AniFest is over and the time has come to bilance and summarize. What have we experienced, who have we met, how many films have we screened? Which film heroes met in Teplice and what has the jury to say about it? Read…
Barry Purves at the closing ceremony
During the closing ceremony, 15 prizes were handed over to the authors. For the first time in the history of AniFest, Grand Prix went to a student film. Agnes Patron, author of the awarded film „Widow Caillou“ sent a virtual greeting to the audience during the ceremony. „It’s the firts prize for this film and I am happy and honoured that it comes from AniFest“ said the excited French student in her short video. Three prizes went to „locals“: in the short film category, main prize went to Rudolf Šmíd for the original animated documentary „Chronicle of Oldřich S.“ In the TV series category, jury awarded the newest episode from the legendary series „Pat and Mat in the country“. And the last Czech award is for Jan Šrámek and Veronika Vlková for „Bubi“, the first winner in the category of non-narative and experimental films ever. Juror Michal Žabka says, that he was „less depressed than last year when watching the competition films“. There were even a few positive things, he says… Well, we are really glad that you survived your role of a juror without a psychical trauma, Michal ! (By the way, Michal and his lovely and talented wife Aneta are planning to make a good old bloody and
AniFest Grand Prix: La veuve Caillou
scarry animated horror for their upcoming baby…). Pedro Serrazina appreciated the opportunity to watch so many different films from so many authors: „As a film-maker, I would say that it’s crucial for me to see how other people work. And, it’s my first visit here, the place is lovely…in the end, it’s a combination of all that, wonderful films, discussions with people that you like and respect…thank you for that!“
Besides the competition programme, AniFest also offered couple of Czech premieres: „The Painting“ by Jean-Francois Laguionie was screened for the first time, while „Tales of the Night“ by Michel Ocelot, one of our special guests this year, had its third release in Czech Republic (after the premiere at Karlovy Vary IFF and the screening in French Institute in Prague). The festival was opened by the official release of „The Pirates! Band of Misfits“ by Aardman studios. And of course, countless number of short films that are unfortunately being disregarded also in the long-term perspective in Czech distribution…
Not only about the problems of our distribution net were the discussions led during the 2nd edition of Visegrad Exchange Forum. Round-table debates, pitching of projects of animated shorts and the competition of school films from Visegrad countries were attended by more than 140 professionals from Eastern and Central Europe.
And a few numbers to conclude:
150 students from Czech film schools visited the specialized lecturesTogether 20 000 visitors attended the festival.
= together 485 films from 69 countries were screened.
There’s a sort of sleepy atmosphere right now in Teplice. But if the sun won’t exhaust you completely, there are still screenings going on…the best comes in the end, so don’t miss our last projection in the open air cinema. A real treasure on a big screen under the open sky, that’s Jiří Trnka’s „Midsummer Night’s Dream“ tonight.
If you’re not in mood for the classic after this week full of puppets, you can watch non-narrative films from 18:00 in Cinema Květen.
And that’s really, finally, all from us this year…if you’ll feel nostalgic, you can browse through pictures on our facebook page as well as in our gallery. And looking forward to see you next year!
AniFest Grand Prix
Widow Caillou/ La Veuve Caillou, dir. Agnes Patron, France
Argument: A beautiful, poetic, moving visualization of the author’s very personal tale.
Feature film
Main prize: A Letter to Momo/ Momo e no Tegami, dir. Hiroyuki Okiura, Japan
Argument: Solid direction, writing, pacing and a strong narrative core.
Special mention: Dead But Not Buried, dir. Phil Mulloy, Great Britain
Argument: Very strong writing, conceptually brave film.
Short film up to 5 minutes
Main prize: The Mechanism of Spring / Haru no shikumi, r. Atsushi Wada, Japan
Argument: Very contemporary and unpredictable short film, that uses a minimalistic approach to seduce the viewer.
Special mention: How to eat your apple, dir. Erick Oh, South Korea
Argument: An elegantly designed film with a strong humorous concept.
Short film 5 – 15 minutes
Main prize: Moxie, dir. Stephen Irwin, Great Britain
Argument: A film that manages to create a mysterious and challenging world (that invites us to review and explore it again and again).
Special mention: Luminaris, dir. Juan Pablo Zaramella, Argentina
Argument: An entertaing pixilation film with an engaging and well crafted story.
Short film 15 – 60 minutes
Main prize: The Chronicle of Oldřich S., dir. Rudolf Šmíd, Czech Republic
Argument: Clean, traditional but ironic story, interesting journal visualised via animation.
Special mention: Chasing, dir. Chao Wu, China
Argument: Fresh and creative film.
Non-narrative/experimental film
Main prize: Bubi, dir. Veronika Vlková, Jan Šrámek, Czech Republic
Argument: Video-animation Bubi presents an open „narrative“ form, seemingly without end or beginning. It works very convincingly in the enviroment of a big cinema, where it manages to provide a confrontation with the viewer’s experience of film and graphical reading of moving images. It’s a graphic testimony, civilisation apocalypse which „saves“ the first edition of this section of non-narrative and experimental phenomenon in contemporary animation in a symbolic way.
Student film
Main prize: tWINs, dir. Peter Budínský, Slovakia
Argument: Unusual style, good use of metaphoric storytelling.
Special mention: Not About Us, dir. Michael Frei, Estonia/Switzerland
Argument: Nice design, well constructed abstract storytelling
TV Film and series
Main prize: Dodu – the Cardboard Boy/ Dodu – O rapaz de cartao, dir. José Miguel Ribeiro, Portugal
Argument: For combination of simple storytelling and very good cinematography.
Special mention: Pat and Mat in the country/ Pat a Mat na venkově, dir. Jan Beneš, Czech Republic
Argument: For the humor of the constant topping of gags and the ability to keep the series fresh for so many years.
Music videos
Main prize: Toru Matsumoto: AND AND, dir. Mirai Mizue, Japan
Argument: for the unique visualization of the music and incredible design concept.
Special mention: Paristetris: Sponge Ideas, dir. Katarzyna Paulina, Nalewajka Szewczyk, Poland
Argument: For the combination of storytelling with the music.
Jingles and Commercials
Main prize: Y film logo, dir. Nupur Bhargava, India
Argument: for the clever mixture of comics, animation, human interaction, camera movement to present the logo in the final shot.
Special mention: Filmfest Dresden trailer 2011, Volker Schlecht, Germany
Argument: Dynamic visualisation of the history of the film.
Films made by children under 12 years
Main prize: Circus / O circo, dir. group of children from the EB school, Portugal
Argument: Elaborated animation and visual style, great work with camera and editing.
Special mention: The Wild World of Hawai / Le Monde Sauvage de Hawai, dir. group of children from Camera etc.
Argument: Very creative and playfull, artistically elaborated and nice subtitles.
Films made by children from 12 to 15 years
Main prize: Ljeto na plaži, Barbara Radman, Marija Nikolič, Croatia
Argument: for the surprising story and original idea with wires
Special mention: The School of Lego, dir. Sawston Village College, Great Britain
Argument: witty, interesting animation and humourous Star Wars parody, that uses the possibilities of lego.
Best flipbook by artist under 15 years
The Snail and The Mushroom / Šnek jí hřib – Adéla Koziorková, chosen by Ian Mackinnon
Argument: Lovely character and great animation, well done.
Best flipbook by artist 15+ years old
Blue Tiger/Modrý tygr – Juraj Horváth, Michal Struss
Argument: for the movement of the tiger and for creating the illusion of depth on a flat page. Very beautiful and well done.
Audience award
Dead But Not Buried, dir. Phil Mulloy, Great Britain
The award of Czech-Estonian Club for best film of the Estonian retrospective
Knot/ Solm, dir. Kalju Kivi, Estonia (audience award)
