8. international award
„Movies & Stills 2009“
14.07.-15.08.2008
1. Prize in the category Movies
(an amount of € 3.000,--)
Xenia Lesniewski, Offenbach for her work "Egodyston" 2009
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jury comment
The film “Egodyston” was developed by the student Xenia Lesniewski at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach and appealed to the jury based on its exceptional expressive qualities as well as its multiplicity of meanings. “Egodyston” is a term from the field of psychology that refers to thoughts and behaviors that are in conflict with a person’s own idealized self-image. In Xenia Lesniewskis’ film that person is female and, using a striking, determined style of incisive and distinctive images, the artist reshapes old symbolism into her own symbolism concerning the subject of femininity. With her film, the artist also expresses the desire for a new pair of eyes that, apart from her own brain, can observe the self. Indeed, in “Egodyston” several points of view seem to be represented at once. The quickly changing images depict different perspectives as well as complex associations. The image of woman, and the sexuality connected with her, which in almost all cultures is afflicted with myths and taboos, is depicted with varying symbolisms, both from an internal and external perspective. The jury responded to the expressive color palette, the experimental style and the subject matter of this highly original work.
2. Prize in the category Movies (amount of € 2.000,--)
Naotaka Minami, New York for his work "Reminiscence, the Place to Return" 2009
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jury comment
The Japanese-born artist Naotaka Minami submitted the movie “Reminiscence, the Place to return” 2009 which the jury awarded with the 2nd prize in the movies category. The wordless story comes to live through its delicate and lyrically animated surfaces and cinematic compositions. In conceiving his film, Naotaka Minami treats very personal subject matter, namely parting from his grandmother and his absence during her passing. The film was created with the use of several software but mainly relied on the 3D program Maya. Despite the use of a 3D medium, Naotaka Minami consciously strove for an aesthetic that is evocative of Japanese prints, in which realism often yields to the artist’s personal impression, and animation. The works of the director Hayao Miyazaki, and the children’s book illustrator Makoto Sakuma, served him as inspiration. Naotaka Minami treated 3D objects in virtual space with paper textures so that the film has a flat quality but retains an atmospheric quality.
The story line of “Reminiscence” is rather simply, however, with a few expressive gestures it palpably and unmistakably communicates the emotional bond between the boy and his grandmother. In depicting the passage of time, the artist tells us a story that is understood universally and that may remind the viewer of an inescapable end. In Naotaka Minami’s film, the journey home also represents a meeting with the past and inevitability. This treatment of images and story line conveys a very particular and poignant story and still affords the viewer his or her own associations, which the jury found especially appealing.
In May 2009, the artist completed the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts, at the Department of Digital Arts at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, with this project. Presently, Naotaka Minami works as a 3D animator and multimedia designer in New York city.
3. Prize in the category Movies (amount of € 1.000,--)
Katja Baumann, Neu-Isenburg
for her work "Gisela!" 2008
jury comment
The innovative movie “Gisela” 2008 was submitted by the design student Katja Baumann and was created using Photoshop, i.e. graphics editing software which is used by photographers but can now also be understood as a tool for filmmakers. The film particularly appealed to the jury due to its complexity of meanings since the creative use of an interface points to the processes of animations while, at the same time, she tells the humorous story of Gisela Werler, Germany’s first female bank robber. As the audience gets to peak behind the façade of filmmaking, the story of Gisela Werler comes to live. Yet she is represented not just as a bank robber but also as a woman whose romance extends beyond the eventual atonement of her deeds. Katja Baumann depicts history with wit and sensibility. However, the adorable collages Katja Baumann put together for her film could also be misleading. Because what appears as playful on the screen required, like all animations that have the capacity to excite the audience, a deep technical understanding and a very good sense for timing. With her movie “Gisela,” clearly mastered these requirements.
1. Prize in the category Stills (amount of € 1.500,--)
Nicole Foraboschi, Erlenbach (CH)
for her Stills of the movie "RE:EDIT KOWLOON" 2005
and
Category Movies - "Special Selection"
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jury comment
The artist Nicole Foraboschi was born in Zürich (Switzerland) and today lives in Erlenbach. She submitted three stills from her movie “Kowloon,” 2005 which the jury unanimously awarded the 1st prize in the stills category. The images are part of the artist’s personal photo archives. The artist explains that, with her movie, she wanted to put fragments of moments frozen in time into a new dimension of time so as to develop a conversion for how memories function. In her three stills she exquisitely accentuates the transience of images and thus memories. The layered photographs of the old Starferry in Hong Kong broaches the issue of the disappearance of reality that lies behind a photographed image—but this photograph, too, eventually disappears… While the tangibility of the scene from Hong Kong increasingly fades away, the all-encompassing fog underscores not only the fleetingness of time and place but of our memories from which the color fades as they become paler. Nicole Foraboschi’s images transcend familiarity with a particular place, in this case Hong Kong, or the experience of a particular person. The jury especially liked that the artist treated her subject matter in such a way that it is accessible to the viewer and that the idea is depicted in a visually expressive and poignent manner. Nicole Foraboschi completed her studies at the “Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst”, Basel (Switzerland) in 2005 with a degree in Fine Art Media Art.
2. Prize in the category Stills (amount of € 1.000,--)
Anne Klotzek, Pauline Karlson and Christopher Nagel, Nürnberg
for the Still of the Movie "Bridges and Balloons" 2009
jury comment
The jury awarded the artists Pauline Karlson, Anne Klotzek and Christopher Nagel with the second prize for their still that was created at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Hochschule, Nürnberg and stems from the animation titled “Bridges and Balloons” 2009. This portrait of an animation figure was filmed with the ernestness and attention one would bestow upon a real person. “Joanna” is a figure that was lovingly created and that does not deny her artificiality and yet avoids clichés. We recognize in her a person who has lost the thread that leads her through live. The artists Pauline Karlson, Anne Klotzek and Christopher Nagel have created a portrait that belongs to the few 3D characters that radiates an evocative energy and to whose experience we can relate to as viewers. An integral part of the success of this portrait are the use of camera, the treatment of textures and the color palette, which together create a harmonious and believable world. “Bridges and Balloons” is a team project in which the talents of its individual contributors burgeon in order to create an exemplary, attractive whole.
3. Prize
in the category Stills (amount of € 500,--)
Jonas Ungar, Kassel
for the Still of the Movie "Die Prozedur" 2006
jury comment
The still from the movie “Die Prozedur” 2006 stems from a movie trilogy that deals with the topic human as creator and destroyer and was submitted by Jonas Ungar, a student at the “Kunsthochschule Kassel”. The artist works with film and stopmotion and already has a considerable filmography. The jury was impressed with Jonas Ungar’s still because this single image encapsulates his subject of “becoming human” and because the image is alive with textures and layered meanings. At the same time the image is effective not only due to its formal elements, such as composition and lighting, but encompasses the medium film as it captures the person as a living subject who may open his eyes at any moment. In the staging of this awarded still we also recognize the knowledge Jonas Ungar gathered in the area of stage design: in a very scenic depiction, he convincingly and expressively realized the subject of his theme.
Sharon Boné, Israel
Awarded in the category Stills and Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "The Albaglings" 2008
Jan Brand, Frankfurt
Awarded in the category Stills and Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "Rosenthal" 2009
Taylor Cook, Meridan USA
Awarded in the category Stills and Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "Employee of the month" 2009
Markus Mai, Leipzig
Awarded in the category Stills and Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "What´s behind the windows?" 2008
Paris Mavroidis, New York
Awarded in the Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "Divers" 2008
George Smaragdis, New York
Awarded in the Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "Srimshander" 2009
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Daniel Springer, Wiesbaden
Awarded in the category Stills and Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "Von Bob, dem Baum und dem Leben" 2007
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Matthias Winkelmann, Offenbach
Awarded in the Category Movies - "Special Selection"
for the work "Chaos, Kosmos, Mu!" 2009
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Stephan Nau, Wiesbaden
Awarded in the Category Stills for the work
"ipuro-Duft ist wie Poesie" 2009
Deyan Parouchev and Nikola Mihov, Paris
Awarded in the Category Stills for the work
"Human Flux" 2007
Arne Wagner, Darmstadt
Awarded in the Category Stills for the work
"Spielplatzliebe" 2008
top All descriptions refer to the date of the actual exhibition
