SUMMER SOLSTICE AWARDS OF ANIMACAM 5th EDITION FOR BEST SCREENPLAY AND BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Canadian film Second Hand of Isaac King and The Box of Dadomani Studio, won the Audience Awards for Best Screenplay and Visual Effects respectively.

Forty-two animated films from 22 countries - awarded in festivals around the world and finalists at the International Festival ANIMACAM 2012 - were screened at the "1st International Animation Festival Marathon Animacam V Edition " held in San Xoán de Rio, Ourense, from the 15th to the 18th of August.

The audience - about 300 people of all ages who moved to the town of Ourense - exercised their right to vote after the films screenings, in order to confer the Summer Solstice Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Visual Effects to movies participating in the Marathon .

Thus, the Canadian film Second Hand of Isaac King, selected by the public as best screenplay and the Italian one of Dadomani Studio, The Box, as best visuals, completed a list of winners along with the German film Rising Hope, directed by Milen Vitanov and honored as best film, as well as Zeinek Gehiago Iraun of Gregorio Muro, which exalted the Basque filmmaker as best director .

In this way , the Canadian Isaac King was awarded for best screenplay, with a film that represents the maelstrom of the current urbanite life and in which an exacerbated daily dynamic determines the fleeting of the materials , turning them into throwaway goods.

With Second Hand, King offers a subtle but also a fierce criticism to the perishable lifestyle, contrasting this with a focus on recycling and natural respect and integration .

Through an accurate and mixed techniques of animation - made up with Stop motion through cut-out , drawing 2D and 3D dyes - Isaac King always faces the eternal dilemma of the controversial contemporary human integration  with the ecological and natural environment .

With this new prize the Canadian film completes an enviable record,  with more than 11 awards given by the most important judges of the genre in countries like France , Croatia , New Zealand , United States , Portugal , Mexico , Italy , Spain and Japan .

Meanwhile, the award for Best Visual Effects went to the Italian production The Box, directed  by   Dadomani Studio.

Through refined techniques of Stop motion of play dough and fluidity, the animators of Dadomani bring us into the magic world of a box that faces its worst nightmares, in a curious and fun bet.

With the background of the coercive power of the television over the human psyche , the film draws a fine line between reality and fiction, and  makes a psychopathic analysis of the influence of broadcasts on individual human behavior.

With a participation in more than 30 prestigious international festivals and important awards achieved, The Box  completes one of the best winner list of the history of the International Festival of Animation Animacam , and which this year has also gathered films nominated to Oscar and Goya Awards (2012 and 2013), as well as the most prized at reputed International Festivals in recent years.

All in all, an unforgettable 5th Edition of Animacam closes with the firm conviction to continue reaching out the animated world through this vibrant " small - large window " . 

Thanking directors, producers, distributors, sponsors and the general public  for their company one more year; from Animacan  we open a window for future editions to keep on animating the world through this great community.

Know all finalist in The Online Category - Animacam 2012

Know all finalist in The Offline Category - Animacam 2012

Know the Winners - Animacam 2012 

Know the Winners in all Editions

Thank you very much

Once concluded the On-line and Off-linecompetition of the Audience Awards for Best Director and Best Film of Animacam 2012, the organizers of the Festival are pleased to thank all the participants and followers of this V Animacam Edition for their invaluable contribution.

With the help of directors, producers, animators, distributors, fans and, of course, sponsors, we have once more fulfilled a great dream.

More than 260,000 Internet users around the world have enjoyed the 41 finalists works in the On-line version of the festival and, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa, almost 400 people had the privilege of enjoying exclusively 77 finalists films of the Off-line version, in a unique and unforgettable occasion.

With this V Edition of Animacam, we have made one of the most successful festivals of our history, being this possible solely thanks to your participation, support and invaluable help.

For all above mentioned:

Moitas grazas / Muchas gracias / Thank you very much

Our doors and windows are entirely opened to you and, despite all the difficulties we have to deal with these days, we will keep on struggling to do what we love the most: the animated creativity.

Without you, this Festival would not be possible.

Thanks, take care and good luck friends

See you in the VI Edition 2013

TOP 10 Animacam 2012

Online Category – Best Director (41 Films in competition)

1. Gregorio Muro with Zeinek Geihago Iraun – 14.244 votes – 70.724 points(SPAIN)

2. Zina Papadopoulou & Petros Papadopoulos with Eight Minutes Deadline – 14.184 votes – 70.354 points (GREECE)

3. Silvia Carpizo with Alienation – 13.970 votos – 69.330 points (SPAIN)

4. Alejandro Cervantes Bueno & Raquel Diana Rodríguez Lago with The End – 13.150 votes – 65.094 points (SPAIN)

5. Dustin Rees with Borderline – 11.544 votes – 57.072 points (SWITZERLAND)

6. Mariana Ramírez with Pardesi – 8.127 votes – 40.008 points (INDIA)

7. Hélène MARCHAL, Samy BARRAS, Romain BLONDELLE & Céline SEILLE  with De Riz ou d'Armenie – 6.082 votes – 29.812 points (FRANCE)

8. Belén Sousa with Only You – 5.424 votes – 26.627 points  (SPAIN)

9. Anu Laura Tuttelberg with Fly Mill – 4.429 votes – 21.570 points (ESTONIA)

10. Caroline Reucker y Dennis Lutz with Perpetuum -  3.053 votes – 14.822 puntos (GERMANY)

Offline Category – Best film (77 Films in competition)

1. Rising Hope by Milen Vitanov – 100 Points (GERMANY)

2. A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard – 97 Points (UNITED KINGDOM)

3. Bajo la Almohada by Isabel Herguera – 85 Points (SPAIN)

4. El Club del Bromista by Luis Usón – 83 Points (SPAIN)

5. Chambré 69 by Claude Barras – 80 Points  (BELGIUM)

6. Tunnel by Maryam Kashkoolinia -79 Points (IRAN)

7. The Pub by Joseph Pierce -78 Points (UNITED KINGDOM)

8. Where Dogs Die by Svetlana Filippova – 77 Points (FRANCE )

9. Head Over Heels by Timothy Reckart -70 Points (UNITED KINGDOM)

10. Luminaris by Juan Pablo Zaramella – 66 Points (ARGENTINA)

Harbor Tale by Yichi Ito – 66 Points (JAPAN)

Know all finalist in The Best film Category - Animacam 2012

Know all finalist in Best Director Category - Animacam 2012

Know the Winners - Animacam 2012 

Know the Winners in all Editions

The German film "Rising Hope" and the Basque "Zeinek Gehiago Iraun" winners of the V International Festival of Animation ANIMACAM

" Rising Hope ", of the Czech director Milen Vitanov, is awarded with the Best Film prize while the Basque Gregorio Muro, with "Zeinek gehiago Iraun", receives the award for Best Director in Animacam 2012.

About 20,000 voters in the online edition and 400 in the physical edition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa of A Coruña, have selected the films "Zeinek Gehiago Iraun" and "Rising Hope" as the winners of the V International Festival of Animation ANIMACAM, both rewarded with a cash prize of 1,000 euros.

The award for Best Animacam Film 2012, awarded by the audience's votes during the Off-line projections held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa, was for the German production "Rising Hope" of the Czech Director Milen Vitanov.

"Rising hope" tells a story of personal growth and friendship, through a beautiful story in which a racehorse has to recover the lost illusion to achieve his dream.

The film, produced by the German studio Talking Animals Animation, began its festival circuit at the Berlinale 2012 and has won major international awards including: Best Animated Short Film at the Rhode Island International Film Festival 2012 (USA), the Audience Award for Best Short Film at "The 24 Hours of Nuremberg International Short Film Festival 2012 "(Germany), Junior Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Capalbio Cinema International Film Festival 2012 (Italy) and, this time, Best Film Award at the International Festival of Animation ANIMACAM 2012.

Its director Milen Vitanov, born in Prague in 1978 and raised in Sofia,  graduated in Animation at the University of Film and Television HFF "Konrad Wolf" in Potsdam-Babelsberg. After reaping numerous international awards for his first work "My Happy End", in 2009 founded in Berlin the studio Talking Animals with a group of fellow graduates, comprised by 14 animators and two sound directors.

In this Off-line edition, the first in the five years of the festival's life, about four hundred people went to the Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa in A Coruña to watch the projections and vote for the 77 finalists. Besides "Rising Hope", the public highlighted works such as the British "A Mornig Stroll" (Oscar Nominated in 2012), the Spanish "Bajo la almohada" of the renowed director Isabel Herguera or the Galician one "El club del bromista" of the director Luis Usón.

Meanwhile, the award for Best Director Animacam 2012, awarded by the public on-line, was given to the Basque Director and filmmaker Gregorio Muro with his film "Zeinek Gehiago Iraun" - Who  stand more -.

"Zeinek Gehiago Iraun" tells the story of Ander, a boy who while playing with his friends on the train tracks has an accident. This incident will mark both his vital existence and his family's life forever.

The film distributed by Kimuak - Basque Film Archive -,  is having a wide international circulation. The film has been presented to more than 100 events and has won numerous awards, among which are: Special mention of the Jury at the Austin Film Festival (USA), Best Foreigner Short Film of Animation ISFFI (INDIA), Best International Short Film of Animation at "Cine la Calle" (Colombia), Best Short Film at Wild Sound Festival (Canada), Best Animated Short Film at Province Town Festival (USA) and Best Short Film at the Festival Cine España held in Tolousse (France), among others.

Gehiago Zeinek Iraun was nominated for the Goya Award (Spanish Academy of Cinematography)  2012 and has been shortlisted for the Oscars 2013.

Its director, Gregorio Muro Arriet (Donostia / San Sebastián, 1954) is an author of cartoons, a screenwriter and a film and TV director. After several years publishing his works mainly in France, he gets into the audiovisual world as a scriptwriter of the animated feature film "La leyenda del viento del Norte" (1992). Thereafter he has been contributing as  writer in numerous productions and as a director in the full-length film "El rey de la granja" and the short films "Tras los visillos", "Perros de Presa" and "Zeinek gehiago iraun".

The online edition, which this year was attended by more than 20,000 registered users, in addition to "Zeinek Gehiago Iraun" also highlighted with its votes other works such as the Greek film "Eight minutes Deadline", of the directors Zina Papadopoulou and Petros Papadopoulos, the Spanish short film "Alienation", of the Valencian director Silvia Carpizo and the Galician "Only You", of the young director Belén Sousa.

With this, the organization of Animacam is pleased to highlight of this edition: the large number of films for the competition - around 400 films registered in the pre-finalists section -, the global impact of the festival - with representation of 36 countries in the previous section and 30 finalists in the final selection -, apart of the high quality of the works presented, - among which there are films nominated and shortlisted for the Oscars 2012 and 2013, and shortlisted nominees for the Goya Awards 2012 and 2013, nominated for BAFTA or winners in major international competitions of animation such as: Annecy, Animamundi, Cinanima or Animage.

Moreover, the organization wants to thank animators, directors, producers and distributors for their bet on Animacam and their commitment to promote its works. At the same time, the Animacam team wants to be grateful for the support of the Festival's sponsors: Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa and the Ecomputer team, providing an indispensable collaboration to strengthen and reaffirm the bond of international animation with its audience, through the International Festival of Animation ANIMACAM.

Thanks for all !!!

Important French animation schools compete at the finalist stage of Animacam Online

Seven major works of French animation schools compete for the best director award in the Online category. In addition, the Online finalists are automatically finalists of the Offline category too, and compete for the prize for best film among the projections that will be screened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa, in A Coruña, from the 4th to the 9th of February, 2013.

To start with the presentations, we would like to present  the work of Bellecour 3D, that after having chosen Animacam 2012 for the world premiere of its creations, takes part in the Festival with "Destiny" and "Mosterbox".

"Destiny", made out of an exceptional 3D technique by the team of Fabien Weibel, Sandrine Wurster, Victor Debatisse and Manuel Alligné, tells us about a particular way of viewing the time.

The group of students of Bellecour has achieved a brilliant suspense narration, of complex time and multiple realities.

A kind of post-modernism in the same drama. A simple and complex graphic detailing the middle class coming to terms with time, death and reality.

Get into the film and vote for it

The second film of Bellocour, "Monsterbox", is a wonderful animated short produced by four graduates of Bellecour Écoles d'Art: Ludovic Gavillet, Kocaurlu Derya, Hudson Colin and John Lucas-Saunier.

With a clear influence that reminds us of Pixar, the Bellecour team presents a story with bright colors accompanied by funny and tender moments, in which a carpenter receives the visit of a little girl who wants a house for a monster that has found. Shortly after leaving, the girl is back and so begins a great adventure.

Get into "Monsterbox"  and vote for it

For its part, École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) presents, among the selected finalists, two very interesting works that you cannot miss: "Luna Llena" and "Le temps de l'arbre"

With "Luna Llena", the director Duchaussoy Gervaise drives us to the eternal conflict between life and death.

Through a refined technique of animated design and accompanied by an exceptional musical atmosphere -thanks to the compositions of Manuel de Falla and  Vincent Wavelet -, "Luna Llena" is an exceptional film based on a world of tradition and superstition in which the presence of the death is always palpable.

Get into "Luna Llena" and vote for it

With "Le temps de l'arbre", we have the pleasure of enjoying of one of the greenest side of Animacam 2012. Its director, Dahee Jeong, after having observed the life cycle of a tree, he realized how different this is from human life and, therefore, his film is a collection of stories inspired by various vital states.

With a mix of traditional animation (drawing) and a subtle touch of pixilation, Jeong presents a work that invites us to a profound reflection.

Get into the film and vote for it

And thus we go with the last school of animation, the world-renowned Gobelins, which has no more and no less than three animated works that have achieved a considerable international success.

To start with Gobelins´ presentations, let me tell you about "Les chiens isolés", a prosaic film considered by many and unusual creation of this school, which works are often exuberant or even frantic, full of vivid colors and thrilling stories.

As we were saying, this story could be perfectly off-beat in what we could consider a typical "Gobelins theme"; the descent into paranoid madness of one of the crew of an oil rig is observed and shown from an almost casual vision of a coworker.

Distancing ourselves from anything proposed before by Gobelins, this great creation directed and produced by Rémi Bastie, Nicolas Deghani, Jonathan Djob-Nkondo, Paul LaColley, Nicolas Pegon, Jérémy Pires and Kevin Manach has been made with an excellent 2D and could be almost considered a work of art. In turn, the Gobelins team leaves aside any cheerful color of the palette to create a potential drama, full of claustrophobic feelings.

Get into "Les chiens isolés" and vote for it

The following work, "Who's Afraid of Mr Greedy", is considered one of the greatest jewels of Gobelins in recent years.

This Grade thesis of Simon Boucachard, Jean Baptiste Cumont, Sylvain Fabre, Guillaume Fesquet, Adeline Grange, Maxime Mary and Julien Rossir, goes into a surrealist world to tell us an absurd story, peppered with black humor, in which a man tries to recover his stolen identity by an ogre when he was a child.

If you enjoy good animation, don't miss "Who's affraid of Mr Greedy".

Get into the film and vote for it

And to end with the presentation, there is no better way than with the feminine touch of a sweet and psychologically relevant film about shyness, "In Between".

Directed and produced by Alice Bissonnet, Aloyse Desoubries Binet, Sandrine Han Jin Kuang, Juliette Laurent and Sophie Markatatos, "In Between" tells us the story of a young girl who is being chased by a crocodile that represents her shyness. She tries to get rid of it by all means.

The film shines with ingenuity and is a well orchestrated work of lights and shadows, with a crocodile equipped with full plasticity. The music of playful atmosphere, expressed through the jazz  of Laurent Courbier , gives to "In-Between" the lightness of a feather.

Get into "In Between" and vote for it

Once the presentations have concluded, we would like to remind you that you could vote for your "Best Director" by registering at Animacam 2012 website and valuing the films on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.

Know all Online finalists

Get intothe Best Film section (Animacam Off-line) at the Museum of Contemporary Art MACUF

Know the voting dates of Animacam

4 animated works from Estonia finalists in the On-line category in Animacam 2012

Estonia presents its candidacy for Best Director at the 5th International Festival of Animation ´Animacam 2012', with four works of the highest level with proved international experience.

The best animation of Estonia takes the floor by the hand of Animacam 2012 with 4 works that, as they were expected, use the most developed technique in this country: the Stop Motion with Puppets.

The three first finalists come to us from the producer NUKUFILM OÜ, and are the following:

Happy Birthday, a work directed by the acclaimed Rio Unt and animated by the renowned Estonian Andres Tenusaar is focused, during 12 minutes, on the peculiar vision of the always controversial moral dilemma of science or religion. 

It shows the unique vision of a fantastic duel between the biblical Jesus and a man-made robot. Will the robot be able to break the formed dogmas and put the religion to his favor? Or will the prevailing status quo remain firm? 

Find it out in Animacam 2012 by clicking here

With Triangle Affair, Andres Tenusaar takes charge of the direction combining this with the animation, in which has been well accompanied by the artistic quality of Marili Toome. He offers us a spectacular 10-minute choreography in which, besides a great plasticity, complements with a deep metaphysical sense of reality.

Because there is no triangle without corners, no direction without a triangle and no movement without a direction ... 

follow its development in Animacam 2012 byclicking here

As culmination of the participation of NUKUFILM in the On-line section of Finalists, Animacam 2012 has the great pleasure to present the award-winning animation work of the young Estonian animator Ulo Pikov: Body Memory.

Boby Memory is an award-winning work of a very high-quality technique that, under a claustrophobic backdrop, shows the close relationship of the body's memory in line with the ancestral heritage of our forbears and the imprint that it generates in the descendants.

Immerse yourself in this powerful story by clicking here

To complete this great offer, Animacam 2012 is pleased to present the debut of Anu Laura Tulltemberg, Fly Mill .

Fly Mill has received more than a dozen international awards; from Georgia, Brazil, Germany, Portugal or Mexico, among others.

In this film, Anu Laura Tuttelgerg tells us, through a meticulously work with puppets, the story of a man who lives in an old water mill and every day bakes special bread for the ducks he takes cares of. After many days of daily routine, the miller decides to release his birds. To make this possible, he has to be cleverer than the hunters who regularly shoot at birds in the neighboring field. 

Will he succeed? Find out the answer in Animacam 2012 by clicking here

Once the first presentations have concluded, we would like to remind you that you could vote for your "Best Director" by registering at Animacam 2012 website and valuing the films on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.

Know all Online finalists

Get intothe Best Film section (Animacam Off-line) at the Museum of Contemporary Art MACUF

Know the voting dates of Animacam