Felix Vanginderhuysen
Belgium
Secretary General, European Children’s Film Association, ECFA
The Albín Brunovský Honorary Medal, Biennial of Animation Bratislava 2024
What are some of the your impressions of the Biennial of Animation Bratislava this year?
I know it was a very short preparation time. I must say I was very surprised about the level, and the professionalism, which was behind the organization. The full program was never boring because sometimes you have boring awards ceremonies. Here it went very smoothly, it was very well done and the afternoon also; the sessions. The masterclass of Frank Gladstone, and the discussion about A.I. I liked this very much. It was a very very good experience to be here…
And the other people that came, what is some of the feedback you are getting from other guests?
Everybody was very positive. For me, it was one of the best things that I met a lot of new people. When I go to the different children’s film festivals, most of the time you meet the same people. Here there was only one person that I knew before and all others were new people…
When we do this again, would you recommend guests to come?
It’s certainly something that I can recommend to everybody in the field to come and enjoy this.
What are your impressions of Bratislava?
Bratislava is a fantastic city. It is the first time I was here, and the first day I arrived around 12 o’clock so I had the whole afternoon to walk around. For me, it was a very nice experience to find out that Bratislava is a beautiful city.
Paul Robinson
U.K.
President, Kartoon Channel Worldwide
What a fantastic event the Biennial has been. It has been really inspirational. I think having the kids there was the most amazing thing of all. Seeing those kids being inspired and getting involved and coming up with new ideas, and also I was so pleased the jury voted the same winner as the kids did, with The Swineherd. That was such a source of reassurance. Great organization, great hospitality, lovely people, wonderful event! Thank you very much.
Nadia Talah
France
Director, Atelier aaa
Thank you for inviting us to the Biennial this year. The experience was very enriching. We have not yet worked with the students directly in the schools here, so that was a novelty. It was very nice to see them in their environment. We worked with the same kids over three days, it was very good as it allowed us to continue and focus on our work, to show them different animation techniques, and to see them every day. They became very interested in animation as a genre.
Elodie Maréchal
France
Project Manager, Atelier aaa
It was a very interesting experience. I love working with children. They were very interested and interested in exploring different animation techniques, and we really enjoyed our time in Bratislava.
Mikael Lindbom
Sweden
CEO, Dockhus Animation Sweden
It was amazing having this workshop with the kids, and they seemed to appreciate it a lot, so that is my biggest impression here was actually to work with the kids. But the festival is very, very nice, I love it.
Piers Goffart
Germany
Director
Winner, UNICEF Award (Monster)
I loved it. It was my second time in Bratislava, and the city is so cozy. I met nice people here in the festival. It was super well-organized, and I was treated like a prince here. Everything was nice. And everything had one goal, to put the people together, so they would get to know each other. I met many valuable contacts.
