Macropolis [1], the story of two disabled squeaky toys, beat off stiff competition from other films such as Brown Bag’s Peter Rabbit’s Christmas Tale and Conor Finnegan’s Fear of Flying to scoop the prestigious award at the star studded ceremony in Dublin.
Commissioned by the Unlimited programme for the London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad, Macropolis is the story of two physically impaired toys, CAT and DOG, who are discarded from a factory production line. Coming to life, they find themselves lost in the unfamiliar, urban big city. But by reinterpreting the world that now surrounds them, and the littered everyday objects they find, our protagonists begin to find their way back home.
Shot entirely on the streets of Belfast, with locally based talent, the film was made using a unique blend of stop motion animation, time lapse photography and CGi. The film’s director Joel Simon, creator of BBC’s On the Air with Gerry Anderson and UTV’s Buska & Barney, was one of 29 disabled artists across the UK commissioned by the Unlimited programme, to celebrate the inspiration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to create original and exciting works.
The IFTA success comes on the back of the film winning the Best Animation at the Picture This Festival in Canada, and selection for over 20 other international festivals, including the New York Children’s Festival, Clermont Ferrand, Montreal International Animation Festival and Flickerfest in Australia.
Flickerpix [2] is an award-winning Animation Company based in Holywood, which creates, develops and produces animated content. They have been producing award winning material since 2003 for clients such as Comic Relief, CBBC, Channel 4 and Sesame Workshop USA. This is Joel Simon’s second IFTA award after previously picking up the Best Animation gong for his film ‘Horn OK Please’ back in 2007.
Source: Flickerpix
Links:
[1] http://www.macropolis.tv/
[2] http://www.flickerpix.com/