Animarkt Stop Motion Forum 2023: Winners

The winners of the 8th Animarkt Stop Motion Forum (4-8 October 2023, Lodz) are here. The European and international stop-motion forum event revealed the winning projects in an event which, apart from the pitching forum itself, included a number of masterclasses, workshops, and talks about the future of stop-motion animation.

Estonian animation artist Henri Kaido Veermäe (also animator for 'Sierra' by Sander Joon,) won the big Animarkt Stop Motion Forum award with his project 'UKA UKA' (production: Rebel Frame).

Curiosity traps a child in the trunk of a funeral officiator´s car. Peeking out of there, he can be a fly on the wall at a stranger's funeral. As his absence becomes a cause for concern among his loved ones, he gets a glimpse of how life would go on without him - a temptation that is hard to resist.

Uka Uka

Another prize was given to the 17-minute short stop-motion project, 'Over and Out' by Gustavo Amaral (production: Estúdio Celestina). 

In 1970s Brazil, a determined young woman sets off on a cross-country journey with her two children: Marta, a spirited young girl, and Luciano, an imaginative boy who believes their father has been taken by Martians. But the truth they uncover along the way is far more  shocking

Over and out

Other awards were given to the Greek stop-motion project 'Endless hole' by Thomas Künstler, to the Norwegian comedy 'Ovary-Acting' by  Ida Melum ('Night of the Living Dread her previous film), Natalia Mirzoyan for her 'Winter in March', the body-horror drama 'Joy' by Polish director Agata Wieczorek, and the animation doc 'A whale a submarine and the sound in between' by the Israeli artist Gali Lea Blay

This year in competition section of the forum we placed socially engaged projects, concerned with the hardships of motherhood, war trauma or social relationships. There was also no shortage of wonderful tales of friendship and search for adventure. During the pitchings we had a chance to learn about true moving stories that were inspirations for the films –  Agnieszka Kowalewska-Skowron, head of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum

The TV series and feature film categories competition reserved three awards for the 12x4 min stop-motion series 'A Year of Birds' by the French project (production: Novanima), directed by Isis Leterrier.

The series guides us through the aviary phenomena that punctuate the passage of time. Each episode corresponds to one month of the year, and paints a portrait of a bird species through its specific behaviors. 

A Year of Birds

Joseph Wallace ('Salvation Has No Name') returns with his 90-minute feature-length project 'The Vandenberg Sisters'. 

After their husbands are killed by renegade landowners, twin sisters Martha and Magda are forced to leave their homestead and begin a new life beyond the mountains but their past soon catches up with them and they find themselves at the centre of a complex and violent triangle of revenge.

The Vanderberg Sisters

More than 200 representatives of the animation industry – creators, producers and distributors – from Norway, Mexico, Japan and Nigeria attended the event. Discussions about the industry’s challenges: equality, ecological ways to produce puppets, and education systems were conducted , and four challenges for the stop-motion industry were identified: the job market (pandemic concerns), parenting and the nomadic nature of the stop-motion work, green filming and the need for a more systematic stop-motion education system.

The full line-up of winners:

Short Projects: 

• 40 000 PLN – in the form of in-kind coproduction contribution sponsored by Audiovisual Technology Center – UKA UKA
• 20 000 PLN – in the form of in-kind coproduction contribution sponsored by Audiovisual Technology Center – OVER AND OUT
• Industry accreditation for MIFA 2024 in Annecy – Endless Hole
• APA Lab award – OVER AND OUT
• Animond award – Ovary-Acting
• Dragonframe 5 software – Winter in March
• Visegrad award – OVER AND OUT
• CEE Animation Forum award – A whale a submarine and the sound in between
• Radiator IP Sales distribution award – JOY
• Animator Festival award - Winter in March

Features and TV series

• Young Horizons Industry award – Welcome to Vegetown
• Industry accreditation for MIFA 2024 in Annecy – The Vanderberg Sisters
• Animond award – A year of birds
• Dragonframe 5 software – A year of birds
• ORKA Studio award – Bea and the isle of spells
• Animator Festival award – A year of birds

Animarkt Stop Motion Forum 2023

Animarkt Stop Motion Forum event occurred in Lodz, 4-8 October 2023. ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum is co-funded by International Visegrad Fund and Polish Film Institute. Event’s partner is Creative Europe Desk Poland. Main partners of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum 2023 are EC1 Łódź – City of culture, Łódź Film Commission, Direccion General de Promocion de Exportaciones Chile, Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual I.P. / ICA,, Centre for the Development of Creative Industries and LOOM Hotel.