studioNICE

Hello!

I wanted to let you know about our recently established  'studioNICE' in Berlin, Germany.
 www.studionice.de
studioNICE - reel 2012

Together with some very talented folks I'm developing some nice concepts for TV-Series, Shortfilms and Features.
We'll soon start to look for investors and supporters.
Find out more on our facebook-page:

http://www.facebook.com/themeaningofNICE?ref=hl

In case you are in Berlin, come for a coffee!
Cheers, Moritz

'Father' and 'AMEN!'

Hello everyone!
Here are two links to two new shortfilms film I worked on during the last 1 1/2 years:

1.
"Father" is an animated documentary short, which I co-directed together with Ivan Bogdanov, Valjko Popovic, Asparuh Petrov,Rositsa Ralevy and Dim Yagodin! It features five parallel realities in which the impossible dialogue between a child and a father would take place.
"Father" did very well so far at the festivals and was screened at ITFS Stuttgart, Annecy, Hiroshima and many other great festivals!Find more infos on the official website:
www.father-film.com

2."AMEN!" which I could finance through the wonderful reference-funding system we have in Germany.
I'm happy to say that it was awarded at Palm Springs Shortfest earlier this year.
It's dealing with the difficult topic of the missuse of religion. It's a dark humor parable about an overmotivated priest who bores his single parishioner with a fire and brimstone sermon of biblical menaces.
more infos on the official website
www.amen-film.com
and the facebook-page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/AMEN-/159843857463246?ref=hl

 Thanks to all teammembers for their effort! It was fantastic working together with you!

'An der Arche um Acht' / '8 O'Clock at the Ark'

Hi there,

it's been a long time since 'URS' first hit the screen ... and it was a very productive one!!
Together with a production company in Berlin we've been working on the preproduction for an animated feature:

'An der Arche um Acht' / '8 O'Clock at the Ark'

The film tells the story of 3 penguins facing the end of the world. While the whole world drowns in a huge flood they get the last two life-saving tickets for 'Noah's Ark'. The Penguins decide to smuggle their third fellow on board and go on an epic journey through storm and lightning, order and mayhem, anarchy and wild parties! Will the penguins' secret be discovered? ...

Based on the multi-awardwinning children's book and theatre play by author Ulrich Hub, the screenplay has already been nominated for the Award for best German-language screenplay for an animated feature film at the ITFS - International Festival for animated Films, Stuttgart.
The films dark mood will be set in contrast with the fun of the penguins who bring smiles back to the terrified animals around them. We're aiming a good mixture of physical humor and "adult-friendly" undertones to create a great and entertaining film for the whole family.

Berlin based production company now films is currently looking for financing.

The book has already been distributed in many countries and translated to Danish, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (World), Simplified Chinese, Spanish (South America), Swedish.


If you like to contact us, just drop us a line via:
info (at) now-films (dot) com
> Trailer and more infos upon request.















More pictures will follow :)
CU

THE Artbook on German Animation

Have you ever been interested in what's behind of some of the most successful animated films in recent time, winning hundreds of awards worldwide?

FINALLY there's an Artbook which answers your questions and gets you an insight in german animation, showing you artwork and giving you personal interviews with the creators of some of the best animated projects that were produced in Germany in the last years!















"Animators/Trickfilmer" by Tobias Wengert contains production artwork of many award-winning films and interviews with their creators, including:
»the Gruffalo« by Studio Soi, »Loom« by Polynoid, »Love & Theft« by Andreas Hykade and many more!! I feel very honored to see »Urs« being part of it!

The book which is published in a bi-lingual version (german/english) will be available at Annecy and Ottawa Animation Festival and Online!
http://www.siwa-webshop.de/

It's truly a gorgeous artbook and a MUST for everyone who wants to know about the diversity and creativity of German Animation.

a Day in the Life of ...

The Animation Magazine was so kind to invite me to design a page for them.
Look out for the March 2011 Issue #210.

The 'A Day in the Life of ... ' series is about artists/animators/companies to show their typical (or not so typical!) day at work on their latest project.
Former participants included ILM and Psychic Bunny.


More infos on my new projects will come soon ...

Making Of 'Urs'

For those who want to know more about the production process of 'Urs'



CG Society
CG Tantra
CG Heute (german)

Watch those making-of clips:
URS - Making Of - Part #1 (visual development)
URS - Making Of - Part #2 (music and sounddesign)
URS - Making Of - Part #3 (Matte Painting-Reel)
URS - Making Of - Part #4 (Rigging-Reel)

Enjoy!

now back to normal

NO Oscar-Nomination for 'Urs', but yet NO reason for sorrow!! THANK YOU ALL for crossing your fingers for 'Urs'. It was a thrilling time and I'm glad to have made this experience. The international feedback on 'Urs' was and is still overwhelming and I'm proud to see my film as part of so many brilliant festivals! Next projects are in production and waiting to find financing - wait for more to come!

Congratulations to Studio Soi who did wonderful work on 'the Gruffalo'!

'Urs' on Oscar Shortlist 2011

'URS'
has just made it into the final 10 films which will compete for the
83rd Academy Awards^® in the Category "Best animated Short"
What an honor for me and my team!

the 10 shortlisted films are:
"The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger" (Bill Plympton) Bill Plympton Studio
"Coyote Falls" (Matthew O'Callaghan, Sam Register) Warner Bros. Animation
"Day & Night" (Teddy Newton) Pixar
"The Gruffalo" (Jakob Schuh, Max Lang) Magic Light Studios
"Let's Pollute" (Geefwee Boedoe)
"The Lost Thing" (Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann) Passion Pictures Australia
"Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage" (Bastien Dubois) Sacrebleu Prods.
"Sensology" (Michel Gagne) Gagne Intl.
"The Silence Beneath the Bark" (Joanna Lurie) Lardux Films
"Urs" (Moritz Mayerhofer) Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

I'm more than excited! I'm crossing my fingers for all filmmakers who made it to the shortlist. Unfortunately just 3-5 films get a Nomination. There are brilliant films in this shortlist and it would be just fair to have 10 films nominated - Just like "Best Film" :)



http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2010/20101130.html

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Cross your fingers for 'Urs'!! I'll need all I can have :)

welcome 2010

2010 is still young and there are already great news!
'Urs' received a nomination for the 8th VES Awards of the Visual Effects Society! Thank you very much for this honor.

I'm also crossing my fingers for 'Motherland' (by Hannes Appell) and 'They will come to town' (by Thilo Ewers) - which makes it 3 out of 4 films nominated in the Student Category created at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg !

thank you 2009

A lot happened in 2009!
'Urs' got a really good start at the Festivals!

Besides others it received:
"Best Directing" at Aniwow!, China
"Best Original Soundtrack" at Cinanima, Portugal
and the "Silver Statue" at Roshd Filmfestival, Iran
It was also rated "Prädikat Besonders Wertvoll" ("Predicate of exceptional value") by the German Board of Film Classification (FBW) which means that I can apply for film funding to create my next film - Thank you!!!