Zénó és a Hirek by Ferene Cakó, Hungary. A superb plasticine animation in which a man reading a newspaper assumes the characters and events from the news stories. The images include football, with a hooligan knifing the ball, an air crash and characters from TV movies. L’Architekt by Atelier Granphoui, Belgium. Cel animated characters on a photographic background. The contrast between the coloured figures and the black and white backgrounds is very effective.
Un Point c’est Tout by Claude Rocher, France. ‘Life is a bowl of cherries – and cherries would not be cherries without the pips,’ is the opening line. Everything seems to go wrong for the man in this story. It has a graphic style reminiscent of French comic books: fully detailed drawings with technical pen lines and colourful painting.
Just a Simple Melody by Leonore Poth, Germany. A woman and a man are sitting face to face at a meal table, drawn in pencil animation. They make eyes at each other and the table shrinks bringing them closer. The table continues to vary in size according to their changing moods.
Pro Sidorowa Wowu by E. Nazarow, USSR. Conventional cartoon technique with a moral story about a boy whose parents are overprotective. It became a bit far-fetched when his parents even looked after him while he was in the army and fighting on the battlefield.
Poskusaj Migati Dvakrat by Z. Coh and M. Eric, Jugoslavia. A pencil animation that has a man without a head chasing his suitcase. In it’s 26 minutes the pace is fast and furious with each frame drawn anew. At one point the man seems to stretch himself around the world like a rubber band. High speed travel sequences take the viewer through varied landscapes, along roads and rivers.
Animation Has No Borders by 36 animators from 36 countries. Drawn on film by many different hands, the overall effect is colourful and a lively music track holds it together.
Quick-Sand by Ikif, Japan. Shapes made from black/grey sand on glass. Interesting movement with no apparent narrative.
Boxes by Roman Lang, Germany. The animation paper is deliberately shown as a full sheet complete with frame numbers and punch holes. A series of boxes march around with no narrative.
Strangers in Paradise by Andy Stavely, UK. Adam and Eve with a difference. There is a nice underwater effect in a world inhabited by strange creatures of foam rubber sewn together by woollen thread.
Creativitis by Ulrike Roesner, Germany. A man falls asleep at his desk. His pencil and rubber come to life and make drawings. You might expect this subject to be pixilation but it was in fact a cartoon.
Babylon by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, UK. This Annecy prizewinner about the greed of international arms dealers was well received by the audience and Peter Lord stood for an enthusiastic ovation.
Luxo Jr. by John Lasseter and William Reeves, USA. The well known computer animation of two table lamps.
My Brother by Hayo Freitag and Jurgen Heer, Germany. Pencil animation with very detailed drawings and fully developed characters. While an old man looks at photos of his brother, who is a pilot, there is an atomic blast. Objects fly around and when the dust settles the old man is crossing a ruined landscape in his wheelchair. An aircraft lands and the man’s pilot brother steps out. He turns out to be the one who dropped the bomb. Set in Motion by Jane Aaron, USA. Pixilation in a living room. Strips of coloured paper move across the furniture defining the contours.
Banket by G. Bardin, USSR. A real table is set for a banquet. The guests are invisible but you can tell where they are because of the things they hold, cigarettes, drinks being poured and food being picked up. The climax is an argument where things are thrown around. One of the invisible diners is hit on the head by a bottle, the bottle breaks and blood drips from above onto a napkin.
Business by Vanessa J. Cuthbert, UK. Pencil animation processed to become white lines on a black background. It has an attractive music track which was composed and played by the filmmaker. It is the animators sketchbook observations of a red light street in Liverpool where prostitutes wait for customers.
Bartakiada by Miroslav Bartak, USSR. The film follows a little man through a day from getting up to going to bed. Everything seems to go wrong and at the end his bed falls through the floor.
Street of Crocodiles by The Brothers Quay, UK. This film seems to win awards at every festival in which it is entered – this time was no exception.
Rope-Dancer by Raimund Krumme, Germany. Two men and a length of red rope work through a number of changes in their relationship.
The winners
Prize from the State of Baden-Wiirttemberg DM 10,000:
Street of Crocodiles – The Brothers Quay -Britain.
Prize from the City of Stuttgart DM5,000
The Wind – Csaba Varga – Hungary
Carl-Zeiss Prize DM 3,000
Break- G. Bardin – USSR
Landesgirokasse Prize for the best newcomer’s film DM3,000
Business – Vanessa Cuthbert – Britain.
Robert-Bosch Prize DM2,000
Shared by:
Inside Job – Aidan Hickey – Ireland
Rope Dancer – Raimund Krumme – Berlin
Jury Prize DM 1,000
Les Miserables – Mars Mattuschka – Austria.
Prize for the most comical film DM 1,000
Poskusaj Migati Dvakrat – Z. Coh and M. Eric -Yugoslavia.
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Printed in Animator Issue 23 (Summer 1988)