An ugly duckling finds gold
The European Association of Animation Film has awarded its Cartoon Tributes at the ninth edition of Cartoon Movie in Potsdam (March 7-9).
The most prestigious award, Best European Director of the Year, went to directing duo Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich for The Ugly Duckling and Me! [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
Hegner’s debut feature A Fish Tale was scripted by Kiilerich and co-directed with Stefan Fjeldmark, both from the successful Danish studio A.Film A/S, (behind the smash hit Asterix and the Vikings [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
This was a fine award for a very eloquent and daring film from the slate of Irish outfit Magma Films, France’s Futurikon and Germany’s Ulysses.
The French did not come away empty handed either from an avalanche of nominations (see news), with Alphanim and its co-producers (Europool, Canada’s Nelvana Int and StudioCanal) winning Best European Producers of the Year for Dominique Monféry’s Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure.
This is the first animated feature produced by the studio, who specialise in animated television programmes. The outfit is currently working on an adaptation of White Fang.
Lastly, head of acquisitions at Scanbox Danmark, Jörgen Kristiansen, won Best Distributor for his very animated catalogue, which includes the recent Azur & Asmar, Arthur and the Invisibles and The Sun Queen.
A genuine co-production forum on animated cinema with screenings, professional meetings and training workshops, 42 projects were presented at Cartoon Movie this year (10 completed films, one in post-production, seven in production, 12 in development,12 at the concept stage) for a total budget of €286m.
The participants (producers, financers, sales agents and distributors, including of VOD) viewed almost 70 completed films presented at previous Cartoon Movie editions.
(Translated from French)
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