film clip

In quest of water a sand puppet leaves the sand world in which it lives. It wanderes through other worlds made of paper, stone and iron, following the sound of dripping water. In the end the sand puppet manages to reach the water ... in a very tragic way.










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15 Frames per Day

End of production 1996
running time: 11:30 min
35 mm, color, 1:1,85
Dolby SR, surround

This puppet animation film, supported by the German Federal Film Board and the Cultural Film Fund of the State of Hessian, was carried out by Thomas Stellmach (story, animation, production) and Tyron Montgomery (direction, direction of photography, screenplay) at the Animation Department at Kassel University.

It was shot frame by frame with an ARRI II BV and a self constructed single frame motor.

The position of the character, the flying paper, the falling stones and the rotating machines were manipulated and photographed 19.000 times and reviewed by video control.

The 12m² sets had to be rebuilt and altered 30 times, the 20m² background was replaced five times by various air brush designs. The mainly two men crew took 3/4 of a year to build the "metal" scenery.

The sound was recorded with a digital PC hard-disc-recording system.

A "making of"- interview is part of Olivier Cotte's book: "Secrets of Oscar-winning Animation". It is available in French, English and Japanese.



Awards:

OSCAR© of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the Best Short Animation Film 1996, (awarded 1997), Los Angeles

Certificate: "exceptional valuable" Film Valuation Authority Wiesbaden, Germany

CARTOON D'OR 96, best film of the European Animated Prize Winner Films, awarded by the European Association of Animation Film, Brussels, Belgium

Grand Prix for best school film 1997, European First Film Festival of Angers, France

GRAND PRIX of the European Short Film Competition 1997, Brussels

Best Debut Film 1997, World Animation Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA

Special Jury Prize 1997, Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival, France

Bronze Worldmedal 1997, New York Festival, USA

ALVES COSTA PRIZE, Special Award of the Journalists, International Animation Film Festival Espinho, CINANIMA 96, Portugal
For the intensity, symbolism, for the suspense kept the end, for being a different film, for the original idea, and sound effects.

ZLATKO GRIGIC - Prize for Best Debut Film, International Animation Film Festival Zagreb 1996, Croatia

Golden Damby award International Animation EXPO Seoul 1997, Korea

CITY OF MELBOURNE AWARD for Best Animation Film 1996, International Film Festival of Melbourne, Australia

DON QUIJOTE - Prize of the critics FICC International Short Film Festival of Krakow, Poland

GOLD HUGO, 1996, Student Animation Category, International Film Festival Chicago, USA

Best European Short Film, International Film Festival Cork 1996, Irland
The Award for the Best European Short went to the outstanding German animation film "QUEST". This film presented a philosophical statement about mankind and its goals, the striving and searching of the human spirit for a personal answer; and it made this topic most accessible to a wide audience by its exceptionally artistic production design, photography, model animation and editing.

Best Animation 1996, Albany International Short Film Festival, USA

Best Animation 1997, MEDIAWAVE, International Festival of Media Arts, Gyor, Hungary

Best Animation 1996, Molodist - Kyiv International Film Festival, Ukraine

Grand Prix for Best School Film 1997, International Film Festival Huy, Belgium

Grand Prix 1997, International Film Festival of Environment, "Green Vision", St. Petersburg
The opinion of the jury was unanimous. They all agreed that it is another level much higher than other films. Though it is a short animated film it poses all features of the big one. The history of a small man pushes us to think about the state of our environment and the responsibility of people to save their environment.

Grand Prix International Mountain and Adventure Film Festival Graz 1997, Austria

Category Award (10 to 30 min), International Animation Film Festival "Krok", Kyiv 1997, Ukraine

First Audience Prize of the German TV Station - SDR 1996, International Animation Film Festival of Stuttgart, Germany

SILVER DANZANTE for the best Animation Film 1996, International Short Film Festival of Huesca, Spain

Nominated for the German Short Film Award 1996, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany

First Audience Prize of the 7 nominated german short films 1996, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany

ANIMAT'T Award, Sitges International Fantasy Film Festival of Barcelona 1996, Spain

First Audience Prize 1996, International Film Celebration of Dresden, Germany

Jury Special Award 1996, Festival international du film d'environnement, Rienna, France

SECOND PRIZE 1996, International Short Film Festival Drama, Greece

Best Animation Film 1996, International Short Film Festival of Hamburg, Germany

OEKOMEDIA Award for the Best Artistic Achievement 1996, International Ecological Film Festival of Freiburg

Germany Special Prize of the Federal Minister of the Enviroment for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Enviroment Education 1996, Oekomedia, International Ecological Film Festival of Freiburg

Special Prize of the National Park Administration "Lower Saxony Mud-flats" 1996, Maritime Film Days of Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Laudable Mention of pupils 1996, Maritime Film Days of Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Second Prize 1996, Exground on screen, Wiesbaden, Germany

Tour Prize of the University Kassel 1996, Germany

Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Prize 1996 Wiesbaden, Germany

Compilation Best of Ottawa 1996, International Animation Film Festival of Ottawa, Canada

Credits:

directed and photographed by
TYRON MONTGOMERY

produced and animated by
THOMAS STELLMACH