StopTrik IFF and ITFS Stuttgart celebrate puppet animation together!
We’re proud to attend the famous and exciting Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film on 6 – 11 May 2025. StopTrik IFF Festival Director, Olga Bobrowska, curated two programmes of puppet stop motion animation: “Some of StopTrik’s Finest” that highlights the works of authors such as Ivana Bošnjak & Thomas Johnson, Nina Gantz, Leon Vidmar, Julia Orlik, Trinidad Plass & Titouan Tillier & Isaac Wenzek, Piotr Chmielewski, and Raquel Sancinetti (what a line-up!); and “Personally Politicized Puppets” that traces metaphors of defiance against social oppression, authoritarian and totalitarian rule, and extermination in the films of Jiři Trnka, Jan Švankmajer, Katariina Lillqvist, Ana Nedeljković & Nikola Majdak Jr., Ahmad Saleh and his brothers Saed and Saleh.
Olga will also serve as a juror in the International Competition & Trickstar Nature Award.
PROGRAMME 1: “Some of StopTrik’s Finest: Puppet Film Winners and Laureates”
StopTrik IFF is the oldest European stop motion festival, held in Maribor, Slovenia. Since its establishment in 2011, it has celebrated the diversity of techniques and aesthetics that have vividly developed within the frame-by-frame cinema – from puppets, through clay figurines, random objects of daily use, human bodies, and fragile cut-out, anything can be animated and make the viewers greatly moved! Our winners and laureates are decided by the audiences and student juries, while special mentions are granted by the invited experts and StopTrik organizers.
Films in the programme:
Simulacra, dir. Ivana Bošnjak, Thomas Johnson, prod. Bonobostudio, Croatia, 2014, 8’40’’, 4. StopTrik IFF Maribor Grand Prix
Edmond, dir. Nina Gantz, prod. NFTS, UK, 2015, 10’, 5. StopTrik IFF Maribor Grand Prix
Farewell / Slovo, dir. Leon Vidmar, prod. ZVVIKS, Slovenia, 2016, 5’50’’, 7. StopTrik IFF Maribor Grand Prix
I'm Here / Jestem tutaj, dir. Julia Orlik, prod. PWSFTviT Lodz Film School, 2020, Poland, 15', Maribor Student Jury Award & Special Mention from Piotr Kardas in Lodz
Human Resources / Ressources Humaines, dir. Trinidad Plass, Titouan Tillier, Isaac Wenzek, prod. EMCA, 2022, France, 3'30'' , 12. StopTrik IFF Maribor Grand Prix, 12. StopTrik IFF Łódź Grand Prix
Crab / Krab, dir. Piotr Chmielewski, prod. WJTeam, 2022, Poland, France, 8’42’’, 12. StopTrik IFF Special Mention from Urska Breznik in Maribor, 12. StopTrik IFF Special Mention from Natalia Spychała in Lodz
Madeleine, dir. Raquel Sancinetti, 2023, Canada, 15', 14. StopTrik IFF Maribor Grand Prix
PROGRAMME 2: “Personally Politicized Puppets”
Stop motion, especially in its forms of puppet and object animation, has a long tradition of providing allegories, contextualizing, and thematizing important subjects of political debates. Used as a tool of propaganda and advertising numerous times, this technique can also come in handy for those who seek to subvert the dominant status quo. The range of subjects depicted in the programme is broad and, hopefully, thought-provoking – from allegorical struggles against communist censorship; through tensions arising across the restrained sexual spectrum and on top of colonial roots of Russian imperialism; to the long-term impact on social behaviors as a consequence of the 1990s Balkan Wars, as well as the tragic fate of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.
Films in the programme:
The Hand / Ruka, 1965, dir. Jiři Trnka, prod. Krátký Film Praha, Czechoslovakia, 18’
Death of Stalinism in Bohemia / Konec stalinismu v Čechách, dir. Jan Švankmajer, 1990, Czechoslovakia, UK, 10’
Far Away from Ural / Uralin perhonen, dir. Katariina Lillqvist, prod. Camera Cagliostro, 2008, Finland, 25’
(Un)travel, dir. Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak Jr., prod. Bas Celik, 2018, Serbia, Slovakia, 9'25''
Night / ل (layl), dir. Ahmad Saleh, Saed Saleh, Saleh Saleh, prod. SES-Studio, Fabian&Fred, 2021, Germany, Qatar, Palestine, Jordan, 15'57''