And the "European Oscar" goes to...

The end of the year comes, and with it the awards for the best films of 2009. Last december 12 it was time for the prestigious European Film Awards, that took place in German. And the winner in the Animation Category of the year was ... Mia et le Migou, by Jacques-Rémy Girerd!

Mia was competing with other 17 finalists, and the jury was composed of more than 2,000 professionals of all Europe. Not just anything, isn't it? According to Jacques-Rémy, via email, the ceremony was "touching, funny and great". And he added: "Rio gave the signal ! Merci"
That's it, in Anima Mundi 2009 in Rio the film got its very first award! Mia et le Migou was elected the Best Feature Animation by the public vote both in Rio as in São Paulo!

In the official website of Drôme department, you wil be able to watch a revealing photografic essay on how the Mia et le Migou was made - pratically a handmade animation.

Coraline leads the Annie Awards nominations

The zoetrope-shaped
Annie Award trophy

Henry Selick's Coraline is the favorite animation for the 37th Annie Awards, a prize given by the International Animated Film Society. The english feature received 10 nominations, beating Up and The Princess and the Frog. In this year edition of Anima Mundi, the audience had the opportunity to see a special presentation of Coraline and have a conversation with the animation crew of Laika Studio, who worked on the puppets and de stop motion animation of the movie. Here in the blog, you can see how was the presentation here, and also check an interview with Scott Tom, one of the coordinators of the studio, here.

Coraline

Other contenders for the Best Animated Feature prize include The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Cloudy With a Chance of MeatBalls.

Saludos del Planeta Bacán

The partnership between MUAN, Anima Escola and the Planeta Bacán project was a success! Our friends from Chile said they've been surprised with the quality of the short films produced by the students from the schools included in the campaign. According to Cecília Anriquez, from IBM Chile, "great part of this success comes from the preparation process given to the educators. And, from now on, the students will certainly wish to participate in the next edition of Anima Mundi!" :)


Watch here the competition winner short film, En el amor y en la guerra todos reciclamos:

The films were always produced under the theme "An intelligent planet". And the result was really clever, isn't it? You can check all the other shorts (and also improve your spanish) in Planeta Bacán website's gallery.

Anima Escola 2009

Está em pleno curso o Anima Escola 2009, um programa de capacitação na linguagem da animação especialmente concebido para as escolas. Pelo 8º ano consecutivo, o projeto é realizado em parceria com a Secretaria Municipal de Educação do Rio de Janeiro, e busca desenvolver nos alunos e professores sua própria expressão artística, construindo sua consciência crítica frente à massiva utilização desta linguagem pelos meios de comunicação. Além, é claro, de proporcionar aos envolvidos a experiência de criar seus próprios filmes animados!


Mais uma vez, o software MUAN é parceiro na empreitada, facilitando o processo e "revelando" com agilidade o resultado final dos trabalhos para os alunos. E mesmo depois de finalizado o projeto, o professor pode continuar trabalhando com seus alunos, criando e produzindo filmes de animação.

Aida Queiroz, uma das diretoras do Anima Mundi, no processo
de capacitação dos professores da Rede Municipal do Rio

Apesar de não ser o objetivo final do Anima Escola, alguns dos filmes produzidos pelos alunos acabam ganhando visibilidade fora do programa. Foram os casos, por exemplo, do Pequeno Cordel do Sapo Voador, que ganhou o prêmio de melhor roteiro no Festival MostraMundo de Recife, em 2005, e do divertido (e talvez assustador) Baletéia e a Boneca Misteriosa, filme criado na oficina realizada no Núcleo de Artes Alencastro Guimarães (RJ), que ganhou menção honrosa no 13º Vitória Cine Vídeo, em 2006.

Cena da animação Baletéia...,
que pode ser assistida aqui