Editor

After six eventful days, the ITFS 2010 ended on Sunday evening, May 09 after the "Trickstar" had been presented in seven categories. Guests, filmmakers and organisers celebrate the Festival with a festiva gala.

With 1,500 accredited professional visitors, more than 600 films and sold-out theatres the 17th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) was a great success for its organisers. Initially, the mad rush of previous years did not materialise in the open air area and in the Festival Garden at Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz due to the weather. At the cinema box offices on the other hand numbers increased considerably. 20 per cent more visitors crowded into the theatres of Stuttgart’s inner-city cinemas. The huge rush of visitors made clear that a Festival of this scale far exceeds the capacity of the city’s cinema theatres – for the first time ever special ticket rules for the accredited guests were applied for major events such as the Sandman premiere and the Äffle & Pferdle birthday gala as well as for screenings for the International Competition and programmes like "Steinerei – Best of Brickfilms".

The interest in the international star guests was also exceptional: The rough and tough crowded in front of the screen in the pouring rain when Simpsons director, David Silverman presented his film, "The Simpsons Movie", on Thursday and hundreds tried to get his autograph. Other filmmakers such as Zappa animator, Bruce Bickford also presented their work to full houses.

The 17th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film ended on Sunday evening with the presentation of the "Trickstar" in seven competition categories. Several awards were presented for the International Competition: "A Family Portrait" by Joseph Pierce from Great Britain won the Grand Prix accompanied by 15,000 Euro, sponsored by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the city of Stuttgart. The film is a detailed study of a typical small family. The Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film (10,000 Euros), sponsored for the first time by the MFG Filmförderung Baden-Wuerttemberg went to "Sam’s Hot Dogs" by David López Retamero from the Royal College of Art, London. The special award Music for Animation presented by the GEMA Foundation (5,000 Euros) went to a film from this region. Heiko Maile‘s music for the hypnotic animated film "Love & Theft" by Andreas Hykade convinced the jury. The SWR-Audience Award won the film "Sinna Mann" ("Angry Man") by Anita Killi from Norway.

The Speaker Award with a cash prize worth 2,500 Euros for the best voice actor in an animated feature film was presented this year for the second time. The winner is comedian Oliver Kalkofe for the German voice of "B.O.B." a glutinous blob in the animation blockbuster "Monsters vs. Aliens".
Young Animation competition was won by Frenchman Pierre-Emmanuel LyetParade" for his film ", the appeal of which lies in its unusual stylistic elements.
"The Gruffalo" by Jakob Schuh and Max Lang based on the well-known children’s book by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, won the "Trickstar" for the best animated children’s film in the competition Tricks for Kids.
A jury of six children presented the award, sponsored by Nickelodeon with a cash prize of 4,000 Euros. "Ponyo" by doyen Hayao Miyazaki (Oscar and Golden Bear for "Spirited Away"), the most recent, colourful Anime from the Ghibli studios won the award for the best animated feature film in the category AniMovie. The prize money worth 2,500 Euros was donated by SUPER RTL.

The German Language Screenplay Award was presented on Wednesday evening. Heiko Martens won the award for his film script for "Lars Lemming". The prize money (5,000 Euros) was donated by Universum Film GmbH. On Saturday, May 08 Pete Candeland was awarded a "Trickstar" for his intro for the Harmonix/mtv video game "The Beatles: Rock Band" in the Under Commission competition presented for the best animated spot or music video (prize money: 2,500 Euros, donated by Mackevision Medien Design GmbH).

Visitors involved in the industry were able to get the latest news on the newest developments in the field of animation at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film, the FMX 2010 and the Animation Production Day (APD). As in Europe a third of future projects are to be produced in 3D, this was one of the central themes this year. May 04 – 05 fifty-three companies from ten countries met at the APD in Stuttgart’s Haus der Wirtschaft. Participants discussed the market potential of more than 18 brand projects with a total production volume of 83 million Euros during more than 600 concentrated one-to-one meetings.

The 18th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film will take place between May 3. til May 8., 2011.