Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film Awards
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Jury: Suzanne Buchan, London, Ron Diamond, Hollywood, Vladimir Lesciov, Riga, Joanna Quinn, London, Fritz Steingrobe, Hamburg
GRAND PRIX
STATE OF BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG AND CITY OF STUTTGART GRAND AWARD FOR ANIMATED FILM
15,000 Euros
FRANZ KAFKA INAKA ISHA (FRANZ KAFKA'S A COUNTRY DOCTOR)
by Koji Yamamura
Japan 2007
Producers: Mariko Seto, Fumi Teranishi
Production: Yamamura Animation, Shochiku
World sales: Shochiku Co., Ltd.
The film's exquisite, distorting forms and spaces successfully release a subconscious world from darkness into a waking absurdity.
SPECIAL MENTION
ENERGIE (ENERGY)
by Thorsten Fleisch
Germany 2007
Production: fleischfilm
In the blink of an eye, we witness the exquisite capture of brilliant uncontrolled electricity. The film's montage expands the experience of subjective perception and also notions of animated form. Conceptually it is simultaneously connected to the period of 20s classic Avantgarde.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION AWARD / AWARD FOR BEST GRADUATION FILM
10,000 Euros
CAMERA OBSCURA
by Matthieu Buchalski, Jean-Michel Drechsler, Thierry Onillon
France 2007
Production: Supinfocom Valenciennes
World sales: Premium Films
For its retroelegant design and totemistic figures that enable the film?s sensitive insight into a poignant, apparently isolated existence.
SPECIAL MENTION
MILK TEETH
by Tibor Banoczki
Great Britain 2007
Producer: Anna Higgs
Production: National Film and Television School
For its respectful unfolding of childhood terrors and coming of age in stylistically honed, bleakly emotional aural and visual landscapes.
SWR AUDIENCE AWARD
6,000 Euros, sponsored by Südwestrunfunk SWR
ISABELLE AU BOIS DORMANT (SLEEPING BETTY)
by Claude Cloutier
Canada 2007
Producer: Marcel Jean
Production/ world sales: National Film Board of Canada
SPECIAL AWARD: MUSIC FOR ANIMATION
5,000 Euros, sponsored by the GEMA Foundation
HEZURBELTZAK, UNA FOSA COMUN (HEZURBELTZAK, A COMMON GRAVE)
by Iziben Onederra
Spain 2007
Producer: Pello Gutierrez
Music: Xaber Erkizia
World sales: Kimuak
The sound collage mirrors the drawings artistic idiosyncracy in an emotional and generative way. In the wilderness of electronically generated sounds lies the cacophony of a world defined by avarice, lust, power and madness.
YOUNG ANIMATION
Jury: Signe Baumane, New York/Riga, Hanna Nordholt, Hamburg, Theodore Ushev, Montreal
AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT FILM
2,500 Euros, sponsored by the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg
1977
by Peque Varela
Great Britain 2007
Producer: Gavin Humphries / National Film and Television School
We saw a lot of inspired and professionally crafted films, but the film we chose stood out because of its strong personal message. This particular story transcends an exclusively personal experience to the universal theme of finding one?s identity. The narration is supported by the appropriate choice of cinematic language, and it managed to captivate us from the first second to the very end. The prize goes to 1977 by Peque Varela.
SPECIAL MENTION
DIONYSOS
by Jörg Weidner, Anke Späth
Germany 2007
Production: Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg
Our honourable mention goes to a film that comes from the ashes of Greek mythology.
The filmmaker's approach is unpolished, making the film raw and brave. We see an immense potential here and we want to encourage the filmmakers to continue the work. The honourable mention for the student film goes to Dionysos
TRICKS FOR KIDS
Jury: Marthe Eilenstein, 13 years, Fabian Helde, 13 years, Francis Mayer, 10 years, Martin Moch, 13 years, Lucie Schultz, 11 years, Zarah Willmann, 11 years
AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN?S ANIMATED FILM
4,000 Euros, sponsored by Nick
THE CURSE OF THE SKULL ROCK
by Ben Smith
Great Britain 2007
Producer: Ben Smith
Production: Red Star Studio Ltd.
World sales: Attraction Media & Entertainment
For three days we, the children's jury have seen a lot of films in the Tricks for Kids competition. It was not easy for us to decide upon the award-winning film as we liked so many of them. But there can only be one winner, who gets the 4,000 Euros, sponsored by NICK. But we want to mention two more films that made it to the final round and are counted to our favourites: Was denkst du über: Liebe by Karsten Kiilerich and The wrong trainers by Kez Margrie.
Our award-winning film comes from Great Britain and has impressed us especially because of its good animation. We thought the story of this animated film to be very exciting and funny at the same time. The girls really liked that there is a female hero in the film. We suppose that other children and adults will like this film, as well. The winner is The curse of the skull rock by Ben Smith.
Special mention:
THE WRONG TRAINERS
by Kez Margrie
Great Britain 2006
Production: BBC
World Sales: Slinky Pictures
WAS DENKST DU ÜBER: LIEBE?
by Karsten Killerich
Germany, Denmark, Ireland 2007
Producers: Anders Mastrup, Ralph Christian
Production: WDR, Magma Films, A. Film
World Sales: Bavaria Media Television
ANIMOVIE
Jury: Michael Coldewey, München, Iain Harvey, London, Michel Ocelot, Paris
AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
2,500 Euros
SLIPP JIMMY FRI (FREE JIMMY)
by Christopher Nielsen
Norway, Great Britain 2006
Producers: Lars Andreas Hellebust, Lars Tommerbakke, Bill Godfrey
Production: Storm Studio
World sales: The Works International
Out of the eight films which were proposed to us, FREE JIMMY was the strongest. There was a story to follow till the end, quite a few miracles along the way, a powerful mood, a regard for contemporary issues, a dark sense of humour an a wide range of different true to life characters.
ANIMATED SERIES
Jury: Paco Rodriguez, Barcelona, Sunita Struck, Hamburg, Priit Tender, Tallinn
AWARD FOR BEST TV ANIMATED SERIES
2,500 Euros sponsored by EM. Entertainment
HAIRY SCARY: NO. 33
by Wolf-Rüdiger Bloss
France, Germany 2007
Producers: Christian Davin, Clement Calvet
Production / world sales: Alphanim
-Outstanding imaginative design
-Originality of concept
-Excellent scriptwriting
-Consistent and entertaining story
-High quality and (CGI) production value
-Humour that will appeal to one and all regardless of age
UNDER COMMISSION
AWARD FOR THE BEST COMMISSIONED WORK
All-inclusive-trip to Siggraph Los Angeles, sponsored by Mackevision
Jury: Kathi Käppel, Amir Kassaei, Thomas Meyer-Hermann, Franco Moretti, Michael Preiswerk, Ulrich Wegenast
SONY BRAVIA: PLAY DOH
by Darren Walsh, Frank Budgen
Great Britain 2007
Production: Passion Pictures
ANIMATION SCREENPLAY AWARD
AWARD FOR THE BEST GERMAN LANGUAGE SCREENPLAY FOR A FEATURE-LENGTH ANIMATED FILM
5,000 Euros donated by the Evangelical Church in Germany
Jury: Heike Sperling, Detlef Gericke-Schönhagen, Udo Hahn, Ulrich Wegenast
DER LETZTE NEANDERTALER (THE LAST NEANDERTHAL MAN)
Author: John Chambers
John Chambers' material deals with a subject which initially is far removed from our own civilised world. It looks at a meeting between the Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. Basically "Der letzte Neandertaler" (The last Neanderthal) is a parable about the development of love. Formally the author's story is told in the classic format of a drama, a genre which up until now has been offered little room for development by German animated cinema. The jury is of the opinion that opening up the animated film market for dramatic material can only be of great benefit.
Next festival: April 30 to May 5, 2009
