FESTIVALS Germany
The 9th Hamburg Animation Award: The winner, the cook and his special surprise
by Birgit Heidsiek
19/06/2012 - For the ninth time, the Hamburg Animation Award brought upcoming creative designers from all over the world to Northern Germany. 129 animated shorts from film schools in 11 countries applied for this competition. The award show took place at the 'Schmidts Tivoli' in the heart of Hamburg's famous red light district Reeperbahn.
"Animation technics are increasingly used in film, advertising und the games industry," said Thomas M. Schünemann from the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, which launched this event in collaberation with the animation-school-hamburg in 2003. "The Animation Award is a platform for creative newcomers where they also get international attention."
Ten finalists from Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, China and New Zealand were competing for awards in four different categories. The jury was headed by Harald Siepermann, character designer at Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Student Johannes Schiessl from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg took the main prize (€5,000 for the animated drama 366. "The distinct design, effective animation and the melancholic mood work well together,", said Christian Schellewald, art director at DreamWorks Animation. As an additional bonus, the winner received the Fusion compositing software.
The Innovative Design Award (€3,000) went to The Animation Workshop in Denmark for the expressive film Load, in which an overload of leaflets becomes a psychological and physical burden.
Daniel Rieley's unconventional loss drama A Life Well Seasoned received the prize from the partner country Great Britain (€2,000). The audience award was lifted by the cheeky beach satire Bootyful from Hamburg animation school students Maret Collet and Mareikje Kersting. A final surprise was presented by the German TV cook and Ratatouille voice, Tim Maelzer, who donated €10,000 so that each of the ten nominees didn't have to go home with empty pocktets.
