Animateka 2008 Award Winners

Award Winners of previous Animateka editions: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

Ljubljana, December 14th 2008

Animateka Grand Prix

The jury gave an ex-equo Grand Prix to the film Å tyri / Four directed by Ivana Å ebestova (Slovak Republic) and to the film NightStill, directed by Elke Groen (Austria). Jury explanation: "Å tyri gets the prize for its brilliant visual style, its subtle humour, its captivating narrative structure and its witty sensual atmosphere. NightStill gets prize for its original atmosphere achieved through sophisticated simplicity. The all mighty power of nature dominates the film."

Maestro® Audience Award

The Maestro® Audience Award, presented by MasterCard Europe, went to Jadwiga Kowalska with the film Tôt ou tard (Switzerland).

Special Festival Award

For its invaluable contribution to documenting and wide spreading the culture of world animation history the Special Festival Award this year went to Gabriele Zuccheli with the movie Quirino Cristiani: The Mystery of the First Animated Movies.

NLB Vita Award for the Elephant Children's Programme

The NLB Vita award for the Elephant Children's Programme went to the film Malenkaya Vasilisa / Vasilisa directed by Darina Shmidt (Russia). Children's Jury explain their decision: "We selected the animated films by sitting down after each screening and picking out our favourite film. Among the films we liked the most were: Ein Sonniger Tag / A Sunny Day, Karu Tuleb / The Bear is Coming, Great Ambition, Astons Stenar / Aston's Stones, Shoe, Nic noveho pod sluncem / Since the Dawn of Man, Attencion al Cliente / Customer Service, Lednice / Fridge and we could go on and on, but we had to chose just one. We talked mostly about the technique and content of each film — whether we liked the story, if we understood it, if the technique was interesting... In the end we decided — although three to two — for the film Malenkaya Vasilisa by Darina Shmidt." Distinguished children's jury members who carefully watched the films are: Medina Baskar Weber, Angela Milhačič Hladnik, Graal Lucignano, Petra Hlebš and Jan Verdelis.

Special Mentions

Georges Schwizgebel and Regina Pessoa gave Special Mention to the film Muto, directed by Blu (Italy). They said: "We give our special mention to film Muto for its originality and freedom, with a simplicity of means this films adds a new dimension to the Standard animation media." Giannalberto Bendazzi's Special Mention went to the film Fantasmogorie 2008 directed by Rastko Ćirić (Serbia). Bendazzi explained: "The mention goes to Fantasmagorie 2008 which creatively explores the secrets of the father of all animated films."

Jerzy Kucia gave his Special Mention to the film Die Seilbahn /The Cable Car directed by Caludius Gentinetta and Frank Braun (Switzerland). Kucia's explanation: "The special mention goes to The Cable Car, which metaphorically depicts the situation of mankind when confronted with its destiny."

Jelena Girlin gave Special Mention to the film Note / Notes directed by Marko Meštrović (Croatia). She said why: "I would like to mention the film Notes for the interesting visual style of the film and the special emotional feeling that appears during watching this film."

Winner of the AnimaWeb Contest

This year Animateka also went web and the first winner of our Animaweb Contest, selected by the international audience through online voting is Peter Vadocz with the film Mobile Postcards.

Winner of the Contest Živel strip / Viva I Fumetti

For the second year Animateka together with Slovenian Stripburger and Italian partner Vivacomix prepared the contest ŽIVEL STRIP / VIVA I FUMETTI. And the winner of the animated film section this year was the Italian author Alberto Lot.