Awards:
*NEF Prix Plans Animés*
(Festival Premiers Plans, France)
*Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film*
(ITFS Stuttgart, Germany)
*Audience Award*
(Hiroshima Animation Season, Japan)
*Jury Award European Competition*
(Kortfilmfestival Leuven, Belgium)
*Audience Award*
(Animatricks Animation Festival, Finland)
*Audience Award German Competition*
(Short Film Festival Cologne, Germany)
*Peer Raben Music Award*
(Soundtrack Cologne, Germany)
*Best International Animation Short*
(Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland)
*Craft Award for Best Sound Design*
(Ottawa International Animation Festival, Canada)
*Main Price Best Animated Short*
Camera Action Film Festival (Poland)
*Most Original Short*
(Sognielettrici Intl. Film Festival, Italy)
*ex aequo Audience Award*
(Warsaw Animation Film Festival, Poland)
*Best Animation Award*
(Filmschoolfest Munich, Germany)
*First Place*
ASIF Animation Festival (Israel)
*Best Original Score Award*
(London International Animation Festival, UK)
*Short Tiger Award*
(national german award)
*Nomination Hessischer Hochschulfilmpreis*
(regional german award)
*Jury’s Personal Pick*
(by Koji Yamamura, Hiroshima Animation Season, Japan)
*European Film Awards 2023 Short Film Candidate*
ZINEBI Bilbao (Spain)
*Jury Citation*
(Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, USA)
*2nd Mention Award International Graduation Short Film*
(Bitbang Festival Int’l de Animación, Argentina)
*Special Mention for Sound Design*
(Primanima, Hungary)
*Special Student Film Mention*
(Turku Animated Film Festival, Finland)
*Honorable Mention*
(Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, USA)
*Honorable Mention*
(Festival Intl. de Cine en Guadalajara, Mexico)
*Special Mention*
Festival of Animation Berlin (Germany)
animated short
Germany, 2022, 04:25 min
In the dark swamps of a nocturnal forest, a group of gleaming axolotls is in heat, nuzzling and nibbling one another’s limbs. Soon a much larger, two-legged forest-dweller encounters the lustful group and reaches down to gobble one of the small shimmering creatures. His plump friends begin to partake as well and a feast begins. While dawn is slowly breaking, a cheerful game begins higher up in the branches.
press kit
(including image material):
text version to be found here: link
version with visuals: download pdf
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/662706061
stay up to date:
on Instagram: @jonatanschwenk
festival selections:
(excerpt)
Sundance Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers (France)
REGARD – Saguenay Intl. Short Film Festival (Canada)
Go Short Intl. Short Film Festival, Netherlands
Dresden Filmfest, Germany
GLAS Animation Festival (USA)
Seattle International Film Festival (USA)
DC International Film Festival (USA)
Milwaukee Film Festival (USA)
Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg (Germany)
Animafest Zagreb (Croatia)
Festival Intl. de Cine en Guadalajara (México)
Palm Springs International ShortFest (USA)
Galway Film Fleadh (Ireland)
SIGGRAPH 2022 Computer Animation Festival (Canada)
18th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival (USA)
HAS Hiroshima Animation Season 2022 (Japan)
Concorto Film Festival (Italy)
Turku Animated Film Festival (Finland)
Festival Silhouette (France)
Fantoche (Switzerland)
Telluride Film Festival (USA)
Pictoplasma (Germany)
Ottawa International Animation Festival (Canada)
Viborg Animation Festival (Denmark)
Encounters Film Festival (UK)
Vancouver Int’l FF (Canada)
Primanima World Festival of First Animations (Hungary)
Uppsala Short Film Festival (Sweden)
Denver Film Festival (USA)
New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival 2022 (Japan)
Leeds International Film Festival 2022 (UK)
AFI FEST FILMFESTIVAL 2022 (American Film Institute) (USA)
ZINEBI Bilbao (Spain)
Animage Intl. Anim. Festival Of Pernambuco (Brazil)
interfilm Berlin Short Film Festival (Germany)
PÖFF Shorts Black Nights (Estonia)
StopTrik IFF (Slovenia/Poland)
London Intl. Animation Festival (UK)
Animateka (Slovenia)
Leuven Intl. Short Film Festival (Belgium)
Anima Brussels (Belgium)
Intl. Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg (Germany)
Landshut Short Film Festival (Germany)
Kaboom Animation Festival (Netherlands)
RiverRun Intl. Film Festival (USA)
Florida Film Festival (USA)
Stuttgart Intl. Festival of Animated Film (Germany)
(complete list in press kit above, text version)
Credits:
directed and produced by Jonatan Schwenk
music & sound design David Kamp
screenplay Merlin Flügel, Jonatan Schwenk
puppet fabrication Anne Breymann, Hélène Tragesser, Jonatan Schwenk
puppeteers Thalke Thyen, Max Mörtl, Maria Teixeira, Merlin Flügel, Jonatan Schwenk, Ramona Lüdemann, Carolina Iglesias
camera (real-time-part) Ferdinand Kowalke
stop-motion camera Jonatan Schwenk
technical director on set Björn Ullrich
assistant director Merlin Flügel
set manager Joey Arand
production assistant Carolina Iglesias
stop-motion animator Jonatan Schwenk
2d animators Marta Magnuska, Jonatan Schwenk
retouch & rig removal Mascha Balura, Lea Majeran, Maria Teixeira, Aaron Farkas, Jade Stendel (PixelPEC) Irina Rubina,
Chengjie Xu, Yu Hao
3d models & textures Valentin Oellers, Ferdinand Kowalke
2d tracking Maria Teixeira
3d tracking Valentin Oellers
compositing Marc Rühl, Jonatan Schwenk
color grading Matthias Behrens (waveline), Jonatan Schwenk
graduation film at HfG Offenbach
funded by HessenFilm und Medien GmbH & FFA
