Butterflies has just won the jury prize for Best Animated Short at Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose. Cinequest is an A list US festival and winning Best Animated Short qualifies our film for Oscar nomination. Wonderful news!!!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Butterflies wins Jury Prize for Best Short Animation at the 23rd Cinequest International Film Festival San Jose, USA
Butterflies has won the Jury Prize for Best Short Animated Film at Cinequest International Film Festival, San Jose. Cinequest is an A-list Academy Accredited festival. Butterflies now qualifies for Academy Award® consideration in the category of Best Short Animation.
Butterflies is a stop motion animation featuring fleshy, hyper-real silicon puppets voiced by acclaimed actors Rachel Griffiths and Nicholas Hope. Directed by Isabel Peppard, who co-wrote the script with producer Warwick Burton, Butterflies also features music by multi award-winning composer Elliott Wheeler.
Isabel Peppard, the Animator/Director of Butterflies says “We are so honored to accept this accolade from Cinequest which is not only a prestigious festival but also fiercely independent and committed to supporting Maverick film makers and nurturing new talent.”
“Cinequest remains one of the last big festival bastions for the discovery of new and emerging film artists. Cinequest Film Festival (CQFF) presents a dynamic 13-day event of 200 international films with over 600+ film artists, technologists, and professionals from 44 countries in attendance. Over 10,000 artists have attended CQFF to date. CQFF has an attendance of 95,000 and receives over 2000 film submissions every year.” (from http://cinequest.org/film-festival ).
Butterflies premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 11th 2012. The animation then screened at Sitges International Film Festival in Spain, one of the worlds top horror and fantasy film festivals. Sitges programmers described the film as “A short destined to become an instant stop motion classic.”
Butterflies tells the tale of a young artist (CLAIRE, voiced by Rachel Griffiths http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341737/ ) who struggles to make a living by selling drawings to passersby. A businessman (DALTON HEARST, voiced by Nicholas Hope http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0394034/ ) recognises her talents and offers her a paying job. The prospect seems inviting but the reality threatens to kill her imagination.
Weaving Claire’s childhood memories with her contemporary life and nightmares, Butterflies is a gothic fairytale presented in Peppard’s predominantly bleak but beautifully ornate handcrafted world.
After attending the world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival Rachel Griffiths expressed her support for the film, “I’m so proud to have been part of such an extraordinarily crafted and wondrous short film. No doubt it will be the first in a substantial career for Isabel Peppard.”
Butterflies is the second animated film collaboration from Isabel Peppard and Warwick Burton. Their first animation was Gloomy Valentine (2006).
BUTTERFLIES (2012)
- Screen Australia presents, a TBC Media production of an Isabel Peppard film
- Directed by Isabel Peppard
- Produced by Warwick Burton
- Featuring the voices of Rachel Griffiths and Nicholas Hope
- Music by Elliot Wheeler
Find out more and stay up to date with Butterflies
Web: http://www.butterfliesanimation.com/ Trailer: http://www.vimeo.com/55356583
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/butterfliesanimation
Blog: http://butterfliesanimation.tumblr.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@ButterfliesAnim
Email: contact@butterfliesanimation.com
