Animated Dreams, one of the most important animation festivals in the Baltic and Nordic regions which ran between 19th and 23rd November, has revealed the winners for 2010. The International Competition showcased some of the finest global animated shorts selected from more than 400 entries.

The winner of the Grand Prix, in addition to the Wooden Wolf made by Estonian puppet masters, received 1000EUR sponsored by Premia. The international jury members Wiola Sowa (Poland), Tatu Pohjavirta (Finland) and Mait Laas (Estonia) made the following decisions:

Grand Prix – “Wooden Wolf” (Prize of 1000EUR sponsored by Premia) : HAND SOAP (Kei Oyama, Japan). This film touches a very strange moment in a person’s life, with a strong vision from the directors that has a profound psycho and physiological influence.

Best Design: TUSSILAGO (Jonas Odell, Sweden). The simplifyed complexity of the visual helps us to step inside the environment of the time and expresses emotions.

Best Story: DIVERS IN THE RAIN (Olga Pärn, Priit Pärn, Estonia). A story that can’t be explained in words, but is perfectly told by two atmospheres.

Jury’s Special Mentions were given to ANGRY MAN (Anita Killi, Norway), THE LIPSETT DIARIES (Théodore Ushev, Canada) and  THE SMALLER ROOM (Cristóbal León, Nina Wehrle, Switzerland). The Audience Award was given to Anita Killi of Norway for ANGRY MAN.

The students of Estonian Academy of Arts’ animation department gave out their award for the second time as well – the “Brain-tap” inspired by the Animated Dreams logo to MY MOTHER'S COAT (United Kingdom Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits). 

Animated Dreams is a sub-festival of the Black Nights Film Festival which also encompasses a main programme of feature premieres and retrospectives, the Nokia Mobile Film Festival (MOFF) which invites filmmakers from around the planet to make a short film on their mobiles and upload it to the MOFF website, the Just Film Children and Youth Festival and Sleepwalkers, the Student and Short Film Festival. The Black Market Industry is a regional film market which introduces film industry professionals to the latest works from North-Eastern Europe and its neighbouring regions whilst in the Baltic Event Co-production market deals projects from the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, Central - Eastern Europe and Russia. On the night of December 4, the European Film Academy will be presenting the 23rd European Film Awards in Tallinn an event that will kick off Tallinn’s hosting of the European Capital of Culture.

Sandy Mandelberger, POFF Dailies Editor