Director: Milen Vitanov
Short film • 3D animation • 10:00 min • © Milen Vitanov & Film University Babelsberg 2012
Rising Hope, who used to be the fastest horse in the world, suddenly turns into a loser. With the help of a new friend − a jack-of-all-trades hound − he finds hope and himself again.
Joshu was a famous Chinese Zen Master. One day a troubled monk approached him, intending to ask the Master for guidance. A dog walked by. The monk asked Joshu, "Does that dog have a Buddha-nature or not?"
Rising Hope, the main character in this short, is a famous racehorse. When he gets in trouble, a dog walks by. Well, I don't know what master Joshu answered about the dog in his story, but I'm sure that the dog in this movie has a Buddha-nature of a kind. He shows Rising Hope how to escape from the pressure to perform and how to find his own bliss.
Direction: Milen Vitanov
Rigging, rendering, r&d, fx: Dennis Rettkowski
Screenplay: Milen Vitanov, Vera Trajanova
Animation: Milen Vitanov, Lars Krüger, Stefan Klauss, Martin Freitag, Nikolai Neumetzler, Michael Herm
Director of photography: Olaf Aue
Editing: Martin Reimers, Jens Prausnitz
Sound design: Michał Krajczok
Music: Stefan Maria Schneider, Marian Mentrup
Cast: Sebastian Schulz, Felix Freese
Awards
Special Pulcinella Award "Cartoons & Sport" on the Cartoons on the Bay 2012, in Rapallo, Italy
Best Animated Film, Young Jury Award at Rhode Island International Film Festival 2012, USA
Audience Award for Best Short Film at The 24 hours of Nuremberg International short film festival 2012, Germany
Award of the Junior Jury for Best Short Film at Capalbio Cinema International Film Festival 2012, Italy
Best Film at the Animacam at International Animation Festival 2013 Ourense, Spain
The Klassefilm Junior Audience Award at Holland Animation Film Festival 2013, Utrecht, Holland
Audience Award for Best Children's Film at Plein la Bobine Film Festival for Young People 2013, France
Kurzfilmpreis der Murnau-Stiftung at Murnau Short Film Prize Wiesbaden 2013, Germany
Festivals
Berlinale Berlin International Film Festival 2012, Germany
Atlanta Film Festival 2012, Atlanta, USA
Cartoons on the bay "Pulcinella Awards" 2012, Rapallo, Italy
AniFest Int. Festival of Animated Films, 2012 Teplize, Czech Republic
Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film ITFS 2012, Stuttgart, Germany
Palm Springs ShortFest 2012, Palm Springs CA, USA
Zlin International Film Festival for Children 2012, Zlin, Czech Republic
SICAF Seoul Int. Cartoon and Animation Festival 2012, South Korea
Hamburg Animation Award 2012, Germany
Anima Mundi Anima Mundi Animation Festival 2012 Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil
Curtas Vila do Conde 2012, Vila do Conde, Portugal
Encounters Film Festival 2012, Bristol, UK
Rhode Island International Film Festival 2012, Rhode Island, USA
BUSTER Film Festival 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark
Viborg Animation Festival 2012, Viborg, Denmark
Carrousel international du film de Rimouski 2012, Rimouski, Canada
Luxor Egyptian & European Film Festival 2012, Luxor, Egypt
Milwaukee Children's Film Festival 2012, Milwaukee WI, USA
Anim'est Internation Film Festival 2012, Bucharest, Romania
KROK Int. Animation Film Festival 2012, Ukraine
Klik Animation International Festival 2012, Amsterdam, Holland
Milwaukee Film Festival 2012, Milwaukee, WI USA
Animateka Int. Animated Film Festival 2012, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Int. Children’s Film Festival Filem’on 2012, Brussels, Belgium
DOK-Leipzig International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, 2012, Leipzig, Germany
Clermont-Ferrand 2012, France
24 Hours of Nuremberg Int. Short Film Festival 2012, Germany
Short Film Festival Lünen 2012, Germany
Schlingel Int. Film Festival for Children and Young Audience 2012, Germany
Anima - Brussels Animation Film Festival 2012, Belgium
Anilogue Int. Animation Film Festival 2012, Ungarn
Max Ophüls Preis 2013 2012, Germany