During Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, the European Animation Awards Association, represented by Vice President Paul Young, made a series of announcements — including naming veteran animation programmer and author Clare Kitson the recipient of the 2018 Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 2018 EAA (or Emile Awards) will comprise two days of celebrations and masterclasses, December 7 & 8 in Lille, France. (www.animationawards.eu)
In the early 1970s, Clare Kitson scheduled animation programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and was a programmer for the National Film Theatre in London in the next decade. She was the Commissioning Editor of Animation for Channel 4 in the UK from 1989 to 1999, promoting and ushering many promising indie, student and studio talents into the national limelight, and helping launch their future international renown. Kitson is also the author behind the highly-praised books on recent animation history: Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator’s Journey (John Libbey Publishing, 2005) and British Animation: The Channel 4 Factor (Parliament Hill Publishing, 2008).
The Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Achievement award is presented to an individual in acknowledgment of the importance of the participation of said individual in the artistic, industrial, technical aspects of European Animation. The recipient of the award is determined by the Board of the EAA.
Young also announced that the second EAA will introduced two new categories, for Best Sound Design in a Feature Film and Best Sound Design in a TV/Broadcast Production. This brings the category total to 18. This year there will also be five nominees per category instead of three, for a total of 90 possible nominations.
The call for entries is open until October 15, 2018. The pre-selection process will involve four juries of three jurors each, to be announced at an Athen press conference Nov. 8 (organized with Hellenic Republic institutions). Following the nominations announcement, EAA members can vote for winners in all 18 categories until Dec. 1.
The EAA will work closely with local organizations Noranim and the Rencontres Audiovisuelles in Lille for an effective local impact. Programming highlights of the two-day event include:
- A Lotte Reiniger Masterclass: In which Clare Kitson will have the occasion to look back on her career.
- Conference Animation in Europe: Transposition Audiovisual Media Service Directive AMS (Transposition Directives Service Medias Audiovisuels SMA)
- Round Table hosted by the Guilde des Scénaristes: A comparative study on the role of the screenwriter in European Animation.
- Master Class Aardman: Celebrating the studio’s 40th anniversary with Peter Lord.
