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JoJo in the Stars Wins 2005 Cartoon D'Or

The 2005 Cartoon d'Or has been awarded to Marc CRASTE of the U.K. for his short, JOJO IN THE STARS.

The Cartoon d'Or winner receives 15,000 euros from MEDIA as a pre-production aid to begin a more ambitious project like a feature film or a TV special. The prize was awarded on Sept. 24, 2005, at the closing night of the 16th Cartoon Forum held in Kolding, Denmark.

Craste has directed several appealing commercials for StudioAKA in the U.K. JOJO IN THE STARS is an elegiac, 13-minute CGI film Craste made from a series of three black-and-white short that take place in a world hes created called Pica Towers.

Pica Towers is a mile-high multi-purpose building block sitting alone in a deserted plain. Crastes short-legged characters are plump and chunky, built from discarded TVs and covered in a tough outer shell that gleams dully in an environment of towering anvil clouds thick particulate matter.

JoJo is a winged trapeze artist and the star attraction Madame Picas freak show, with an obsessed fan who comes night after night to watch her act. Jojo retreats to her locked cage each night, until her bunny-eared, bright-eyed admirer unlocks the cage and whisks her away. They spend a few blissful minutes lost in the moonlight fancy of each others eyes before the furious Madame Pica and her minions burst upon them. The pair jump out a high window, but as Jojo tries holding her suitor aloft with her wings, the man slips from her grip and falls to his doom.

It has a striking animation technique, superbly textured and acted. The two main characters lack eyebrows or shoulders, and, without dialogue, convey emotion and thoughts almost entirely with eye shape. The shorts notable signature tune, Harlem in Br*nn is performed by offbeat instrumental ensemble Die Knödel (The Noodle).

Cartoon Forum brought together 750 participants, potential partners or investors, co-producers, broadcasters, distributors, video publishers or licensing agents from 16 countries. They negotiated their animation projects for a total budget of 131,890, 540 euros.

Out of 25 prize-winning shorts from its six partner festivals, the other nominees were:* CITY PARADISE by Ga�lle Denis (France)* FALLING by Peter Kaboth (Germany)* FLATLIFE by Jonas Geirnaert (Belgium)* LITTLE THINGS by Daniel Greaves (U.K.)

The 2006 Cartoon Forum will be held in Pau, France. For more information, go to www.cartoon-media.be.

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