Festival Review: Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film 2013
This year’s Stuttgart animated festival proved to be another great success. This being the 20th anniversary edition of Europe’s biggest film festival, the city of Stuttgart was once again swarming with animators and animation enthusiasts from around the world. As well as the ITF celebrations, there was also the FMX conference, both massive draws to the city bringing together a wide range of studios, schools and experts – a mass assembly of the visual entertainment industry. It was also the 20th anniversary of the Jazzopen Stuttgart, which left the city alive with cultural energy. The city itself is constantly changing, developing and exciting, as any festival city should be. All ages were accomodated, with screenings and workshops for provided for everyone. It was hard to plan and choose your screening list each day but you were never left unsatisfied by whatever choice you made.
As you walk down the wide metropolitan streets of this industrial city you are quickly made aware of the ITF’s presence in the city – the bloated savannah animals that have been created by local animators from the Stuttgart academy of film were displayed on every building, sign and open space.
The festival prides itself on bringing something new and improved to its audience each year. The tricks for kids program was hosted mainly at the Mercedes Benz museum, featuring screenings and workshops aimed at introducing animation to children, explaining it and inspiring a new generation of fans. Even our good friend Shaun das schaf (that’s Shaun the sheep to you and me) made an appearance.
The event is centered around the open-air screen in the central platz of the city, which screens animation from morning till night. Recent feature length films are screened for free in the evening, including Tim Burtons Frankenweenie and Peter Ramsey’s Rise of the Guardians. It proved a great way to reach a mass audience, bringing animation out of the dark for everyone’s enjoyment.
The three main master classes this year were given by David Silverman (Director of episodes of The Simpsons and The Simpson movie), Bill Plympton (Cheatin’, Idiots and Angels) and Barry Purves (Tchaikovsky, Plume) all of which offered a unique insight into their working practices. Each led their presentation with their own quirky way of welcoming the crowd; Silverman played his tuba (as he did for the majority of the evenings at the festival). Plympton drew live, presented the new animation he’s developing, Tiffany The Whale: Death On The Run Way as well as showing a section of his new film Cheatin’ – even offering a free drawing to each member of the audience. Purves’s talk, titled ‘The Naked Animator’, offered an insight into his theories on art, animation and life – all discussed whilst wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Well, we Brits are known to be a bit eccentric!
As well as these informal master classes their other festival duties including the judging of various competition strands. Silverman talked and presented at the Animated Com Award, Plympton discussed his recent success with Kickstarter as part of a panel on crowdfunding, whereas Purves put together multiple screenings of his favorite stop-motion animation, which highlighted the historical focus of this year’s festival. The latter event included documentary screenings on the work of Joop Geesink (the Disney of Duivendrecht) and Ladislav Starewitch. In reaction to the recent success of stop motion at the Oscars there was also a section in the creepy midnight screening of horror/bizarre devoted to stop-motion films.
Another branch to the festival was the Crazy house competition; four teams of two from Denmark, Poland, Spain and Great Britain were given 48 hours to create an animation using the festival mascot Trixi – a multi-coloured wild horse. The teams could use any method of animation to create their films, which could be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. Many competitors worked late into the night to create their films. The English team from Staffordshire created a stop-motion animation with puppets created before arriving in Stuttgart (nothing like being prepared). The finished animations were screened in the second cinema on the final day of the festival. The Best-of-Crazy-Horse-Session award went to the Spanish team of Antonio Jesus Busto Algarin and Martin Martinez Garcia.
This year the festival focused on the animated films of India, Africa and the Arab community, with specialist screenings from each.
Another great turnout was for studio talks of Blue Sky (Ice Age, Rio) which showcased the wonderful cinematography, layout and camera work of the soon to be released film Epic, demonstrating to a student-heavy community the principles of movement and how this area of production comes together. It was the talk of Stephen Neary (Dr. Breakfast), however, that really got the crowd going. He revealed his new short created at Blue Sky Umbrellacorn, a “loser unicorn” that finally finds his place in the world. The short was premiered here in Stuttgart, after which Neary went through in some detail the process of pitching within a company and THEN presented the film in all stages, all the time making clear he was working on this alongside the feature length production.
Pixar’s Blue Umbrella was also presented to a full audience; Saschika Unseld (originally form Germany, having studied at the film academy in Stuttgart) screened the beautiful new short, taking us through the process of its creation and development.
Further talks were given by leading experts and professionals in script writing, stereoscopic technology and digital puppetry, all aimed at expanding the knowledge of the basic principles and future of animation production.
As always the focus of these events are the screenings, none more so than the international program that opened the festiva and which continued throughout, demonstrating the breadth of talent throughout the global animation community.
The international program screened a huge variety of animation, starting with Head Over Heels (Tim Reckart). Other highlights from the international program were Oh Sheep, a student film from local animator Gottfried Mentor. The film appealed to the crowd’s dark humor, with multiple screenings over the six days. It shows two sheep herders that try to split their flock, with a funny but oddly gory outcome. Ussinuumaja or The Maggot Feeder (Priit Tender) was a mixed technique piece based on an ancient Chukchi folk tale. This was a visually exciting piece with an equally odd but captivating narrative. The 2D characters with photo pixelated, painted faces work through the twisted narrative and the boundary between real and characterized creatures is broken. Sleight of Hand (Michael Cusack) was another film that captured the imagination of the audience, clearly demonstrating the connection between the animator and his model. This premise strikes a chord with animators and enthusiasts alike, resonating with the common feeling that nothing is truly in our control. Other highlights from the various screenings were Slug Invasion (Morten Helgeland, Denmark), Stupid Monkey (Marlyn Spaaij, Netherlands) and Night of the Loving Dead (Anna Humphries, Great Britain) all extremely funny – twisted, dark humor seems to do very well here.
But it was Oh Willy (Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels) which won the audience over, screening multiple times during the festival and taking home the international prize. This moving stop motion piece is doing incredibly well on the festival circuit and rightly so.
Stuttgart truly offers a totally immersive animation world. This being my first big festival, and from talking to other young animators, it was clear that the festival staff made everyone very welcome and comfortable. The city itself was exciting and offered so much to see and do. This festival is really pushing itself to become one of the best in Europe.
Full list of Awards of the 20th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film
International Competition Grand Prix
15.000 Euro, sponsored by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the City of Stuttgart
“OH WILLY…“
Belgium, France, The Netherlands 2011
Directors: Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels
Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film
10.000 Euro, sponsored by MFG Film Funding Baden-Wuerttemberg
“KARA NO TAMAGO” (A Wind Egg)
Japan 2012
Director: Ryo Okawara
SWR Audience Award
6.000 Euro
“JUNKYARD”
The Netherlands 2012
Director: Hisko Hulsing
Young Animation Award for the best student film
2.500 Euro, sponsored by Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Wuerttemberg (LfK) and MFG Film Funding Baden-Wuerttemberg
“EINE MURUL” (Breakfast on the Grass)
Estonia 2011
Directors: Erik Alunurm, Mari Pakkas, Mari Liis Rebane, Mihkel Reha
AniMovie Award for the best animated feature film
2.500 Euro, sponsored by RTL DISNEY Fernsehen GmbH & Co. KG, SUPER RTL
“ERNEST & CÉLESTINE”
France, Belgium, Luxembourg 2012
Directors: Benjamin Renner, Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Tricks for Kids Award for the best children’s animated film
4.000 Euro, supported by Studio 100 Media GmbH
“SCHRECKEN OHNE ENDE” (Nearest and Dearest)
Germany 2012
Directors: Michael Sieber, Max Stöhr
Tricks for Kids Award for the best animated series for children
“ROY: FOOT FAT FIT“
Ireland 2012
Director: Alan Shannon
Cartoons for Teens Award for the best animated series, animes and cut scenes from computer games for youths
2.500 Euro, sponsored by Nippon Art GmbH and AV Visionen GmbH
“DER NOTFALL” (Déjà-moo)
Germany 2012
Directors: Stefan Müller
German Screenplay Award
2.500 Euro, sponsored by Telepool GmbH
“MOLLY MONSTER – DER FILM“
By John Chambers
Animated Fashion Award
2.000 Euro, sponsored by E. Breuninger GmbH
“FREITAG X-MAS MOVIES”
Switzerland 2012
Claudia Röthlin, Yves Gutjahr
German Voice Actor Award
2.500 Euro
RICK KAVANIAN, “Knight Rusty – Yesterday’s Hero Recycled“ (Knight Rusty)
Universum Film GmbH, Germany 2012
Animated Com Award – Awards for the best-applied animation in the fields of advertising, technology and spatial communication
Sponsored by Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Animation Media Cluster Region Stuttgart, Daimler AG, U.I. Lapp GmbH
Main prize
“THE REAL BEARS“
USA 2012
Director: Lucas Zanotto
Category Advertising
2.500 Euro, sponsored by Mackevision Medien Design GmbH
“MTV EMA 2012 OPENER“
Germany 2012
Director: Mate Steinforth,
Commissioner: VIMN MTV World Design Studios
Category Technology
2.500 Euro, sponsored by Animation Media Cluster Region Stuttgart
“MASS EFFECT 3 – TAKE EARTH BACK”
Hungary 2012
Director: Istvan Zorkoczy,
Commissioner: Electronic Arts/Bioware
Category Spatial Communication
“SWISS PAVILION EXPO YEOUSU: THE SOURCE – IT’S IN YOUR HANDS”
Switzerland 2012
Director: Marc Tamschick,
Commissioner: Präsenz Schweiz
Special Prize Mercedes-Benz Classic: Silver Arrows
2.500 Euro, sponsored by Daimler AG
“A RACERS SCETCHBOOK”
Germany 2013
Director: Falk Schuster
Special Prize Lapp Connected Award
2.500 Euro, sponsored by U.I. Lapp GmbH
“PINBALL“
Croatia 2012
Director: Darko Vidackovic
48h Animation Jam – Crazy Horse Session
“TRIXI’S CURIOSITY“
Antonio Jesús Busto Algarin, Martin Martínez Garcia (Spain)
In co-operation with M.A.R.K. 13, Landesanstalt für Kommunikation (LFK) and MFG Film Funding Baden-Wuerttemberg
Project Competition Animation Co-Production Forum Arab World (the countries of the Arab League) and the Caucasus region 2013 in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung
Nominated for the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for International Cooperation
“WANDERLAND”
Lebanon/Germany
Sarah Kaskas and Michael Schwertel
“LI.LE”
Georgia
Natia Nikolashvili