Closing Gala – The Best of the Fest

Founded in 2004 this is an excellent animation festival showcasing a great range of styles and and genres of animation from all around the world.. For more information you can find the website here.

Best of the Fest Award

• Very smooth camera movements and animation, making for a very professional peice
• Strange film with animals like humans in everyday lives and jobs singing and performing to this very strangely sung sounding Swedish song
• Wonderful amount of detail and realism in all of the stop motion sets and puppets

Best British Film Award

• Really well mixed sound with this bold dynamic audio opening emphasised with the lack of visuals until we have the words and characters appear
• Very strange story with Peter and these odd smiley face ‘gods’ trying to guide him
• Uses a simplistic style of single painted frames for each spoken part, very bold and memorable

Best Abstract Film Award

• A strange non linear story told with this flow of lines working with audio
• The audio has a great mix of sounds and dialogue that really creates an atmosphere and works well with the abstract story and animation
• Animation has this strange texture to it that I cannot tell if drawn digitally or by hand that really draws you in

Best Sound Design Award

• Some great texture and detail in the models of this 3D CG animation that really show the lighting and forms
• Really well animated with the sound mixed perfectly to work alongside the visual and drive the story
• Very unusual storyline following this character being chased in this very odd and hostile land

Best Childrens’ Film Award (Amazing Animations: 0-7 year-olds)

• Sweet little animation about a small man who collects things and creates new objects and uses for them in his smaller world who then later helps this blind man in his day-to-day life
• Lovely music and sound mix that works on building the uplifting feel of the film
• Nicely textured layers to this cutout puppet style of animation that fits with the the family audiences

Best Childrens’ Film Award (Marvellous Animations: 8-15 year-olds)

• Dynamic black and white style with odd parts of colour and tones to the animation that matches the style of story and builds this powerful mood
• Has a lovely sketchy almost carved or scratched out style of drawing to the work that is really eye catching and interesting
• Bold specific sound and music mix builds on this soldier stuck in the war type feel of the storyline

Voting for International Competition Programme 2 – Being Human

• Wonderful story about a man losing his father and telling the story of how he disconnected with him through the uses of these objects being packed away in his trunk
• Truly beautiful use of stop motion animation for this film with the detailed puppets and sets working with interesting scales having some objects become larger as puppets become smaller and create this great story telling tool visually
• Amazing animation having these brilliant movements with objects and smooth subtle movements of the characters in the ‘real life’ moments. Strengthened by the soft music and tone of the voice over, all drawing you into the story itself

Voting for International Competition Programme 3 – Looking For Answers

• Sketchy hand drawn style digital 2D animation about a girl and quite a harrowing secret or moments in her life
• Great use of colour and detail throughout to build this atmosphere that starts quite innocent and childlike and then you see these cracks begin to form with these jarring moments that leave you thinking is that telling me what I think it is telling me?
• The sound works well to build on this films development from the normal sweet to the jarring hard hitting moments

– Photographs in Feature Image © [images right top to bottom] The Burden by Niki Lindroth Von Bahr and The Absence of Eddy Table by Rune Spaans [logos] LIAF