‘The Amazing World of Gumball - The Quest’ and ‘Santa’s Apprentice’ have won awards at the Annecy International Animation festival. Co-produced by Irish company Boulder Media, ‘The Amazing World of Gumball - Quest’ was awarded best TV production in the category of TV and Commissioned films at the 2011 Annecy International Animation Festival which took place from 6th-10th June in Annecy, France.
‘The Amazing World of Gumball’ is a 40x11 minute series that was co-produced by Boulder Media and Dandelion Studios with 3d elements from Studio Soi in Germany. The series took 18 months to complete and had a team of 53 people working on it at the Boulder Media Studios in Dublin. The series began airing on the Cartoon Network in May and has already been commissioned for a second series by Turnermedia.
Cartoon Saloons’ co-production with French company Gaumont-Alphanim and Australian Avrill Stark Entertainment, ‘Santa’s Apprentice’ (L'Apprenti Père Noël) also won a special UNICEF award at the Animation festival. The Annecy UNICEF award is given to the animated programme which best highlights the goals of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Funded by the IFB, Flying Bark Productions, Orange Cinema Series, Centre National de la Cinematographie et de l'Image Animee, Departement de la Charente & de la Region Poitou-Charentes and MEDIA, ‘Santa’s Apprentice’ tells the story of a retiring Santa who must find a replacement and train him in.
The awards were announced at the closing ceremony of the Annecy festival which took place on the 10th June. The Annecy Animation Festival is the world’s largest event focused entirely on animation. Now in its 51st year, the 2011 Annecy festival took place from the 6th-10th June in Annecy, France.