Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 23, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The 19th animago AWARDS ceremony was wonderful! The festive gala with red carpet took place for the fourth time in the Metropolis Halle at Filmpark Potsdam.
The animago AWARDS ceremony was once again hosted by Ilka Groenewold; the presenter has guided the show for many years. In 2015 in an appropriately animago-red dress:
First, the head of the “Economic Development” department, Gerhard Ringmann from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of Brandenburg, welcomed the audience, as did Dr. Anna Sarah Vielhaber, Head of Location Development and Promotion at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and managing director Karin Lang from Atec-Verlag the audience. Thanks to the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, animago has been able to take place for seven years.
Of course, the animago AWARD Trailer 2015 also celebrated its premiere here, edited by Dominik Trottier and with music by Gordon Krei. You can watch it here.
The ceremony began with the AWARD for “Best Advertising Production”; the laudator was Alexander Ellendt from Vogelsänger. Rachel Miner from Glassworks London accepted the trophy for “Lycra Moves You.”
Next, the “Jury’s Special Prize” was awarded. Laudator Florian Gellinger from Rise presented it to Ton Roosendaal from the Blender Institute for “Cosmos Laundromat.”
The young talent prize, an animago trophy and a cheque for 3,000 euros, was presented by animago project manager Jana Freund to the overjoyed students Manon Lazzari, Thomas Ricquier and Simon Pannetrat from Ecole Georges Méliès in France.
“Ambition” by Platige Image was named “Best Visualisation.” Michael Mörtl from Adobe was the laudator for this category, and Platige marketing manager Michał Azarewicz accepted the award.
The animago jury made the preselection of the five nominated stills this year, and the winner was chosen by the Facebook fans of DP and animago. This year, “On the Tramp” by Manuel Peter from Ansbach University of Applied Sciences received the most votes. The prize was presented by Dominik Tarolli from Esri and DP editor Bela Beier.
Mathias Möhl from Mamoworld had the most difficult job as laudator this year: At short notice, he stepped in for his colleague Andy Goetze from Pond5, who died unexpectedly shortly before animago. Andy Goetze had enthusiastically supported animago for many years, for which we are very grateful to him. Mathias Möhl presented the prize for “Best Postproduction” to Dieuwer Feldbrugge and Jeroen Aerts from PostPanic Pictures for their VFX work on “Sundays.”
You can find the making-of of the project in the current DP issue 07 : 15.
The next category was “Best Short Film,” which the team of Isabela Littger, Anna Hinds Paddock and Kriti Kaur from the Ringling College of Art & Design unfortunately could not accept themselves for “None of That” due to project commitments. But they sent a heartfelt thank-you video. The laudator in this category was Michael C. Langmayer from Autodesk.
The penultimate category that evening was “Best Trailer/Opener.” Digic Pictures received the animago AWARD for the “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” Launch Cinematic. The laudator for this category was Andres Hildebrandt from Maxon, and Alex Sandor Rabb accepted the trophy.
Finally, the AWARD for “Best Character” was presented. Mattias Josefsson was able to take it home for his team from Media Design School New Zealand; the trophie was presented by Julian Schwarz from Wacom.
All prize winners and laudators in the group photo:
The animago team would like to thank the great nominees and prize winners at the animago AWARD 2015; we hope perhaps to see everyone again next year – at the 20th anniversary of the animago AWARD!
And here are a few more impressions from the subsequent animago get-together after the ceremony:
All photos were taken by Ulf Büschleb.
You can order the English-language animago special issue 2015 with making-ofs of all the prize winners, information about all the nominees and background stories about animago here.
