Posts Tagged ‘Festivals’

Prince Achmed screening at Birds Eye View Film Festival in London

Written by madevi 1st March 2010, 9:03am

Posted in: Events, Festivals

bev2010_logo_for_info_sheets

The Birds Eye View film festival is back for its 6th annual Film Festival of celebrating, championing and showcasing women filmmakers.

This year, they’re giving you the chance to see Lotte Reiniger’s ‘The Adventures of Prince Achmed’. Cutting-edge composer Mira Calix will premiere her new musical accompaniment to the silent animation live at the BFI. It’s sure to be an intriguing mix as Mira Calix’s intimate vocals and experimental electronic textures mix with the now iconic elegant shadows of Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 feature film.

achmed2

A little bird tells me the festival will also be launching their Animation Lab at this event. Run in partnership with Warp Films, this year-long development programme  will bring together women animators and screenwriters to eventually develop an animated feature. One not to miss!

When: 6th March 2010, 6.30 pm

Where: BFI, London

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Edinburgh Film Festival deadline extended

Written by madevi 28th January 2010, 12:01pm

Posted in: Festivals

Shake yourself out of your winter torpor!
There’s still time to submit to the Edinburgh International Film Festival, that fine champion of fresh animation talent.

The Regular Deadline for all submissions will be Monday 1st March 2010. They are particularly keen to see the freshest of animation talent and as a result animation films are still FREE to submit. That’s free, as in beer! Though you’ll still have to buy your own beer. They’re not that nice.

NEW Submission Deadlines:
Regular: Monday 1 March 2010
Late: Monday 8 March 2010

There are three ways to submit:-
- Online through the EIFF website
- Download a form from the EIFF website and mail it to them
- Via Withoutabox

Animation films are FREE to submit but please still use the online submission, Withoutabox or postal form before sending your film.

Please note all submitted films should be no more than 12 months old by June 2010 and EIFF requires at least UK premiere status.

Check out our highlights from last year’s EIFF animation screenings for motivation. We could be singing your praises this summer. If you buy us a beer.

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Encounters: 4mations Newcomer in Animation winners

Written by madevi 23rd November 2009, 7:11pm

Posted in: Festivals

The best and brightest filmmakers descended on Bristol last week for Encounters, a week of shorts, showcases, awards, and dips in the tropical waters. That last bit might be a lie, but congratulations are certainly in order for the talented animators who took away the very desirable 4mations International Newcomer in Animation Award.

Supported by 4mations.tv, Kudlian Software and Canon, the award recognizes originality and technical achievement in animation, and the £2,000 cash prize was won by Rabbit Punch directed by  Kristian Andrews. Please Say Something, by David O’Reilly, was rewarded with the Jury’s special commendation.

Didn’t catch the films? Here’s what the Jury had to say about them:

Rabbit Punch

rabbit-punch1

This film combines dramatic story-telling with great designs. It very accurately portrays the secret life of teenagers in a rural British setting, (a theme not often explored in animated shorts), in an economical and effective way.  The story and the lead character’s dilemmas feel very real and emotionally engaging and there is a lot of tension and humour in the story-telling.  It is technically adept, with excellent framing and composition.

Please Say Something
Please say something

This deceptively powerful film is a kind of anti-Hello Kitty assault on the senses. Exploring the relationship between a cat and a mouse it uses very sparse and economical character designs in a futuristic setting to tell a cinematic and multi-layered story.  It was extremely thought-provoking and ambitious, using fractured narrative, multiple perspectives and bold sound design.

Did you watch the shorts? Tell us what you thought!

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Animated Exeter: deadline extended

Written by madevi 26th October 2009, 8:10am

Posted in: Festivals

Where are my bills? Where are my unwanted brochures? Where’s the rubbish I bought off ebay?

If, like me, you’ve been cursing the postal strike, you’ll be glad to know it has an upside. Animated Exeter have extended the deadline for submissions for the BEST OF THE WEST and SCREEN OUT LOUD entries to:

FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER

For entry forms please go to www.animatedexeter.co.uk/competitions

Best of the West is open to students and graduates from the South West of England and South Wales.

Screen out Loud is open to independent animators in the UK.

Now you have no excuse not to submit. Go on. Drag yourself to the post office.That ebay package might just be waiting for you.

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Call for entries: Anifest and TICFF

Written by madevi 11th October 2009, 2:10pm

Posted in: Festivals

anifest1

Enough with the lie-ins and extended brunches already. Forget about going to the gym or that walk through the park, there’s nothing like a Sunday afternoon for some festival submission action that will bring a smug glow to your face. Submit now to:

Anifest

What? An eclectic mix of world animation, the 100th birthday of legendary film director Karel Zeman, and 11 categories to compete in.

Where? Trebon, Czech Republic

When? 18th to 23rd May 2010

Deadline? 31st December 2009

TICFF

What? The Taiwan International children’s Film Festival promotes quality TV and film productions for children, with up to $28,000 of prizes up for grab, including a Best Animation category.

Where? Taiwan

When? 1st to 5th April 2010

Deadline? 31st October 2009

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Flatpack Festival 2010: call for submissions

Written by madevi 30th September 2009, 8:09am

Posted in: Festivals

kodachrome

Birgmingham-based Flatpack festival is back for 2010!

They are looking for mini-masterpieces with an emphasis on “animation, music, experimental stuff, handmade oddities, and that kind of thing”. Submissions should be under 20 minutes long, produced since January 2008, and fully cleared, including any music rights.

So head on over to their site, take a look at their past programmes of animation, and get submitting before the 4th December 2009 deadline!

We’ve added it to our list of upcoming animation-friendly film festivals in the UK - It’s promising to be a fun, eye-popping, not-to-be-missed event.

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BAA, British Animation Awards 2010

Written by andy 16th September 2009, 1:09pm

Posted in: Announcements, Festivals

British Animation Awards

It’s BAA time again! The British Animation Awards are ready to help spread the word about all that’s new and splendid and wonderful in British Animation. The awards cover everything from student work to commercials, children’s entertainment to experimental art films, music videos and more.

BAA 2010 Entry Forms will be posted online very soon. So keep an eye out.
www.britishanimationawards.com

Dates for your diary:
Student Film: October 30th 2009
All other categories: November 30th 2009

Short-listed entrants will be informed in December 2009 and finalists in late January 2010.

Join the mailing list to keep up:
info@britishanimationawards.com

And don’t miss your chance to enter!

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LIAF review: The Bug Trainer

Written by madevi 7th September 2009, 1:09pm

Posted in: Festivals, Reviews

The Bug Trainer

The Bug Trainer

It’s a testament to the appeal of one who is often hailed as the father of stop motion animation that a real buzz could be felt in the audience before the screening of this film at the London International Animation Festival. The Bug Trainer tracks the life and work of Ladislas Starewitch, the prolific Russian-born Polish animator who brought life to bugs and other animals for over 50 years.

The documentary itself is well crafted, with an interesting mix of stop motion animation, constructed sets and filmed interviews. But there is surprisingly little time spent on the work of the great man itself, the focus instead being on a strange parallel love story between an animated bug and the regal Lionness character from Starewitch’s film The Tale of The Fox. I found the narrator bug device both contrived and distracting, and was left wandering who exactly this film was made for.

Still, I enjoyed reacquainting myself with Starewitch’s work, which I hadn’t seen since my heady days as an animation student. There were a couple of interesting tidbits of information and some curious footage of real insects being wired up for animation. Sadly there was not much else here to satisfy the hungry animator, who may have more luck rediscovering Starewitch’s work on a DVD or two.

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Life Without Gabriella Ferri

Written by madevi 4th September 2009, 9:09am

Posted in: Festivals, Reviews

gabriella

Woman strokes fish. Fish squelshes. Man strokes fish. Fish squelshes. Woman strokes man. Woman strokes knife. Man strokes fish…. and so it goes on. I may reveal myself as an animation dunce when I say I had no previous knowledge of Pritt Parn’s work before attending the screening of his feature film Life Without Gabriella Ferri last night at the London Animation Festival.

It’s hard to say what the film is about, and perhaps it’s completely unnecessary. Life without Gabriella Ferri, fittingly, only briefly references Gabriella herself. There’s a one legged chicken, an impassible runner, a wandering spider, a thief, and a number of creepy ophthalmologists. While the drawings are scratchy and messy, there’s a precise, almost choreographed fluidity to the movements of the characters. The 44 minutes of the film are no easy watch. I experienced growing anxiety. Everything here, from the unrelenting soundscape to the neglected child with the bandaged hand, feeds a sense of unease, a clear message that something is wrong. And yet the film cultivates its own internal, inexorable logic, a weird structure in the chaos.

Yup, that’s Estonian animation for you. Tomorrow, light relief in the form of sexy zebras and clumsy undertakers when I review the LIAF programme of Siggraph Asia shorts.

Have you seen Pritt Parn’s work? I’d be interested to hear what you made of it.

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London International Animation Festival opens this week!

Written by madevi 24th August 2009, 4:08pm

Posted in: Announcements, Festivals

The Bug Trainer

The Bug Trainer

The London International Animation Festival returns in its sixth edition with an exciting, intriguing, inspiring, sometimes controversial, thoroughly comprehensive collection of animation from 27 August to 6 September. Don’t miss the UK’s largest festival of its kind in the UK, screening the best, new animation from every corner of the world to London audiences, represented in a series of amazing programmes and satellite events.

Birth - in competition at LIAF

Birth - in competition at LIAF

This year’s highlights include two special international guests – Edouard Salier, a digital wizard from France and Canadian Claude Cloutier - as well as a focus on sand animation (much to Captain Contentious’ delight). Be quick to get your grubby animators’ claws on tickets to the English premiere of Mary and Max (a must see!), a Brothers McLeod-themed party, as well as shorts programmes, the best of Siggraph Asia, and much much more.

4 by Edouard Salier

4 by Edouard Salier

We’ll be heading down to the festival next week - see you there?

The full programme is online at the LIAF website at www.liaf.org.uk.

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