‘Bloeistraat 11’ Tops 2019 Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film

The 26th edition the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) came to a close on Sunday after six days of screenings and events. Belgian-Dutch short film Bloeistraat 11 (pictured at top) was awarded the grand prix, which comes with a cash prize of 15,000 EUR funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg and the city of Stuttgart. The film also won the top short film, the Cristal, at Annecy in 2018.

In awarding the grand prix to Bloeistraat 11, the international competition jury, comprised of Ulu Braun, Erik van Drunen, KongKee, Christina Lima, and Maya Yonesho, said: “The story of the friendship between two young girls, takes us back on a journey to our childhood and lets us almost physically re-live memories. With an unusual use of materials, which are a fundamental part of the storytelling, and subtle design the director evokes a closeness of feelings we all connect to. Pure and honest, the film creates the magical atmosphere that only cinema, in its best way, can achieve.”

Take a look at the teaser trailer below:

Mamoru Hosodas’s Oscar-nominated film Mirai was selected as the best feature-length film at the festival.

In total, ITFS awarded over 55,000 EUR in prizes for filmmakers. These awards included 10,000 EUR for the top graduation film (Tue Sanggaard’s Animals), 6000 EUR for the audience award (Floor Adams’ Mind My Mind), 5000 EUR for Germany’s Next Animation Talent (Elisabeth Jakobi’s Juli auf dem Zauberberg), and 4000 EUR for the best short film for children (Martin Smatana’s The Kite).

A complete list of winners is below:

Grand Prix

• Bloeistraat 11
  Nienke Deutz (Belgium, Netherlands, 2018)

Special Mention

• I’m Going Out for Cigarettes (Je sors acheter des cigarettes)
  Osman Cerfon (France, 2018)

Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award – Best Graduation Film

• Animals
  Tue Sanggaard (Denmark, 2019)

SWR Audience Award

• Mind My Mind
  Floor Adams (Netherlands, Belgium, 2019)

Young Animation – Award for the Best Student Film

• Sounds Good
  Sander Joon (Estonia, 2018)

Young Animation (Special Mention)

• It’s Wet! (Ça mouille!!)
  Alexis Godard, Nan Huang (France, 2018)

Tricks for Kids – Award for the Best Short Film for Children

• The Kite (Sarkan)
  Martin Smatana (Czech Republic, Slovenia, 2018)

AniMovie – Award for the Best Feature Film

• Mirai
  Mamoru Hosoda (Japan, 2018)

German Screenplay Award

• Aisha’s Light
  Xavier Romero and Llorenç Español

German Voice Actor Award

• Otto Waalkes for the role of the Grinch in the film The Grinch

Pitching of the Arab Animation Forum

• Traitors of the Eyes
  Abdelrahman Dnewar and Saad Dnewar (Egypt)

The FANtastic Prize

• Bear With Me
  Daphna Awadish (Netherlands, 2018)

Animated Games Award Germany

• Trüberbrook
  Developed by btf GmbH, Florian Köhne. Published by Headup GmbH

Animated Games Award Germany (Special Mention)

• The Longing
  Studio Seufz GbR and Anselm Pyta

Trickstar Business Award

• CoboStories
  Copenhagen Bombay

Trickstar Business Award (Special Mention)

• Smosh Mosh
  Kinky Udders

Germany’s Next Animation Talent

• Juli auf dem Zauberberg
  Elisabeth Jakobi

Crazy Horse Session – 48h Animation Jam

• Team China: ZiYi Jin, ZiQian Zhao with Horse

Crazy Horse Session – 48h Animation Jam (Special Mention)

• Team Libanon: Noura Kabbani, Louay Daoust with TR1-X1

Music Game Jam

• Fermata
  Team: Lisa Nonnenmacher, Franca Bittner, Simon Robl, Henry Brandstetter & Davide Bronder