Fantoche organizer Frank Braun (left) and Swiss animator Robi Engler. © 1997 Animation World Network.

However, no doubt about it, the best film of the competition won the first prize. Many Happy Returns by Marjut Rimminen, a Channel Four production, is a combination of puppet and live-action elements. The subject is rather delicate: child abuse (remember Marjut Rimminen´s former film The Stain). There is not only emotional perplexity, but also a lot of strong images. The film is wonderful and very suggestively composed. It is like a kick in the kidneys. It was worth the visit to Fantoche to watch this film. In two years we will attend Fantoche again, hoping to see an improved festival with less theory and more practice, and to discover yet another masterpiece. One masterpiece is even more than you can expect...

For a full list of Fantoche's winners, please see below.

Thomas Basgier is the European representative for Animation World Network. He has a strong background in animation as well as communications and multimedia. For more than ten years, he has organized programs for international festivals, and published numerous articles on the subject of animation. From 1987 to 1992, he organized and programmed one of the premiere European animation festivals, the International Animation Film Festival of Stuttgart. He also specializes in the conception and realization of multimedia and Internet projects. He is currently working on such projects with one of the biggest communication agencies in southwest Germany.

Many Happy Returns by Marjut Rimminen. © Channel Four Television.

The international jury of Fantoche was comprised of Jayne Pilling (U.K.), Oksana Cherkassowa (Russia) and Nag Ansorge (Switzerland). Out of 49 films in competition, they selected the following prize-winners:

• First Prize (5,000 Swiss francs): Many Happy Returns by Marjut Rimminen (United Kingdom). Jury comments: "This film is a moving narrative with an intelligent use of the evocative potential of modern cinema."
• Second Prize (3,000 Swiss francs): How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels by Craig Welch (Canada). Jury comments: "The highly rational construction of this film creates a surrealist atmosphere which is very impressive. With this the film demonstrates that human nature cannot be manipulated by technical wizardry."
• Best First Film (5,000 Swiss francs): Grandmother by Andrei Zolotuchin (Russia). Jury comments: "For its graphic qualities and its simple and sincere narrative."
• Honorable Mentions: Un Jour by Marie Paccou (France), and Lost Momentum by Scott Sona Snibbe (U.S.). Jury comments: Two films which each match visual inventiveness to original ideas."
• Public's Choice Prize (3,000 Swiss francs): The Grande Migration by Youri Tscherenkov (France).