23.12.2011

Dear friends,

in the comig year we wish to share with you many great animated moments,
we wish you an unbroken flow of excellent ideas and the dedication to realize them;
a daily dose of at least one good animation;
and of course,
lots of health, joy and love - where would we be without it!

Merry Christmas and an Animated 2012!

12.12.2011

At the closing ceremony of this year's Animateka festival last night we finally revealed the awards!

The Grand Prix Maestro® award went to the film The Last Bus by Martin Snopek and Ivana Laucikova

The jury explained their decision with these words:
An original and refreshing film, which despite its surreal nature allowed the jury to connect with the subject matter on many levels. The jury were particularly impressed by the art direction and the characterisation, which gave the film a strong and rich narrative as well as that all important sense of emotional engagement.

The Maestro® Audience award went to Koyaa the extraordinary, by the Slovene author Kolja Saksida.






The award for the best animated film in the category of European Student Animated Film, presented by the University of Nova Gorica, goes to the film On the water by Yi Zhao, for its poetic journey that takes us in a metaphorical and simple way through the story of each of us, which is supported by excellent, simple yet strong animation.


Animateka's Award For The Elephant Children's Programme went to the film Who’s there? by Vanda Raymanova. The members of the children jury explained their decision with these words: We have watched 34 animated films for children and youth. We wished to award at least half of the films, but we had to select only one. Our criteria in the selection were humour, colourfulness, understandability, originality in the use of animation techniques, fairy-tale qualities, beauty of the image, quality of the music and sound effects as well as suspense. Some of us preferred The Monster of Nix, others Ben Hora. We eventually decided to award a film that everybody really liked, and that is Who’s there? by Vanda Raymanova.

The international jury also gave their special mentions to this films:

Carolina Lopez Caballero : Stuck in a Groove, Clemens Kogler. Austria
The use of pre-cinematic technique in a fresh and modern way.

Marcel Jean : Body Memory, Ülo Pikkov. Estonia
For it's strong and poetic sense of History, the unusual way it deals with the question of memory and it's technical accomplishment, I want to award Body Memory, by the great Estonian filmmaker Ulo Pikkov

Max Andersson : http://communism2010.ro, Zsolt Damo and Denes Santho. Hungary/Romania
An irreverent look at a universal theme, done very effectively and succinctly

Vuk Jevremovic : Flower of Battle. Simon Bogojevic-Narath. Croatia
Despite its violent imagery, this film has strong classical references and literary allusions which seep through into the film to create a tapestry of thoughts and feeling, often contradictory but never dull

Andy Glynne : The Soul Ornament. Irena Jukic Pranjic. Croatia
A wonderful concept, bravely executed and testament to what can be achieved with animation.

The Student jury gave also special mention to the film Lumberjack by Paweł Dębski for its original story, which, supported by brilliant drawings, presents to the viewer a moving story on fatherhood and guilt; to the film Baka by Immanuel Wagner, which paves the way to new animation techniques and methods; and to the film Swimming Pool by Alexandra Hetmerová for a pleasant story of being different and how it is perceived.

A week-long animation production workshop for children took place during Animateka week in Oton Župančič Library (Ljubljana City Library). From 6 December to 10 December 2010, children created with the help of mentor and author Maya Yonesho their first animated film.

Saturday, December 17, at 21.00, Kino Udarnik (Maribor)

The audio-visual concert is where music meets visual art. This performance is a synchrony of original music by young musicians in ŠKM banda from Prekmurje with a post-jazz rock take on powerful impulsive beats on the one hand and slow ambient rhythms on the other, and creativity of young Slovene visual artists. Songs by ŠKM banda are relatively short and their performance is a powerful experience, intensified further by the visual accompaniment of original animations and videos.

ŠKM banda are: Mitja Sušec (guitar), Iztok Koren (guitar), Jernej Koren (bass guitar), Jernej Sobočan (drums).

The artists and animators that will animate the songs of ŠKM banda are:
Mitja Manček, Timon Leder, Zarja Menart, Matija Dolenc, Katja Goljat, Lucijan Prelog, Anka Kočevar, Tina Avšič, Gregor Purgaj, Maruša Štibelj, Miha Deisinger, Jani Peternelj.

Interview with Kolja Saksida, a Slovene author who made the stop-motion animation film Koyaa the extraordinary and won this year's Animateka Maestro® Audience award: