Two Major Prizes for Irish Animation At the World’s most Prestigious Animation Festival
SANTA'S APPRENTICE, a feature film co-produced by Kilkenny based company Cartoon Saloon with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board (IFB) and THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL - THE QUEST a series co-produced by Dubin-based company Boulder Media have picked up awards at the prestigious Annecy Film Festival at the weekend.
Produced with funding from the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) SANTA'S APPRENTICE won a special UNICEF award which is given to the animated programme which best highlights the goals of the Convention on the Rights of the Child while THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL - THE QUEST picked up the Best TV Production in the the TV and Commissioned Films category.
Emma Scott, Production Executive at the IFB said "It's great to see continued international recognition for the work the Irish animation industry is producing. IFB support for animation projects is vital to ensuring Irish companies can hold on to their own IP enabling them to exploit their own material fully, which helps the long-term stability of companies here and allows them to flourish in the international market place. The Irish animation sector is primarily an export focused business that remains a leading full time employer in the Irish audio visual sector. The expenditure in the Irish economy for the sector was estimated at €30 million in 2010 in terms of spend on local jobs, goods and services."
The Annecy Animation Festival and market (MIFA) is the world's largest event entirely focused on animation. The major players of the Irish animation industry including Cartoon Saloon, Brown Bag, Monster Distributes and Kavaleer all attended the festival this year.
Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and Enterprise Ireland launched an exciting new Irish animation promo showcasing work from right across the Irish sector at a special networking event organised by the two agencies where Brown Bag Films Chief Executive Cathal Gaffney delivered a key note speech to the attendees.
A special focused event was also organised by the Luxembourg Film Fund and the IFB to bring together producers from the two countries with a view of exploring co-producing opportunities ahead of a co-production treaty between the two countries which will be signed at the Galway Film Fleadh.
The Annecy International Film Festival took place 6th - 11th June while MIFA took place 8th - 10th June in Annecy, France.
More about Santa's Apprentice
Directed by Luc Vincinguerra and written by Alexandre Reverend Santa's Apprentice(L'Apprenti Père Noël) features the voices of Australian actors Delta Goodrem, Magda Szubanski and Shane Jacobson. It tells the story of a reluctant Santa who must retire and find an apprentice to replace him. It will screen with another eight international animations in official competition. The film is a co-production between Cartoon Saloon (Ireland), Gaumont-Alphanim (France) and Avrill Stark Entertainment (Australia) from the IFB, Flying Bark Productions, Orange Cinema Series, Centre National de la Cinematographie et de l'Image Animee, Departement de la Charente & de la Region Poitou-Charentes and MEDIA.
Cartoon Saloon producers Ross Murray and Paul Young had massive success with their previous feature animation The Secret of Kells (directed by Tomm Moore) which not only screened at major festivals all over the world but earned the company the title of Producer of the Year at both Cartoon Forum 2008 and Cartoon Movie 2009 and an Academy Award® nomination in 2010.
More about The Amazing World of Gumball - The Quest
The Amazing World of Gumball - The Quest series was co-produced by Boulder Media and Dandelion Studios with 3D elements from Studio Soi in Germany. The series began broadcast on the Cartoon Network last month and has already been commissioned for a second series.
More about the Annecy International Film Festival and MIFA
The festival was founded in 1960 and is the world's largest event entirely focused on animation. Running parallel to the festival is MIFA (the International Animation Film Market) the animation industry's foremost showcase in terms of co-producing, purchasing, selling, financing and distributing animation content for all broadcasting platforms.
Find out more about the festival and market http://www.annecy.org