Film Roman's LEVEL13.NET has announced the winners of its second annual DIRECTV LEVEL13.NET ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL. The film festival competition was open to working artists, emerging animators and student filmmakers. Hundreds of submissions were taken from April 2002 to July 2002 and the winners were chosen in three categories: 2D Animation, 3D/Experimental Animation and Student Work. The panel of judges included Chris Sanders (creator/director of LILO & STITCH), Gary Baseman (creator/director of DISNEY'S TEACHER'S PET), Rita Street (publisher of ANIMATION MAGAZINE), Ahmet Zappa (TV producer and host) and Zach Schlappi (animator and last year's Best of Show winner). Submissions were judged on storytelling, animation direction, art direction and production design. The 2002 DIRECTV LEVEL13.NET ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL will be showcased on DIRECTV programming to all subscribers and is scheduled to air 24-hours a day from January 6 through January 12 on Channel 193. The 90-minute program will include the ten winning films, plus interviews with the filmmakers. The Grand Prize winners, Raymond Persi and Matthew Nastuk earned Best of Show honors for their musical 2D film THE GHOST OF STEPHEN FOSTER, which pays homage to the Max Fleischer films from the '30s. Persi and Nastuk will receive $2,500 for their win. The first place winners are: Michael Sporn's 2D animated film, MONA MON AMOUR; Lane Nakamura's THE SNOWMAN in the 3D/Experimental Animation category; and Don Phillips Jr. for his student film PASSING MOMENTS.
The other winners are:
2D ANIMATION
2nd Place: TONGUES AND TAXIS by Michael Overbeck
3rd Place: THE LOLLYPOP TREE by Mike L. Mayfield 3D/EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION
2nd Place: CARMELO by Jorge R. Gutierrez
3rd Place: STILL I RISE by Umesh Shukla STUDENT WORK
2nd Place: MOCKINGBIRD by Michael Walsh
3rd Place: ARE YOU THERE by Young Hun-Lee
