connect zee dots

Wie ich mich traf or meeting me by Angela Steffen was one of the great student films at this years OIAF. A nicely stylized black and white film about the artist trying to find out about herself in various transformations all set in a colouring book world. Angela is in her second year at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and under the supervision of Andreas Hykade (animation pimp designer fame)! Andreas's films, Ring of fire and We lived in grass, are depth charged fields that trip the wire and explode the genre into frail and wounded territory. He won the music video category with Die Toten Hosen WALKAMPF for FilmBilder studios. Great timing with seemingly simple design gives in to psychadelic sequences that capture the addictiveness of the song.
Also, from the Filmakademie site there is this great find of their Animation Institute. From the projects page you can find snippets or full versions of the latest cool short films...some of my favorites are No Limits (on Ars Electronica 04 dvd), Das Floß(the Raft) which is part of a touring german animation program, and 3 Phasen which is just cool. They also have Bunnies which was used for the Internation Trickfilm festival in Stuttgart and an Mtv ident which was produced by Studio Soi. There was a good 'new german animation' program at this years Leipzig festival for documentary and animation films. It had both Angela Steffen and Andreas Hykade works in it and Ego Sum Alpha et Omega by Jan-Peter Meier. Which is appropriate for closing the cirle here, I also saw Jan-Peter's graduate film in Ottawa this year and is a film that ends where it started. And at the end I heard someone say, "that was sooo German!"...