New Zealand Book Council’s Going West animation wins international film prize

A New Zealand Book Council short film promoting books and reading has won an international prize for paper cut animation awarded by New York’s Museum of Art and Design.

The animation, which uses an excerpt from Maurice Gee’s novel Going West, won the Museum's Choice grand prize award at Moving Paper, an international film festival of cut paper animation being held at the museum this month (www.movingpaper.org).

The judges commented: “Your piece is truly exceptional, and the decision to award it the grand prize was unanimous among our judges.”

Launched last November, the Going West film quickly became a YouTube hit and reached the worldwide top 10 in the viral video charts. It was viewed online more than 725,000 times, inspired more than 3400 tweets on Twitter or blog posts worldwide, and reached number 8 in the Viral Video Chart compiled by Unruly Media (http://vvc-origin.unrulymedia.com).

The two-minute film was produced for the Book Council by Colenso BBDO, who worked with Andersen M Studios in London to develop a concept that would show Gee’s classic New Zealand novel coming to life through hand cut ‘pop up’ scenery springing up from the pages.

The result of eight months of hard work and intricate hand paper cutting can be viewed on YouTube at http://bit.ly/k0lQE or on the Book Council website at www.bookcouncil.org.nz (www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Readers/Introduction/Information ).

Book Council chief executive Noel Murphy says the aim of the film is to excite people about books and reading.

“The idea that lies at the centre of this project is that reading is an activity that surprises, delights, challenges and ignites the imagination,” he says.

“We wanted to grab people’s attention for just one moment in the hurly burly world of modern media and direct them to the adventure that can be had in one’s own head at the flick of a page. Colenso and the Andersen M Studios created something that achieved that and more by literally bringing the book itself to life. “

For further information, please contact:
Noel Murphy   
New Zealand Book Council   
021 02482637   
director@bookcouncil.org.nz
Footnote:

The Bookman offers his warmest congratulations to Noel Murphy and his team and urges all readers to check out the clip if you haven't already done so.