Exchange student at UCF scoops international awards

Karolina Glusiec, an exchange student studying BA(Hons) Digital Animation at University College Falmouth has scooped two top awards at the prestigious Off Jak Goraco Independent Film Festival in Lodz, Poland.

Karolina, who spent 6 months at University College Falmouth making her animated film, Karuzele, not only won the award for Best Animation, she also won the acclaimed Audience Award and received golden statuettes and a cash prize. "I only entered my film in the festival for an opportunity to show it to a large group of people and get their reaction - I was so pleased when it qualified for official selection but didn't expect it to win in any categories so couldn't believe when it won both awards" explained Karolina.

Karuzele is a short animated film inspired by a song, ‘Karuzele Skutery Rodeo' (Carousel Scooters Rodeo) about a young boy's adventure in a fairground, drawn in a unique and beautiful style, using bold black and white design and a striking animation technique. The film took Karolina 6 months to complete and contained over 5000 individual drawings. "I really wanted to show the emotion of the song and translate it into the language of film through animation - I wanted to show how a child feels when lost in a fairground" explained Karolina.

"This is an incredible achievement for Karolina" said Course Leader, Andy Wyatt. "To win the animation category is fantastic but to also win the audience prize is amazing, especially since Karolina had very little animation experience eight months ago and considering that the competition consisted of 73 professional films and this was Karolina's first animated film. We are simply thrilled for her." He continued, "To have students already winning such important awards less than a year after the BA(Hons) Digital Animation course began at University College Falmouth is very exciting. It sends out a very strong signal to the industry that University College Falmouth is very quickly building a reputation as an international centre of excellence for animation."

Lodz is one of Poland's centres for film culture and tradition - currently bidding to become European City of Culture 2016 - and is often referred to as the Hollywood of Poland. Its annual festival of independent film is held in high regard amongst European Artists and Filmmakers and both professional and student filmmakers are encouraged to enter. This year, 73 finalists in 7 categories battled it out for the much coveted awards.

Karolina was able to study at University College Falmouth through the European Commission exchange programme (ERASMUS) that enables students in 31 European countries to study for part of their degree in another country. "I am so grateful to have been able to make this film whilst studying at Falmouth. I gained invaluable technical skills and advice from my tutor about plot lines and characterisation and made many friends. I hope to return to Falmouth to further my studies in animation soon" said Karolina.

UCF's new BA(Hons) in Digital Animation is located in The Lanyon Building, which was formally named by His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex as a tribute to St Ives painter, Peter Lanyon, last December, as part of the multi-million pound expansion of the creative hub of the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative.

The three-year course combines cutting-edge animation practice with the study of animation theory, film language, drawing and traditional animation processes. The new Digital Animation Studio is equipped with the latest software, specialist desks and lighting for animation drawing - and even a skeleton to enable students to capture movement in their characterisations.

In April 2008, University College Falmouth merged with Dartington College of Arts to create a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing.

The merger will pave the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall in 2012, creating a Higher Education institution unique to the South West.

University College Falmouth is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.

For further information about BA(Hons) Digital Animation at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/digitalanimation, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 213854.

Ends

For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 00 44 (0)1326 213792; or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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