Clare Kitson Gets Lotte Reiniger Prize from European Animation Awards

The Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Achievement award​ is given by European Animation Awards (EAA) to an individual in acknowledgment of the importance of the participation of said individual in the artistic, industrial, technical aspects of European Animation. The recipient of the award is determined by the Board of the EAA.

Clare Kitson​, Programmer for the BFI’s National Film Theater, Commissioning editor for animation at Channel 4 Television, writer and author,  was announced to receive the 2018 Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Achievement award. Kitson is the author of the 2005 monograph, Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator's Journey (John Libbey Publishers) as well as the most recent one, British Animation: The Channel 4 Factor (2009, John Libbey). In the latter book, she details the story of  Britain's pioneering Channel 4 (winner of three Academy Awards for animation during the 1980s and 1990s, for which she was a commissioning editor (1989 to1999).

A short video of Clare Kitson's Channel 4 presentation in 2011 (courtesy of Animation East @NUA)

Last year's first Lotte Reiniger recipient was the Canadian/British animator, director and writer Richard Williams.

As previously announced, two more categories (Best Sound Design in a Feature Film and Best Sound Design in a TV/Broadcast Production) were added to the European Animation Awards (total: 18 categories), and the number of nominees were increased to 5 (3 in the inaugural edition). 

• See how to submit your film to the 2018 European Animation Awards

This pre-selection process will be made by four Juries, composed of three jurors each. The composition of the juries and the nominated films will be announced during a ​ Press Conference in Athens, Greece (8 Nov 2018)​, organised in cooperation with Hellenic Republic institutions. Member voting will be up till 1 December 2018 (become a EAA member).

Some other highlights of the upcoming 2018 celebrations, with the support of  ​Noranim  and the ​Rencontres Audiovisuelles, ​ in the expanded, 2-day EAA Lille celebrations:

• A Lotte Reiniger Masterclass​: Clare Kitson will have the occasion to look back on her career.
• Conference Animation in Europe​: Transposition Audiovisual Media Service Directive AMS (Transposition Directives Service Medias Audiovisuels SMA)
• Round Table hosted by the ​Guilde des Scénaristes ​ : A comparative study on the role of the screenwriter in European Animation.
• Master Class Aardman​: Celebrating the studio’s 40​th​ anniversary with Peter Lord.
  
  

European Animation Awards Asssociation was created with the purpose of organizing he annuals Emile Awards ceremonies, celebrating the vibration and intensity of the European animation creativity. The EAA is a non-profit organisation. The 2nd EAA award ceremony takes place in Lille, France (7-8 Dec 2018).