelty beyond belief. I have heard the singing from taverns and the moans from bundles of filth on the streets. I have been a soldier and seen my comrades fall in battle … or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I have held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no gallant last words … only their eyes filled with confusion, whimpering the question, “Why?” I do not think they asked why they were dying, but why they had lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!

He could very well have spoken about the human agony of our own century: the pain and misery of those starving slowly to death, the horror of the innocent victims in the Gaza Strip, the outrage at the slaughter of passengers and crew of the downed airliner in the Ukraine, and many, many other examples of man’s inhumanity to man. I find it easy to become depressed by these horrors. Humanity has taken gigantic leaps in knowledge and technology down through history, and yet man has not harnessed his hunger, his urges, nor his emotions. He is no more advanced in these respects than cave men.

But Don Quixote had a great dream! The Quest he sang about is noble! Is it just a song, pretty words, a catchy tune? Nothing more? As I reflected on his Quest, the  agonized words of the whore Aldonza to Quixote came to me… and stayed…

Aldonza ministers to a dying Quixote.

Aldonza ministers to a dying Quixote.

You spoke to me and everything was different … and you looked at me, and you called me by another name … Dulcinea.

He spoke to her… the soldier Don Quixote, whom everyone thought was a madman… he spoke tender words of love for a street-hardened, filthy, harlot. His words were thrown back into his face at almost every turn – she scorned him, ridiculed him, but she couldn’t crush him – not his spirit. His spirit is the Quest. It is indomitable, and the words of truth about her worth as a person, her beauty as a woman, finally crashed in upon her mind.

What did Aldonza see through her suffering? The last sentence of Quixote quoted above gives us a clue:

Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!

So. What of us? What of me? Shall I take up my sword and follow this glorious quest? Yes. Cervantes was a soldier of Spain in the late 1500s as they fought off the invasions of the Turks. So in his life experience as a soldier, it was natural that his character Don Quixote put on his armour and take up his sword. For me, that would be silly. So what am I in real life? Although I’m now retired, I am a teacher. I am also a writer. I have no classroom, but I have an audience made up of those who choose to read my books. Is the pen mightier than the sword? I don’t know. I do know that my pen, my word processor, is my sword.

About John Fioravanti

Author, John Fioravanti writes non-fiction as well as fiction in the sci-fi genre. He's a retired secondary school educator and a lifelong learner. He considers himself a work in progress and welcomes the opinions and insights that others may have about his work. He prizes dialogue about meaningful topics, so please leave your thoughts!

Comments are closed.


text:
Do You Wake Up In Your Greatness Each Morning?

If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.

~ Paul (Bear) Bryant

Paul Bryant, a successful college football coach over many years at the University of Alabama, knew something about what it takes to be a winner. His formula for victory has many familiar elements: dedication, pride, and the courage to persevere and never quit. I read also, that he once said that even after you achieve a particular goal, you don’t quit – you set a new goal and keep working. That last line was important to me because it put the idea of quitting as something a person should never entertain.

Most of us are familiar with the concept of a work ethic. For me, a person with a well-entrenched work ethic is the opposite of a lazy person. Automatically, my mind reverts to one of my university Philosophy courses where I studied Aristotle. He maintained that moral behavior is the mean or middle ground between the extremes of excess and defect. If we apply this idea to our discussion of work ethic and laziness, he is suggesting that the best course to follow is between these two ends.

I’ve known people whose work ethic was excessive – to the point that the hours they dedicated to their work, not only exhausted them, but also denied the investment of their time into other important activities involving family, and recreation. For the last six months, my wife and granddaughter have asked me why I work in my office for ten to twelve hours each day. I don’t have a good answer for them – not one that is in keeping with the rule of the golden mean! On the other hand, the lazy person accomplishes very little – for anyone. I don’t believe that either extreme breeds happiness.

The part of this quote that resonated most with me is this, “If you believe in yourself…” For Bryant, this is the prerequisite in his formula for victory. In other words, if you do not believe in yourself, your abilities, skills, and have confidence you can get the job done, you’ll fail. Self-confidence isn’t just important here, it’s crucial! The rest – the dedication, hard work, and perseverance will not be enough.

For some people, this crucial element of Bryant’s formula is disturbing. What if you lack self-confidence? What if you’re not sure you have what it takes to succeed? I raise this because I am this kind of person. I have always struggled to acknowledge my own value. Many colleagues, close friends and family throughout my life journey have expressed incredulity, and often, frustration when confronted by my self-doubt.

In my head, I know I have talents and skills. I know that I have accomplished some things to be proud of in my lifetime. So what’s the problem? I just don’t know these things in my heart. I don’t know how to fix that. In most instances, I have been successful after someone, who did believe in me, gave me a virtual boot in the rear to get me started. I have always needed strong people in my life – confident, strong people. For me, this is the single, most frightening thing about Paul Bryant’s formula for victory. Once I have made up my mind, I find that I can apply his other elements… it’s that first step…

I admire people like Bear Bryant and I look to them as mentors. I have to confess, that slaying the self-doubt demon within me is one victory I want badly enough to persevere until I win. Curiously, in my sixth decade, I find I am pushing myself to do things I never thought I could do. That encourages me, but I also know that I’ll not make it to the finish line without the support and encouragement of those closest to me. These are the people I will cherish most until the day I die.

About John Fioravanti

Author, John Fioravanti writes non-fiction as well as fiction in the sci-fi genre. He's a retired secondary school educator and a lifelong learner. He considers himself a work in progress and welcomes the opinions and insights that others may have about his work. He prizes dialogue about meaningful topics, so please leave your thoughts!

4 thoughts on “Do You Wake Up In Your Greatness Each Morning?

  1. Permalink  ⋅ Reply

    Joy Lo-Bamijoko

    April 25, 2015 at 11:07am

    John, you are not alone. My problem is thinking that I can scale that mountain, but before I get there, I have created enough obstacles in my head to deter me. 🙂

    • Permalink  ⋅ Reply

      John Fioravanti

      April 25, 2015 at 11:44am

      Thank you for sharing this, Joy. Too often we’re our own worst enemies! Thanks for visiting!

  2. Permalink  ⋅ Reply

    Harmony Kent

    April 25, 2015 at 5:22am

    This is a lovely post, John. I love that you talk about the need for balance, and not just about a strong work ethic. The two: home and work, are so important. I’m with you on the self-confidence too; I thought I’d slayed those demons years ago, but every once in a while they sneak back in the door … we have to be ever vigilant. Thanks for sharing, John 🙂

What do you think? - I love comments!