Hamburg Animation Award 2011 Goes to Talent Newcomer from South Germany

Short film The Visit wins in a field of 140 entries

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Conrad Tambour and his team from the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg won the Hamburg Animation Award 2011, valued at EUR 5,000, with their short film The Visit. In a speech honouring the winners of the award Rodolphe Guenoden, Animation Supervisor of Kung Fu Panda 1 and 2, cited the jury rating in front of an audience of 650 invited guests at Schmidts Tivoli. “The team of The Visit has discovered a style all its own. They master the design vocabulary. Using both wit and sympathy, they transmit a message that is having a growing impact on our society: how should we treat the issue of aging?”. On the evening of the award ceremony the audience will vote for the winner of the Audience Award, valued at EUR 1,000.

The winner of the newly created Innovative Design Award, valued at EUR 3,000, for best design was The Backwater Gospel, an animated film by students from The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. The new Innovative Design Award opened the contest for candidates from the advertising film and games design sector for the first time this year. “In Hamburg we are currently experiencing an increasing overlapping and mutual inspiration between the film, advertising and games industries”, noted Dr Thomas M Schünemann, Vice-President of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, in his welcome address.

The animated film institutions from the People’s Republic of China – this year’s country partner – were particularly active with a total of 70 film entries in the contest and resulting in two country awards, each valued at EUR 2,000. One of the two awards went to the film An August Thought, by the Shanghai Art Craft Academy from Shanghai, the other to animation designer Wang Yumin from the Training Center of the Shaanxi Animation Industry Platform from Xi’an for his film The Holy Tree. In Hamburg, Wang Yumin was accompanied by a high-ranking delegation of representatives from the political, business and cultural community of the provincial capital Xi’an.

The Hamburg Animation Award is an initiative organised and sponsored by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and the animation-school-hamburg (SBB) and has taken place every year since 2003. Over 140 entries from Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, the People’s Republic of China and German animation schools and colleges in Potsdam, Ludwigsburg, Kassel, Braunschweig and Hamburg competed for the different prizes.

The nominated and award-winning films from the 8th Hamburg Animation Award, Walt Disney’s Mulan and the Oscar-nominated short film The Gruffalo by Hamburg director Max Lang will be shown on Friday, 24 June, from 5:00 to 9:30 PM at the Abaton cinema. Tickets are available directly through the Abaton cinema at www.abaton.de, or reserve by phone at Tel 040 41 320 320.

Note:
Screen shots of the award-winning films and a DVD with the film nominations are available through Nadja Zimmermann, Tel + 49 40 36138-262, nadja.zimmermann@hk24.de.

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