KEDD Animation Studio, Budapest

KEDD Animation Studio (KEDD means: "Tuesday" in Hungarian), celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012, is one of the most successful Hungarian animation production company. KEDD's team is made up of a creative production management and a freelancer network of more than 100 professionals in motion graphics and animation. KEDD’s well-equipped studio is located in the heart of Budapest. Kedd’s many credits include the multi-award winning and Oscar nominated animation short film, "Maestro", interdisciplinary opera-adaptations of Béla Bartók’s music pieces, "Miraculous Mandarin" and "Bluebeard's Castle" and the most successful preschool cartoon series of last years in Hungary, "Berry and Dolly", winning also first prize on the 9th Chinese International Children’s Film Festival in Xiangjin in 2011. Most recent productions include a new preschool cartoon series, "Detti and Griff" and a stop motion animation short film, "Matches".

KEDD’s founder Géza M. Tóth as a member of the jury of the 19th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film presents some of the productions created in the KEDD:
• Icar: animation short film

• VIVA spots: animated music channel ID-s

• Miraculous Mandarin: interdisciplinary opera-adaptation – parts

• Maestro: animation short film

• Ergo: animation short film

Pixar Animation Studios

A Screening and Presentation by Supervising Technical Director Daniel McCoy "La Luna" is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?

A screening of "La Luna" will be followed by a talk by Daniel McCoy, the film's Supervising Technical Director. McCoy will discuss the process of translating the Director's vision into a CG world. Using watercolors, the initial story reel and concept art he will first give examples of the atmospheric elements the Director sought to incorporate and then describe his approach for bringing the look and feel into the final production. "La Luna" will screen in theaters in front of the new Disney•Pixar feature film "Brave" in 2012. At the conclusion of McCoy's presentation he will screen a special trailer from "Brave."

Balance Film GmbH
Balance Film has been producing films in Dresden since 1993. The studio’s trademark is artistic animated film, which Balance Film cultivates both in the short and series format. The adaptation of award-winning books is just as much part of the studio’s repertoire as filming original material from successful authors or the implementation of ideas from ambitious young artists. In doing so, the company’s credo is always to employ a variety of techniques and to permit individual creative style. Thus, for several years now, festivals and television stations have been associating Balance Film with sand animation – a technique mastered and practiced by only a few artists worldwide. The technique involves creating figures and forms using carbon dust, sand or other granular substances which are strewn across a glass plate that is illuminated from below. After the festival success of the short film, "Die Eisbaderin", Balance Film has further developed this technique by using coloured synthetic lenses and has created the world’s first sand animation series, "Die Sandmanzen".

Another current facet in Balance Film’s spectrum is rotoscopy, whereby real film recordings are traced image for image. Balance Film made most of the Czech film "Alois Nebel" using this technique thus creating a captivating severe black-grey-white style and atmospheric density. In September 2011, this feature-length animated film celebrated a much noted premiere at the international film festival in Venice. During its presentation, Balance Film will provide an insight into the production processes of both film projects and will present award-winning short films as well as current and future productions. These include the feature-length children’s film "Fritzi war dabei – eine Wendewundergeschichte" in addition to 3 adaptations from books in short format.

www.balancefilm.de 

Caligari Film

Caligari Film is a German market leader in the animation segment. Founded and run by Gabriele M. Walther, the company has a solid track record of buying popular brands such as "Letters from Felix", "Moonbeam Bear" and "Princess Lillifee", and developing them successfully across both TV and cinema platforms. Besides animation Caligari Film is also active in the field of documentary programs and live action, TV movies, feature films for theatrical release and TV series. Up to now Caligari has produced more than 300 program units for the German and international film and television market, including 6 animated feature films and more than 150 animated TV episodes.

Caligari Film with Traffix Entertainment and M.A.R.K. 13 presents:
"KNIGHT RUSTY" Ever considered replacing your worn-out material? Welcome to Scrapland, the kingdom of recycling! Get reborn as a toaster and become a king. Or start of as a noble prince and end up as a sewing machine. In our hero Knight Rusty´s world everything is possible… Rusty is an old cash register. His strength: self-confidence. His weakness: self-confidence. Always he bites of more than he can chew, which brings him into a lot of trouble. When mad and evil Prince Novel plans to overthrow the king and become the ruler of Scrapland, Rusty must give proof of being a real knight: fighting a tournament, slaying a dragon, rescuing a damsel in distress and finally leading a whole army into battle – for nothing less but the freedom of Scrapland!

Pleix (Paris)

Pleix is a community of digital artists (graphic designers, 3d artists, musicians...) willing to mix their skills to gain greater freedom for various projects. The Pleix touch could be a common work on limits, contradictions and accidents that show the fragility of the digital world. These artists produce tension by joining together heterogeneous graphics, videos and sounds. We are all based in Paris. We never put our individuals name but sign our different projects under the name of PLEIX. Pleix is not a company...just a group of various artists. We have been working together since 2001. We are all complementary technically and creatively and it's an ideal situation for us to be together. We all believe that image, sound & edit are all equally important. We find our inspiration in our society, our world full of contradictions. We usually try to have a few readings in our films, a bit like a subliminal message... People are free to see what they want. Being seven people makes our inspiration sources very large, coming from many different fields like cinema, art, TV, comic books and cartoons etc.. We love being surprised! We love sharing our work with the public. That's why we like all kind of different fields to show our films, exhibitions, festivals, internet, commercials TV etc...

Laika
LAIKA is an animation company specializing in feature films, commercials and short films. Travis Knight serves as President and CEO of the company, which is owned by Nike co-founder and Chairman Philip H. Knight. LAIKA's first stop-motion movie, the Oscar-nominated Coraline, was released to critical acclaim on February 6, 2009. ParaNorman, LAIKA's second stop-motion 3D feature will be in theaters on August 23, 2012. Go behind-the-scenes of LAIKA's animated features Coraline and ParaNorman. Mark Shapiro (LAIKA Marketing and Brand Management) will present time-lapse imagery and short vignettes that detail the major undertaking involved in the making-of these two animated films. Production puppets from Coraline will also be on display. For more information, access: www.laika.com. 

THE EXTENDED SPACE
Raumfilmprojects by ATELIER BRÜCKNER 

In cooperation with TAMSCHICK MEDIA+SPACE