The 2012 Edition of the Fredrikstad Animation Festival happened 8.–11. November with the Fredrikstad Cinema as main venue. 4 days packed with seminars, workshops and screenings – and with something for all ages.
81 films were screened during the festival. 75 short films were selected to participate in five competition programs and three special programs. Fredrikstad Animation Festival hosts it´s own award ceremony, unique to it´s kind in Norway: The Golden Gunnar trofé is handed out in six categories, among them Best children´s film (given out by a children´s jury) – and the Grand Prix award. The Grand Prix winner is automatically nominated for European Cartoon d’Or.
Main jury 2012: Lise Fearnley, Heiki Ernits and Marina Rosset. Jury for Commissioned Film: Christen Bach, Cornelia Boysen and Jérémy Clapin.
The festival board and festival organizers also give out a Lifetime Achievement Award to honour one great figure in the Nordic-Baltic animation scene.
Golden Gunnar Winners 2012
Grand Prix
Breakfast on the grass
(Estonia)
Directed by Erik Alunurm, Mihkel Reha, Mari- Liis Rebane, Mari Pakkas
Best Student Film
But milk is important
(Norway)
Directed by Eirik Grønmo Bjørnsen and Anna Mantzaris
Best Short Film
Ursus (Latvia)
Directed by Reinis Pētersons
Best Children´s Film
The Secret of the Ice Flower (Denmark)
Directed by Jacob Ley
Best Commissioned Film
Trollus Netticus
(Norway)
Directed by Magne Hage
The Audience Award
The Secret of the Ice Flower (Denmark)
Directed by Jacob Ley
Lifetime Achievement Award
Rein Raamat ( Estonia)
Rein Rammat, who is considered the founder of the Estonian school of animation. Raamat as an artist was one of the first whose output was a new medium — hand-drawn animation. He developed and protected the rights of the new artform. Rein Raamat’s best animations are a dead sure part of the greatest animations of Estonia.
Seminars and workshops
Every year the festival seminars gather international animation/visual effects industry people for sharing of knowledge and innovation inputs. In 2012 the festival seminars and workshops had three focuses:
North American Producers with Nelson Lowry (Studio Laika, Production Manager of Paranorman (2012)) and Marcy Page from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as well as the producers of Academy Award winner The Danish Poet (Torill Kove, 2012).
During In Production, Torill Kove presented her upcoming feature Hokus Pokus, Alfie Atkins. Rasmus A. Sivertsen introduced a complete new stop-motion feature used on the famous Pinchcliffe characters of Kjell Aukrust (Solan and Ludvig).
The festival VFX seminar highlighted two amazing VFX studios. Juri Stanossek from Pixomondo in Stuttgart, Germany, presented the work of his studio on the award winning TV-series Games of Thrones. This followed by Storm Studios (N) breathtaking work on Academy Award Nominee Kon-Tiki (2012). Additionally, Adam Wright gave an animatronics workshop and Jeremy Clapin og Frankc Dion presented their studio Papy3d and the production of their films Edmond Was a Donkey and Palmipedarium.
Other Events
No festival complete without parties and social events! In 2012, the festival presented the party-with-performance-act Jimmy Polaris: music composed and performed by Masselys in combination with visuals by Christopher Nielsen and Matt Willis-Jones. The opening night the traditional party at Café Verdensspeilet followed the opening ceremony. Here the award ceremony party, with master of ceremony Richard Bowers, also took place. The Café Verdensspeilet, just across the street from the Fredrikstad Cinema, is well known among festival visitors for its atmosphere.