VIRTUOSO VIRTUAL

The premiere of VIRTUOSO VIRTUAL was during the anniversary celebration of ‘1100 Years of Kassel” in the congress palace attended by 2000 guests in February 18th, 2013. The film music was performed live by the State Orchestra of Kassel, conducted by Helmut Imig. Imig also composed a postlude for the performance. The major of our city granted us the first award for the film, named the ‘Fulle Oscar’.

• Award for the Best Art, 10^th NAFF International Animation Festival 2015, Neum, Bosnia and Herzegowina
• Best Film, 9th Tehran International Animation Festival, Iran
• Best Experimental Film, 13^th Miami Short Film Festival 2014, USA
• Audience Award and Special Mention by the Jury, Anima’zik – Musical Animated Film festival 2014, Begles, France
• Jury Award: Best Animation and Audience Award: Best Animation, Short Sharp Film Festival 2014, Coffs Harbour, Australia
• Best Animation Film, Frozen Film Festival 2014, San Francisco, USA
• Special Mention of the children jury , 24th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2014 / Films for Children Competition Program, Croatia
• Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Award (Jury rating: 46 points of 50), Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation 2014, Wiesbaden, Germany
• Special Mention, 24th Filmkunstfest M-V 2014, Schwerin, Germany
• Best Animation Film, On Location: MEMPHIS int’l film & music fest 2014, USA
• Category Maxi: Special Mention, VAFI – Children and Youth Animation Film Festival Varaždin 2014, Hungary
• Jury award and audience choice: Best Experimental, 47th Humboldt Film Festival 2014, Arcata, USA
• Best of Fest (amongst 13 other films), 56^th Rochester International Film Festival 2014, USA
• Special Award, Visual Music Award 2014, Gelnhausen (birthplace of the brothers Fischinger), Germany
  The Special Award isn’t granted every year. It honores particular outstanding films, which matches the original idea of visual music in the sense of Oscar Fischinger.
• Special Art Jury Award and Special Museum Award
  3rd Festival Erarta MOTION PICTURES 2014, Sankt Petersburg, Russia
  Jury statement: For organising the chaos. A film that Jackson Pollock should have seen if he could and for originality in synthesising the arts.
• Honorable Mention in the Experimental Film Category, Fargo Film Festival 2014, Fargo, USA
• Best Animation Film, Washington DC Independent Film Festival 2014, USA
• Audience Award, Best Animation Film, San Francisco IndieFest 2014, USA
• Hoka Award for Best Experimental Short, Oxford Film Festival 2014, USA
• Jury’s Citation Award – 2nd Prize, 33rd Black Maria Film and Video Festival 2014, Jersey City, USA
• Special Mention, Spring 2014 New Jersey Film Festival, USA
• Audience Award for Best Short Film in the Category Curiosities, 23rd “Les Nuits Magiques” International Animated Film Festival 2013, Bègles, France
• Best 3D Animation, 3D Film & Music Fest Barcelona 2013, Spain
• First Place, Three Rivers Film Festival 2013, Pittsburg, USA
• 1st Audience Award for Best German Short Film, exground filmfest 2013, Wiesbaden, Germany
• Mention du Jury Brossolette, The International Short Film Festival 2013, Villeurbanne, France
• Best Animation/Experimental, 9th Riversedge International Film Festival 2013, Paducah, Kentucky, USA
• Best Animated Short, 36th Starz Denver Film Festival 2013, USA
  The jury for the 5th annual ASIFA-Colorado Best Animated Short Award was presented a selection of wonderful animated films to choose from for its prize this year. Yet from the moment it starts, until the last note is played, this mesmerizing film meshes music, timing, and choreography in a beautiful dance of ink-on-paper. The jury was compelled to select “Virtuos Virtuell” directed by Thomas Stellmach and Maja Oschmann of Germany for ASIFA-Colorado’s Best Animated Short Award.   
• Best Experimental Film, Route 66 Film Festival 2013, Springfield, USA
• Opening Film and Special Mention, 56th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film 2013, Germany
  Jury statement: For its dynamic use of non narrative animation perfectly fused with the music.
• 2nd Place audience choice, International Animation Weekend Wiesbaden 2013, Germany, (Information from a festival member, it’s not an award)
• Best Experimental Film, 24th New Orleans Film Festival 2013, USA
• 2nd Place audience choice, 10th Filmfest Eberswalde 2013, Germany
  (Information from a festival member, it’s not an award)
• Best Experimental Film, Festival TOFUZI 2013, Tbilisi, Georgia
• Best Experimental/Abstract Film, Ottawa International Animation Festival 2013, Canada
• part of ‘Best of Encounters’ – Reel, 19th Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival 2013, Bristol, UK
• Best Experimental Film, 9th BuSho International Short Film Festival 2013, Budapest, Hungary
• Best of Fest, Fandana Musik & Arts Festival 2013, Huntington, USA

VIRTUOSO VIRTUAL was initiated and supported by the International Louis Spohr Society, which is responsible for the Louis Spohr Museum in Kassel. The film was produced for the exhibition to display it in the museum on an auto-stereoscopic monitor in stereoscopy. The museum focuses on versatile experiences and activation of all senses.

The film also offers deaf visitors the opportunity to experience the visual translation of a piece of music.

www.spohr-museum.de

A special exhibition ‘Making of Virtuos Virtuell’ at the Spohr Museum Kassel in 2012 took place during the art exhibition ’documenta 13’. 58000 visitors of the exhibition have seen the unfinished film in our exhibition coincidentally. Some of them have left a note in our guest book, like: … this is the best of the ’documenta’. But our film wasn’t part of it.

Another exhibition was at the German Film Museum in Frankfurt in 2014 / 2015.

Get more information about our audiovisual exhibition.

VIRTUOSO VIRTUAL is included in educational programs offered by German and international institutions as following:

• Minifilmclub, German Film Institution / Film Museum (dff), Frankfurt. Get the work sheet.
• Mitmachkino 2022, German Film Quality Assessment Board (FBW)
• Cinemini-Europe in association with European Film Museums:
  • The Austrian Film Museum
  • German Film Institut & Film Museum
  • Eye Filmmuseum, Netherlands
  • Kinodvor Cinema Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Taartrovers, Netherlands
  • Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM), Estonia
  • European Children’s Film Association, Belgium
  • Serralves Foundation, Portugal

• Hessian Museum Association e.V. / Hessian Ministry for Science and Art
• Kasseler Sparkasse
• The German State Film Funding – FFA
• The Hessian Film Funding
• German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
• Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thueringen
• Stadt Kassel, Cultural Office
• Germany’s national film funding institution
• Kasseler Bank
• Landgraf Moritz Stiftung
• Dr. Wolfgang-Zippel-Stiftung
• United Residential Cities eG 1889
• and private sponsorship

VIRTUOSO VIRTUAL was shown at 180 international film festivals.

• International Animation Film Festival Stuttgart 2013, Germany
  www.itfs.de
• Edinburgh international film festival 2013, UK
  www.edfilmfest.org.uk
• Animateka International Animated Film Festival 2013, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  (Elephant international children competition programme)
• Anima Mundi 2013, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Dublin International Short Film And Music Festival 2013, Ireland
  www.disfmf.ie
• International Animation Film Festival Stuttgart 2014, Germany
  (part of special program: ‘Best of 10 Years’ and ‘Abstract Films’)
  www.itfs.de
• Annecy, International Animation Film Festival 2014, France
  www.annecy.org
• Hiroshima International Animation Festival 2014, Japan
• International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR 2014, Poznan, Poland
  www.animator-festival.com
• Goldener Spatz 2014 – German Media Festival for Children, Gera/Erfurt, Germany
  www.goldenerspatz.de 
• TAAF – Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2015, Japan
  www.animefestival.jp