Elli Vuorinen’s Still Lives won the Golden Gunnar Grand Prix at the Fredrikstad Animation Festival, held 24-27.10 in Fredrikstad, Norway.

The Jury states: “The winning film is in equal parts funny, sacral and contemplative. Dancing between modernity and history, it seems grounded in reality, yet not. We like its visual language, humor and delicacy. It leaves us with many questions, as this film has made us consider that there is life even within that which seems still.”

In Still Lives, the concept of busy stillness is explored from various standpoints as museum artefacts from all around the world reflect on the mundane challenges of modern life.

Elli Vuorinen is an animation artist who lives and works in rural Finland. Her works often balance between surreal, delightful and disgusting. Although her approach is often humoristic the films deal with significant themes of melancholy, solitude and hope. Vuorinen’s style is versatile – blending of minimal and handcrafted, she creates works that are playful and bold. Different animation techniques inspire her work. Vuorinen’s farm studio allows her to work with everything between large scale stop motion to 2D computer animation.

Fredrikstad Animation Festival, October 25–27 2019, Fredrikstad, Norway

More information: Fredrikstad Animation Festival