The main award at this year's Fantoche, the "High Risk" award, has been won by a Russian film, FOOLISH GIRL, by director Zoya Kireeva. The sixth Fantoche is Switzerland's biggest and most prestigious animated festival. This lends weight to the organizers' plans to make the festival an annual event.
Fantoche 07 is drawing to a close having attracted record audiences. The festival attracted a total of 25,000 people to Baden, 25% more than two years ago. Morning performances were very well attended, and evening performances were largely sold out. The fringe events also enjoyed great popularity. Furthermore, the Festival Center on Theaterplatz proved to be a big draw for the Fantoche festival-goers, who were largely young people of all nationalities.
The seventh Fantoche will run from Sept. 8-13, 2009.
Thirty-five films battled it out for a total of six awards in the "International Competition" section. Two Russian films won the jury awards. FOOLISH GIRL won the 10,000-franc main award. According to the jury, it was a "(...) celebration of a comic female figure, with an unconventional script, with universal appeal through small moments, thanks to its wonderful drawings, emotions and action."
The "Hot Talent" award, which came with a 5,000-franc prize, was won by Anastasia Zhuravleva for her student film CAUTION, THE DOORS ARE OPENING, in which the lead role was played by thousands of buttons. The jury gave the following reasons for its choice: "The blend of amusing abstraction and narrative form... creates a work which is both funny and contemporary."
The winners are:
High Risk AwardFOOLISH GIRL by Zoya Kireeva, RU, 2006
Hot Talent CAUTION, THE DOORS ARE OPENING! by Anastasia Zhuravleva, RU, 2006
Best VisualENERGIE! by Thorsten Fleisch, DE, 2007
Best SoundLabryrinth by Omid Khoshnazar, IR, 2007
Best Script/Best IdeaT.O.M. by Tom Brown, Daniel Gray, GB, 2006
Special Jury CitationANIMAL by Tatu Pohjavirta, FI, 2005
"International Competition" Public AwardHUNTING by Ramil Usmanov, KZ, 2006
Public Award MY LOVE by Alexander Petrov, RU, 2006
For more information, visit www.fantoche.ch.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
