The Sausage Run

The roles of the humans and animals are exchanged. The human characters of the fairy tale are depicted in the film as anthropomorphic animals. The animal in the story, the big bad wolf, is a human being.

‘Little Red Riding Hood’s’ family consists of the mother sheep, the lamb (Little Red Riding Hood) and a grandfather sheep. The forester and his wife are dogs with a soft spot for sausages. The wolf, a butcher, is a man with a serious problem. He has run out of meat.

The story takes place in Zoetropes, which are historical optical and rather primitive devices that display sequences of drawn images in motion. These devices are an invention from the 19th century (around 1834) and a forerunner of film technology.
Zoetropes bring figures drawn on a strip of paper to life as if by magic. These show simple, repetitive movements of one second such as walking, waving, hopping, opening and closing, etc.

Since my Spinning Animation Workshops I’m fascinated by the hypnotic impact of Zoetropes. I developed a performance, which presents the workshop results in an audio-visual live show on eight optical devices like Zoetropes to the public, which I call The Spinning Animation Show.

While working on my workshops I came up with the question: How do I tell a story with Zoetropes?

End of 2016 Paul Driessen, my former teacher and professor of animation, and I decided to develop a story for my new film, which can be told by Zoetropes. The fairy tale LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD seemed to be perfect for us. With it we could play with animation cycles like walking through the woods, looking out the window, saying goodbye at the door, looking at grandpa’s hut etc..

Doing things again and again defines the storyline in THE SAUSAGE RUN, which poses the critical question, how much of our unconscious habits and common expectations determines our live.

The Flanders Audiovisual Fund

The German State Film Funding

The Hessian Film Funding

Federal Government for Cultural Affairs and Media

Thomas Stellmach

about 140 crowdfunders

Best film between 4 and 20 minutes and

Best European Film, 18 Cortoons Gandia Festival 20-23 October 2022 Spain

Winner of the VAF ANIMOK Youth Jury 2022 (6th grade), 10 Viborg Animation Festival (VAF) 26 September – 01 October 2022 Denmark

Comment of the festival director Ditte Lundsgaard Nielsen: The kids say that it is fantastically created with the use of a zoetrope, which none of them knew, but thought was deeply fascinating and that it made good sense to use the zoetrope in relation to the story in the film. The film is funny and entertaining, but still asks a good question about good and evil / right and wrong.

Grand Prix – The Golden Kuker Award, Golden Kuker Sofia, International Animation Film Fest, 25th – 29th May 2022

THE SAUSAGE RUN absolutely deserves the award (and many more!). It was a very easy decision for all members of the jury, we love the film. It’s fresh, smart and connects with the soul of the origin of animation art.

Juan Pablo Zaramella 

Animation Award, best storyteller, Mediawave Festival, 4th – 7th May 2022, Hungary

Certificate: “especially commendable”, German Film Quality Assessment Board (FBW), Germany

Second Prize, best animation, 17^th Athens Animfest, competition, 17-20 March 2022, Greece

First Prize, best humorous film, T-Short Animated Film Online Festival 2022, Humorous Shorts Competition,

Karlsruhe, March 10 till March 27, 2022

Jury’s Choice Award, Thomas Edison Film Festival, USA, 11 February – 31 December 2022.

The film has received an Award and will take part at the 41st Annual Touring Season – 2022. The TEFF Jury’s Choice is a prestigious award for extraordinary films that have pushed boundaries, told important stories, and raised the bar for film as an art form.

director
THOMAS STELLMACH

producer
THOMAS STELLMACH, Thomas Stellmach Animation

IGNACE COLLIN, Epeios Productions

story
PAUL DRIESSEN

www.pdriessen.com
THOMAS STELLMACH

music
BEO BROCKHAUSEN

www.beomusik.de

character design
JANEK CZECHOWSKI

background design
AIKE ARNDT (illustration)
THOMAS STELLMACH (colouring)

character animation
NANCY BENS
KRIS VAN ALPHEN

additional animation
DELIA KROHMER

gaping, colouring, shading
CHRISTINA DIX

DELIA KROHMER

3d-modelling / animation
MARTIN SCHMIDT, Raumkapsel GbR

raumkapsel.space

compositing
THOMAS STELLMACH

foley and sound recording, editing and surround mix
CHRISTIAN WITTMOSER

dramaturgical advisor
PAUL DRIESSEN

copyright 2021
THOMAS STELLMACH ANIMATION

EPEIOS PRODUCTIONS

5 CINÉMAPLANÈTE 14 – 20 November 2022, France

35 exground, short film festival, Wiesbaden 11-20 November 2022 Germany

37 Chicago Children’s Film Festival 04-20 November 2022 USA

29 SUNCINE Environmental Film Festival 03 – 09 November 2022 Spain

15 Animanima International Animation Festival 3-5 November 2022 Serbia

12 Aesthetica Film Festival 01 – 30 November 2022 United Kingdom – England

8 Rex Animation Film Festival 29 October -06 November 2022 Sweden

15 Big Cartoon Festival 27 October – 07 November 2022 Russia

Filem’On International Filmfestival for Children and Youth 26 October – 05 November 2022 Brussels Belgium

41 Animation Film Festival at Bourg-en-Bresse 22 – 26 October 2022 Bourg de Bresse France

24 Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF) 21 – 25 October 2022 South Korea

18 Cortoons Gandia Festival 20-23 October 2022 Spain

8 Animaphix – International Animated Film Festival, Bagheria, Villa Cattolica 12-16 October 2022 Italy

Chania Film Festival 19-30 October 2022 Greece

27 Schlingel Int. Film Festival for children and youth, Chemniz 08 -15 October 2022 Germany

CineEco – 28th International Festival of Environmental Cinema of Serra da Estrela 08 – 15 October 2022 Portugal

17 Animest, Bucharest International Animation Film Festival 07 – 16 October 2022 Romania

Animatou 06-15 October 2022 Swiss

International Young Audience Film Festival Ale Kino! 01 – 07 October 2022 Poland

23 Woodstock Film Festival 28 September – 02 October 2022 USA

10 Viborg Animation Festival (VAF) 26 September – 01 October 2022 Denmark

14 KINOdiseea International Children Film Festival 22-25 September 2022 Romania

15 FICBUEU 11 – 17 September 2022 Spain

4 ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival 07 – 11 September 2022 Azerbaijan

6 Chaniartoon – Chania Cartoon & Animation Festival 05 – 18 September 2022 Greece

18 Budapest Short Film Festival (BUSHO) 30 August – 04 September 2022 Hungary

17 NAFF: Neum Animated Film Festival 26 August 2022 – 01 September 2022 Bosnia and Herzegovina

21 Countryside Animafest Cyprus 10 – 13 August 2022 Cyprus

Curtas Vila do Conde – Festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens International Competition 16 – 25 July 2022 Portugal

Insomnia International Animation Film Festival 13 – 18 July 2022 Russia

38 Cartoonclub Festival Internazionale del Cinema d’animazione, del Fumetto e dei Games 11 – 17 July 2022 Italy

10 Rural FilmFest 01 – 09 July 2022 Spain

ShorTS International Film Festival 01 – 09 July 2022 Trieste Italy

32 World Festival of animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 06 – 11 June 2022 Croatia

Rüsselsheim 03 – 04 June 2022, Germany

26 Cartoons on the Bay 01 – 05 June 2022 Italy

62 Zlín Film Festival 26 May – 01 June 2022 Czech Republic

International Animation Film Festival (IAFF) – Golden Kuker Sofia 25 – 29 May 2022 Bulgaria

Plain La Bobine 09 – 20 May 2022 France

MEDIAWAVE Film and Music Gathering 28 April – 01 May 2022 Hungary

49 Athens International Film + Video Festival 08 – 14 August 2022 USA

Ciné-Jeune de l’Aisne International Film Festival 23 March – 09 April 2022 France

Regensburg’s Week of Short Films, German competition, 18 – 27 March 2022, Germany

Athens ANIMFEST 17 – 20 March 2022, Greece

MONSTRA – Lisboa Animation Festival, competition, 16- 27 March 2022, Portugal

T-Short Animated Film Online Festival 10 – 27 March 2022 Worldwide

CINELEBU | Festival Internacional de Cine de Lebu, competition, 11-19 February 2022, Chile

Thomas Edison Film Festival 11 February 2022 – 31 December 2022, USA

44th Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Youth Audience Competition, 24 January – 5 February 2022, France

32th Bamberg‘s Days of Short Films, 24-30 January 2022, Germany

Flickerfest 31st International Short Film Festival, FlickerKids showcase programme out of competition, 21- 30 January 2022, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia