The first awards show of the 29th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film took place on Wednesday, May 4. Moderator Anja Lange hosted the evening, welcoming numerous guests to the stage to honor this year’s Trickstar Professional Awards winners.
German Animation Screenplay Award
This year, two screenplay prizes were awarded: The award for the best screenplay, endowed with €2,500 and donated by the Animation Media Cluster Region Stuttgart (AMCRS), and the award for the screenplay with the greatest international market potential in the amount of €1,500 , donated by Pink Parrot Media (Montreal/Madrid).
These awards aim to promote promising authors, contribute to the improvement of the quality of the material and the international market potential of animated feature films, as well as to highlight the importance of professional scriptwriting and, consequently, more attractive films.
The jury consisted of Peter Keydel (Producer, Mago Production), Holger Weiss (Founder & CEO of M.A.R.K.13 Group), Silke Wilfinger (Founder of SilkWayFilms), Emely Christians (Producer & CEO of Ulysses Filmproduktion) and Tania Pinto de Cunha (President / Director Int’l Sales & Aquisitions, Pink Parrot Media).
The award for the best screenplay goes to: Dino Mite / Minus Drei und die verlorene Stadt (Minus Drei and the Lost City)
Screenplay: Armin Prediger, Andreas Völlinger. Production: Holger Weiss and Dominique Schuchmann, M.A.R.K.13 – COM, Björn Magsig and Sandra Schießl, TRIKK 17.
Jury Statement: “‘Upside Down’ is a popular game — and an exciting premise for a children’s film that surprisingly approaches this question: What if a dinosaur had a pet, an untamed human prehistoric girl? What if the dinosaur is the civilized creature and the human child takes on the role of the ‘wild’ pet? Andreas Völlinger and Armin Prediger have turned this idea into a screenplay for an animated film that is dramaturgically clear, extremely funny and with great dialogue wit. They always have their target group in mind! With an exciting and action-packed plot, but at least as much heart and humor, the screenplay inspires and you can hardly wait to see this story on the big screen, together with lots of children!”
The award for the best screenplay with the greatest international market potential goes to: Little Miss Santa
Screenplay: Jasmina Kallay. Production: Lilian Klages (Dreamin’ Dolphin Film, Munich)
Jury Statement: “I guess we will all agree Christmas is a very special time of the year. And our Little Miss Santa is going to make it even better. This is a charming Christmas story full of love, friendship and understanding of each other’s needs. Unlike other Christmas films we all know and most certainly adore, this one is quite special.”
A Special Mention goes to the screenplays Mr. Wiggles (screenplay: André Heeger) and The (Mostly) Marvelous Murray (screenplay: Christian Kaps).
Animated Games Award Germany
The Animated Games Award Germany 2022 is awarded to the best and most innovative animation-based computer game from Germany and comes with prize money of €5,000, sponsored by MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden.
This year’s jurors were Alex Cojocaru (Project Manager Games BW, Unit Culture and Creative Industries, MFG Baden-Württemberg), Bettina Wegenast (Director, PlayBern-Festival for Games & Culture) and Stephan Wirth (Founder & CEO, Gentlymad Studios).
The Animated Games Award Germany 2022 goes to: Minute of Islands
Developer: Studio Fizbin GmbH. Publisher: Mixtvision Mediengesellschaft mbH-Württemberg.
Jury Statement: “This year’s Animated Games Award Germany features five very strong submissions. It was not easy for us, the jury, to make a decision, especially because each of the five game nominations fascinates and inspires in a very individual way. But there can only be one winner. Minute of Islands is an independent game with depth in both art design and story. Animations are used sparingly in the hand-drawn graphics, but in a pointed and considered way. They either enliven the 2D graphics or draw the eye to objects that are important to the story or further gameplay. Therefore, we are happy to present Minute of Islands with the Animated Games Award Germany with full conviction.”
A Special Mention goes to Lacuna (developer: DigiTales Interactive, publisher: Assemble Entertainment).
Trickstar Business Award
Trickstar Business Award is the prize that honors companies and projects in the field of animation that have an innovative and groundbreaking business model. The prize money of €7,500 is sponsored by the Verband Region Stuttgart. The Trickstar Business Award is the world’s first animation prize with an explicit business focus.
The jury consisted of Jens Gutfleisch (Managing Director, Film Commission Region Stuttgart), Marc König (Partner at VentureGate), Solveig Langeland (Managing Director, Sola Media), Tünde Vollenbroek (Producer, Studio Pupil; Curator at Kaboom Animation Festival and Animasyros) and Gabriele M. Walther (Founder/CEO, Caligari Film, Traffix Entertainment).
The winner of the Trickstar Business Award 2022: Business Model YULLBE GO – Mack NeXT, Rust
Jury Statement: “This year, the jury of the Trickstar Business Award is pleased to reward MackNeXT, for the company perfectly embodies the Award’s core. MackNeXT GmbH has developed from an in-house agency to an international creator and consultant of innovative theme park design, media-based entertainment and story-telling company. Their product YULLBE GO showed relevance to the market and business potential, as well as an innovatively and promise that the Trickstar Business Award stands for.
“Also, from the point of view of the industry, MackNext and its Product YULLBE GO stood out amongst this year’s submissions. YULLBE GO is a Free Roaming VR Attraction, enabling 88 guests per hour to move through a virtual world in an 80 square meter room. The player’s hands and feet are traced by specially developed hardware. Thereby, the system differs from its competitors by the high mobility and capacity at an attractive price. It stands so out also as a new business case for 3D attractions.”
The YULLBE GO VR experience can be tried out on site at ITFS from April 30 to May 7, daily from 11 to 19h at the Breuninger store in Stuttgart.
The jury also awards two Special Mentions to Art Minute interactive animated series and short film formats for museums (Die Asta Experience & Zentropa Productions) ,and Colored (Noire) (Novaya), an immersive installation with augmented reality “Artminute Format”.
The three nominated projects of the Trickstar Business Award will be presented on Friday, May 6, at 16h in the Online Pro section.
Find the complete program information and purchase tickets to ITFS programming at itfs.de.
