9 Stop Motion Films Pick Up ANIMARKT 2021 Awards

| ‘Hello Summer’, ‘3 Cups of Coffee’, ‘9 Million Colors’ Scoop Top Prizes

Nobody expected such a situation! The level of this year’s pitching projects fighting for the recognition of the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2021 jury was so high that as many as nine out of fifteen of them will leave Poland with prizes or distinctions. It is one step closer to the realization of touching, funny and often socially engaged animations. The award ceremony is one of the last items on the program of this year’s edition of the forum, which gathered over 300 creators from all over the world

The jury, consisting of Bea Bartolome, Alicja Gancarz, and Denis Walgenwitz, had quite a task, but after many hours of debate, it decided to award prizes to as many as nine fi

“Despite many years of work in this industry, the quality of selected projects this year is new to me ,”emphasizes Denis Walgenwitz,”In recent years, in the stop-motion animation industry, we have observed a tendency to have better and better cooperation between producers, directors, teams and technical teams. That is why we have this variety, quality and the ability to tackle many topics and issues, which I think is good news for everyone, “he adds.

List of awarded projects:

2000 euro to be spent on production in one of the Visegrad Group countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) was won by Martin Smatana and Veronika Zacharova for “Hello Summer”, Slovakia;

Sound Award funded by The Audiovisual Technology Center (CeTA) went to: “3 cups of coffee”, dir. Natalia Krawczuk, Poland;

A voucher worth PLN 60,000 funded by The Audiovisual Technology Center (CeTA) won: “9 Million colors”, dir. Bara Anna Stejskalova, Czech Republic;

Dragonframe software won “Desire to win”, dir. Michaela Rezova, Czech Republic;

Consultation with Marcin Zalewski – in the field of building the puppet, went to three projects – “9 Million colors”, dir. Bara Anna Stejskalova, Czech Republic; Becarias, dir. Marina Donderis, Nuria Poveda and Maria Corton, Spain; “Humanity”, dir. TerezaCovandova, Czech Republic;

Industry accreditation for the Mifa 2022 fair in Annecy was won by “Petra & the sun” dir. Maria Luisa Furche and Stefania Malacichini, Chile;

RIA ANIMATION RESIDENCY AWARD by Apa and Apa Lab – residence including accommodation in Unquillo (Argentina) for 10 days, creative writing workshops, advice on directing and script, or full accreditation for Apa Lab went to “Galaxia”, dir. Robinson Moreno, Venezuela;

The festival distribution led by RADIATOR IP Sales was won by the animation “Petra & the sun”, dir. by Maria Luisa Furche and Stefania Malacichini, Chile;

CEE Animation Forum Award went to the project “3 cups of coffee”, dir. Natalia Krawczuk, Poland;

ANIMOND Award went to “Hello Summer”, dir. Martin Smatana and Veronika Zacharova, Slovakia.

Due to the high level of the projects, the jury also decided to award two special non-competition awards to “Butterfly”, directed by Suncana Brkulj, and “Becarias” (dir. Marina Donderis, Nuria Poveda, Maria Corton).

‘3 Cups of Coffee”, by Natalia Krawczuk (Poland)

The awards gala is one of the last items on the program of the sixth edition of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2021, which gathered over 300 participants. Thanks to the hybrid formula, it has become possible to turn Łódź into a world center of stop motion animation.

“The program includes over 30 events: workshops, discussions, consultations and meetings with experts. We are very pleased that despite the difficult organizational conditions related to the pandemic, we managed to invite so many wonderful guests to Łódź,” says Agnieszka Kowalewska-Skowron, co-organizer of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum. “We can proudly say that this year each continent had its representatives here. The event was attended by participants from Turkey, Chile, Australia, China or India” . adds Paulina Zacharek from the MOMAKIN company,” You could feel the festive atmosphere at every step. You can see that everyone felt good here and we all missed this opportunity to meet.”

ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum is co-financed by the International Visegrád Fund and  the Polish Film Institute. The main partners of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2020 are EC1 Łódź – City of culture and Lodz Film Commission.

The event is organized by MOMAKIN, a company connecting the world of animated filmmakers with the international production, distribution and promotion market, which specializes in stop motion projects. It supports animation projects at every stage of their development: from planning and financing, through production, to distribution. It deals with the education and professionalization of the film industry.

Source: animation magazine- Skwigly