Switzerland’s Fantoche Wraps 20th Anniversary Edition, ‘Bird in the Peninsula’ Takes Top Honors
Switzerland’s Fantoche International Festival of Animated Film, among Europe’s most prestigious such events, has unveiled the winners from its 20th anniversary edition which took place September 6–11.
For six days, Fantoche screened short and feature films from Switzerland and abroad in the city of Baden, on filmingo.ch, and on Play Suisse platforms. This year’s theme was Overcoming Crisis, with a geographical focus on animation from the Balkans.
The big winner at this year’s event was Atsushi Wada’s Bird in the Peninsula, which continued its impressive festival run by taking the prize for best film. The film previously won an international jury special mention at its Berlin debut, and has since played in competition at several top animation events including Annecy in June and last month’s Hiroshima, winning a jury pick and audience award at the latter.
Other standout winners at Fantoche included Goodbye Jérôme! from Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet, and Chloé Farr, which scored best visuals and an audience award; The Queen of the Foxes by Marina Rosset, which was picked as the best Swiss film and received a Swiss audience award and a special mention; and LOOP from Pablo Polledri, selected as the festival’s best kids film and winner of the young audience award.
New festival director Ivana Kvesić was thrilled with her first edition in charge, and relayed the following after Fantoche had wrapped:
The positive feedback from our visitors makes me feel like their expectations were met. I am also particularly pleased that the new formats have already found their place in this wonderful festival: the Let’s Talk-series, the Talent Industry, the exhibition REFRESHxFantoche in cooperation with the ZhdK in the Stanzerei or even Friday’s karaoke night for the filmmakers and the team.
For more details on the full Fantoche program check out the festival’s website. A complete list of this year’s award-winning films can be found below.
International Competition
Best Film
Bird in the Peninsula – Atsushi Wada, Japan
High Risk
Epicenter – Heeyoon Hahm, Korea
New Talent
Sierra – Sander Joon, Estonia
Best Visual
Goodbye Jérôme! – Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet, Chloé Farr, France
Audience Award
Goodbye Jérôme! – Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet, Chloé Farr, France
Special Mention
Menagerie – Jack Gray, U.S.
Swiss Competition
Best Swiss
The Queen of the Foxes – Marina Rosset
High Risk Swiss
Sometimes I Don’t Know Where the Sun – Samantha Aquilino
New Swiss Talent
The Record – Jonathan Laskar
Fantastic Swiss
Boddyssey – Jonas Bienz
Swiss Youth Award
Miracasas – Raphaëlle Stolz
Audience Award
The Queen of the Foxes – Marina Rosset
Special Mention
The Queen of the Foxes – Marina Rosset
Kids Film Competition
Best Kids
LOOP – Pablo Polledri, Spain
Young Audience Award
LOOP – Pablo Polledri, Spain
Special Mention
Elevator Alone – Anastasia Papadopoulou, Greece
Swiss Animation Industry Award
Sous emprise – Camille Bovey
Fantoche will be back in Baden next year for its 21st edition, held September 5-10.
