UNMF Retro 1

The UNMF X will be the xth edition of United Nations Music Fest. It will take place for the first time in Reino de Corfú following the country's first victory at the 9th contest in Suribor, Suroland with the song "Le Temps Qu'il Faut", performed by TAL. The contest will be held at the Asterius Dome in Argos, and will consist of two semi-finals on 3 july, and the final on 8 july 2018. The three live shows will be hosted by Anne Hathaway, James Franco and Betty White.

Forty-seven countries participated in the contest, making a new record of participating nations. Blue Mountain and República de Turína, as newest UNBU members, made its debuts at this contest. Eveun withdrew, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media.

Location
The contest took place for the first time in Reino de Corfú, following the country's victory in the UNMF9 edition with the song "Le Temps Qu'il Faut", performed by TAL.

Venue
The Asterius Dome in Argos is a multi-purpose indoor dome built for the 2016's UNMF Games and has a capacity of 55,000 attendees, making it the largest indoor venue in Reino de Corfú and among the largest in UNMF.It is located in the Πάρκο των Εθνών (Park of Nations) new district in the northeast of Argos. It is connected by metro to the nearby international airport and by train to the rest of the country and UNMF.

Bidding phase
The Chief of Corfú Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Head of Delegation for Reino de Corfú, Alfredo MiTa, stated on 26 June 2018 that the first organisational meeting for the contest would take place before 27 June, during which the United Nations Broadcasting Union (UNBU) and CBC would go through the technical requirements for the contest, as well as any training required for the contest to take place in Reino de Corfú. MiTa also announced that the venue for the contest would be announced over the week.

CBC and the Corfiot Government formally launched the bidding process for interested cities to apply to host the contest on 27 June. The basic requirements to select a host city were set out in a document presented by the UNBU to CBC following their win in Suroland:


 * The venue must be covered with a capacity of at least 10,000 but ideally up to 15,000 attendees.
 * An international press center must be able to accommodate no less than 1,550 journalists.
 * Venues must also be provided for the opening and closing ceremonies of at least 3,000 attendees.
 * The host city must have fairly priced hotel rooms, that are located in close proximity to the venue and the city center.
 * The host city must be able to guarantee the safety and security of participants, members of delegations and guests.
 * The host city must have modern transport infrastructure: an international airport and readily available transport between the airport, the city and hotels, in addition, *to convenient traffic in the city and the opportunity to provide additional transport routes.

Other sites
The UNMF Village was the official United Nations Music Festival fan and sponsors area during the event weeks, where it was possible to watch performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. It was located in Argos's downtown Βασιλικοί κήποι δέντρων (Royal Tree Gardens), a large central square garden open to the Argos's bay.

The UNMFClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the UNMF Village, access to the UNMFClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegations, and press. It was located at the "Greek" club, next to the Eurovision Village.

The official Opening Ceremony of the UNMF 10 contest and "Blue Carpet" event, where all the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place on 2 July 2018 at the Museum of Art, Princess Grace in Argos's Oniros district.

Visual design
The graphic design of the contest was revealed by the UNBU on 3 July 2018. The theme art comprises a blue and purple crystal, within it the generic United Nations Music Fest logo featuring the Corfiot flag as well as the slogan "Crystallize Your Dreams" at the center of the crystal. The Director General of CBC, Alfredo MiTa, commented in reference to the slogan: "Being the first time that Reino de Corfú hosts the festival, we wanted to convey that joy we felt and what better way to encourage everyone to fight for their dreams". The theme art will be incorporated in all contest related developments such as crew uniforms, stage, on-air graphics, blue carpet and merchandise.

Presenters
It was announced on 1 July by CBC, that the presenters for the contest would be Anne Hathaway and James Franco, with Betty White hosting the green room. The Blue Carpet opening ceremony was hosted by media proprietor/TV host Oprah Winfrey, actress Katherine Heigl, actor Patrick Dempsey, and model Pietro Boselli moderated the press conferences, as well.

Semi-final allocation draw
According to the number of participants. Each participating country award points to their top 10 songs, by using the traditional Eurovision system of 12, 10, and 8-1 points. The countries are however not allowed to vote for their own song. The top 5 of the previous edition is qualified directly for the Grand Final. The 11 songs that received more points of the semi final will qualify for the Grand Final.

The allocation draw and the running order will be made on 2nd July by the host broadcaster.

After the sorting process, both semi-finals will be established as follows.

Opening and interval acts
It was announced on 2 July 2018 that the opening act of the first semi-final would be a performance of "Are we awake/Le temps qu'il faut" by TAL, while the opening act of the second semi-final would be a musical lights dancing song entitled "A Decade of UNMF". The opening act of the final was a parade of flags, themed as a tribute to Corfiot history with artists being welcomed on stage in a catwalk fashion show with flags being projected onto 27 dresses designed by Alexander McQueen brand.

The interval act of both semi-finals was a performance of Betty White featuring Luciana with the comedy song called "I'm Still Hot". In the grand final, the interval acts was a medley of the previous winners of the UNMF, followed by a medley performed by artists who have competed at UNMF representing the Reino de Corfú. The CBC announced on 6 July that one of the interval acts of the final would be a Corfiot band Coldplay with The Chainsmokers performing the song "Something Just Like This" other interval act was a semblance in honor of the late singer Zelimkhan Bakaev. In the final, TAL again performed, this time doing "Mondial".

Semifinal 1

 * [ Playlist]
 * [ Voting form]
 * [ Recap]

Twenty one countries will participate in the first semi-final. None, None and  None. will vote in this semifinal. Eleven countries will qualify directly to the final.

Semifinal 2

 * [ Playlist]
 * [ Voting form]
 * [ Recap]

Twenty one countries will participate in the first semi-final. None, None and  None will vote in this semifinal. Eleven countries will qualify directly to the final.

Grand Final

 * [ Playlist]
 * [ Voting form]
 * [ Recap]