BIMINI 2004
The 2nd International Festival of Animated Films BIMINI 2004 has taken place from the 1st till 4th of April in the cinema «Riga».
The program of the Festival included 180 animated films, which were divided into those participating in the competition and those out of it, and also informative and retrospective reviews.
Honorary President of the Festival: Arnold Burov (The director of puppet animated films, the founder of Latvian animation, man of art rich of merits, Cavalier of the Order of the Three Stars, the member of the Community of Latvian Cinematography, the member of the Association of Latvian Artists, the member of the Latvian Theater Union.
The president of international jury: Bill Plympton (USA independent animator, director, producer, the most influential creator of nowadays animation).
The jury members: Rein Raamat (Master of Estonian animation), Ferenc Cako (Hungarian animator, artist, teacher), Aleksander Gerasimov (the producer of Russian studio “Masterfilm”, director of Cinema Festival in Suzdal), Dainis Ivans (Riga Board deputy, publicist).
Children jury: 10 children – the winners of the competition organized by magazines: “Spuris” and “Avene”.
The visitors of the Festival were: directors of the Fredrikstadt Animation Festival Anne Lise Andreasen and Rune Kreuz (Norway) and director of the International cinematographic Festival “Las Palmas de Gran Canaria” Klaudio Utrera. Guests of the Festival BIMINI were directors Nina Paley and Joice Osaki from USA, Signe Baumane, who is working in New York now, director Karen Farquhar from UK, director Gabor Ulrih from Hungary, directors Demian Perea and Jorge Garcia Velayos from Spain, director Nikolas Maler from Austria, director Nikki Schuster from Germany, directors Marzena Nehrebecka and Valdemar Mordarski from Poland and director Jonathan Daves from Finland.
Within the framework of the Festival the world premier «Guard dog» (director Bill Plympton) was presented. Also the first time for the audience was presented the new film of Latvian director Nill Skapan “Listen, Rabbit… Daddy goes to London”.
Retrospective: Bill Plympton, Rein Raamat and Ferenc Cako.
Informative Review: Program of Natalia Lukinykh and French student association ”ENSAD”.
Out of competition program: was demonstrated one session of TV serials for children.
In the Festival competition program have been included 103 films from 33 world countries. The program of the Festival included films, which have already received awards in prestige cinema festivals in the world: «Mt. Head» (Japan, director Koji Yamamura, in 2002 Grand-Prix on the Annecy Animation Film Festival, and also the nominee for American Cinema Academy award «Oscar»), “The God” (Russia, director Konstantin Bronzit, in 2003 Grand-Prix on the Annecy Aniamtion Film Festival), “The nibble” (USA, director Christopher Hinton was nominated for «Oscar»as the Best Short Film of the year). The delight of the public was 2003 «Oscar» laureate — director of “Harvey Crumpet” (2003) Adam Elliot (Australia).
Films for the competition program were proposed for the following nominations:
Festival Grand Prix;
The best animated film up to 5 minutes;
The Best animated film from 5 to 10 minutes;
The Best animated film from 10 to 30 minutes;
The Best animated film longer than 30 minutes;
The Best experimental animated film;
The best film for children;
The Best debut.
The awards were:
Grand Prix
“Legend of the origin of crawfish” (director Valentin Olshvang, Russia, 2003)
The Best debut
«Extn. 21» (director Lizzie Oxby, UK, 2003)
The Best experimental animated film
«Origin of the World» (director Katarina Kerekesova, Slovak, 2002)
The best animated film up to 5 minutes
«The nibble» (director Christopher Hinton, USA, 2003)
The Best animated film from 5 to 10 minutes
”Henry’s garden” (director Moon Seun, USA, 2002)
The Best animated film from 10 to 30 minutes
“The instinct” (director Rao Heidmets, Estonia, 2003)
Children jury judged children films: Ieva Lasina, Agnese Grinberga, Karina Beijere, Andis Draguns, Vilhelms Meisters, Agija Andujauska.
Their decision was:
The Best animated film over30 minutes
“Abrafaxe – under the black flag” (Director Tony Power, Gerhard Hahn, Germany – South Korea, 2002)
The best film for children
Boxed In (Director Will Becher, UK, 2003)
Special diplomas were presented to:
Jury special diploma for love and faithfulness expression — «Tear drop» (director Nina Nevalainen, Finland, 2003)
Jury special diploma for the successful reflection of our day-to-day life — «Kala» (director Jonathan Davis, Finland, 2002)
Jury special diploma for graphical humor — “The Next” (director Anatoly Lavrenishin, Ukraine, 2003)
Jury special diploma for humanity — “The year of the Monkey” (director Ulo Pikov, Estonia, 2003)
Jury Special diploma for creativity — “The Mechanic” (director David Sukup, Czech Republic, 2002)
Jury special diploma for economy of expression means — “Roof sex” (director PES, USA, 2002)
Support of the 2nd International Festival of Animation Films “BIMINI: State Cultural Capital Foundation, Latvian National Cinematography Centre, Department of Culture of the Riga City Council, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, internet provider Latnet, Hotel “Riga”, express mail “UPS”, Taxi “Alviksa” and advertisement agency “Pop-Front”.
Informative support of the Festival: TV 5, Radio MixFm, RadioNaba, European Hit Radio, magazins “Sirups”, “Spuris”, “Avene”, internet portals “Delfi”, “Filmas.lv”, “Studentnet