Award Winners

We would like to give the award to the film “It‘s just a whole“  for the brilliant way in which the artists lead us into a dramatic experience in which one negotiates one’s existence  facing a sometimes cold reality, loneliness and the  primal fear of disappearance. For the film’s unique animation style in which graphics, sounds and textures are used in a way that immediately convey emotions that are transposed into physical reactions.

We would like to award this special mention to the film “Oliver the Giant“ by Júlia Lantos for the artistic courage of opening up the space for asking questions rather than finding answers.

This film has been awarded this prize due to its explemplarly use of the medium of animation in the creation of an original and poetic world, and in tackling complex themes on the eye level of children. The artwork was at a level we felt each frame would make a stand alone painting to display. Finally the heart, humour and originality of the story captivated us throughout.

“Lonely Castle in the Mirror“ gets a special mention for brave and sensitive story-telling in dealing with the important theme about overcoming loneliness through unlikely friendship.

It took seven days to create the world, but it only took one to disturb its balance. The directors manage to tell the collective story of the earth in an artistic form and without any words; using yarn, felt creatures, 3D-animation and music. The effect created is beautiful and full of fantasy. The chosen concept and storytelling is clear and well-rounded.

An imaginative and playful collage of images from the lives of cows.

A mosaic of short stories from around the world in which cows experience positive and negative moments. The short film depicts the life of an animal in a global context and its relationship with humans.

The visually colourful images show the cow as a sensitive and admirable creature and gives us as viewers a peaceful and relaxing experience.

We chose this film because we liked that the story was funny but also serious. The themes were about how children and parents feel differently about smart phones and social media. We think that this is an important topic for parents and their children to discuss together. It was an original story with cool music and was very well animated.

We hav chosen this film because we find it very interesting and because we think it is important that this story is told on the big screen. We also think it’s very special that the film is based on a true story and that’s why it’s easy to comprehend the history and feelings of the people who were persecuted at the time.

A unicorn or the art of saying NO

“No is the negative answer to a question that can be answered positively or negatively, so to speak the negation of a positively formulated statement – Roger that? Connoisseurs now know – the award for this year’s 18th Screenplay Prize in the category of best German script for a full-length, yet unrealized animated film goes to – uNOcorn. But NO also means taking yourself seriously. Our newborn unicorn – its mane was puffy and its fur so fluffy – from the Forest of Hearts thinks so too and takes itself very seriously. Because despite eating sweet lucky clover, the newborn doesn’t behave like a unicorn at all! It always says NO to everything and gets its nickname – uNOcorn. Life in the purple-loving Forest of Hearts gets soon too sweet and colorful for our little uNOcorn and it sets off into the big big world. There it meets a raccoon who never listens (Huh?), a dog that does not give a damn about anything (So what?), and an unruly princess and king’s daughter who was locked in a tower and loves contradictions. The unfamous four are a pretty unbeatable team of non-conformists: No, What, But, So what?? A different kind of road trip begins, where the only thing that counts is fun and wit and not the educational preparation of the topic of defiance. Successful author and cabaret artist Marc-Uwe Kling has achieved another great success, this time for children, for the little ones, but their parents’ laughing muscles are also well taken care of. And so, the UNOcorn will soon trot successfully and saying no through the German cinema landscape and screens…

In the wonderful script “The Olchis – Dino Alarm!” by Toby Genkel, the famous, sometimes somewhat grumpy but very likeable Olchis and their friends embark on a new adventure. The time machine takes them back 70 million years to the time of the dinosaurs to bring the baby dinosaur “Rexy”, which was found as an egg on the rubbish dump by the Olchis’ flying dragon “Feuerstuhl” and hatched thanks to his care, back to his parents. On this journey, the Olchis and Rex are chased through time by the sensationalist teacher. The exciting story of the Olchis is now expanded to include the wonderful and interesting world of the Mesozoic era and takes children into the fascinating world of dinosaurs.

The script is refreshing and entertaining and, following the success of the first film, brings a new, exciting and fascinating version to cinemas.

The Screenplay with the biggest international market potential is an exciting story in an original narrative world with a didactically clever approach to the world of art. In a structurally classic adventure plot, Harold, art expert and the dog of art restorer Lori, and Mimi, a young mongrel dog who has escaped from her own painting, make their way through the paintings of art history to find Mimi’s missing mistress Evi, who disappeared when the colors vanished from the canvas. The script tells the extraordinary story of a journey through art history in which our two protagonists meet DaVinci’s ermine, Baselitz’s eagle, Marc’s tiger, Munch’s screamer and many other iconic figures from the world of art, and combines them with a touching story about love, friendship, loyalty and the many sources of inspiration, promising a visual firework of styles and breathtaking images. The jury sees a very broad target audience worldwide, as the script offers both a child-friendly adventure in a literally colorful world with an ingenious approach to art as well as entertainment for adults interested in art and history. It is an extraordinary mixture of sophisticated family entertainment in the best sense of the word … and an educational mission. The prize for the screenplay with the biggest market potential therefore goes to “Out of Frame” by Giles New and Keiron Self, based on the children’s book “When the Dachshund Disappeared from the Painting” by Manuela von Perfall.

With BLACK GOBLIN’S cutting-edge software THOL, the company focuses on transforming the way creatives work with sound. With the help of machine learning technology in real-time, the platform THOL empowers creatives to generate high-quality, customizable sound effects directly onto visual content. To come up with such an idea you must know and understand postproduction needs in detail. That is the case with Black Goblin. With the invention of THOL they created an incredibly useful tool for the sound postproduction which combines efficiency at quality needs at its very best. THOL is a small application with a big impact for the whole industry. The jury decided that this innovative business idea is unique and has the potential to grow and deserves this year’s Trickstar Business award.

The Trickstar Business Award Special Mention goes to:

Art Director & Illustrator David Aguirre Hoffmann, for his fresh take on European identity and Character Design with ZEUNIKS – A lineup of fun characters representing national animals of each European country of the Union that people can identify with and which leaves space for commercial exploitation from merchandise to a film project unifying Europe in a cool creature’s club. Congratulations David!