Flower Found!

A case of mistaken identity has seriously unpleasant consequences in this unsettling arboreal tale that might or might not be a parable of our times. When a special flower unaccountably goes missing, an ever-growing group of animals sets off in pursuit of the purloined bloom, but, as is often the case, the best intentions lead only to unforeseen catastrophe. Story, design, direction and animation by Jorn Leeuwerink (http://aapje.net) Music by Bryan Teoh (https://bryanteoh.com) Backgrounds by Myra Emmen Riedel (https://myra.emmenriedel.nl) Distribution by Ron Diamond (https://animationshowofshows.com) Special thanks to Roelof van den Bergh, Egbert de Ruiter, Sijbren Schenkels Made at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht in 2017 Official Short of the Week premiere! Winner of 16 international awards and selected at over 66 festivals! Flower Found! has screened at Cannes, Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Hiroshima, ITFS, OIAF among many others. It has also been part of the 20th Animation Show of Shows and received acclaim from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter. Awards: *Best Animated Student Short* (powered by Cartoon Network) KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival 2017, The Netherlands *Award for Best Student Short Film* Anima: The Brussels Animation Film Festival 2019, Belgium *Jury's Special Award* New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival 2018, Japan *Grand Prix of Student Short Films Competition* Taichung International Animation Festival 2018, Taiwan *The Debyutoria Prize* (best of the international competition, young animation) Insomnia International Animation Film Festival 2018, Russia *Best Student Animation* Anibar International Animation Festival 2018, Kosovo *1st Prize of the Jury in International Shortfilm Competition* Monstronale Festival 2018, Germany *Best Student Film* European Animated Film Festival Balkanima 2018, Serbia *Animation Grand Prix* Kyoto International Student Film & Video Festival 2018, Japan *Animation Audience Award* Kyoto International Student Film & Video Festival 2018, Japan *2nd Prize in Student Competition* Athens Animfest 2018, Greece *Jury's Special Prize Student Films Competition* Animakom 2018, Spain *Audience Award* Turku Animated Film Festival 2018, Finland *Best Animation* Global Youth Film Festival Lakshmipur 2018, Bangladesh *Student Audience Award* Contact International Student Film Festival 2018, Turkey *Jury Mention Award* Ringerike International Youth Film Festival 2018, Norway Reviews: "Again hewing to the darker side, the Dutch animator Jorn Leeuwerink's deceptively childlike Flower Found! creates an allusive pastel nightmare of mistaken identity and mob injustice. Digitally animated on painted watercolor backgrounds, the story follows an anxious mouse who learns that enlisting a search party of woodland creatures to find his stolen blossom might not have been the best idea." Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times "The simply rendered animals in Jorn Leeuwerink's Flower Found! present a powerful lesson in the dangers inherent in a rush to judgment. The charming naivete of the animals' looks belies the folly of their actions." Charles Solomon, Los Angeles Times "Pictographs in word balloons replace speech: From the Netherlands, Jorn Leeuwerink's Flower Found! begins as a sweet kids' tale (albeit one with a Philip Guston visual influence) in which all the animals of the forest team up to help a little mouse find the pretty flower he lost. Things don't go as planned, though, and this is one of two shorts featuring moments that might disturb sensitive children." John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter "Leeuwerink's disarming fable opens as a cutesy animal caper and ends as an utterly bleak indictment of mob hysteria. When a mouse discovers that its favourite flower has been stolen, it enlists its forest friends to help recover it. But they get carried away with their task, resulting in a horrific miscarriage of justice. In the context of the programme, Flower Found! felt like a political work, even if its message is cloaked in allegory. Leeuwerink has form in mordant satirical cartoons, but this, his graduation film from HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, is his strongest yet. The plot is perfectly paced, keeping the audience guessing as it shades from comedy into horror, then tragedy. It has been on the festival circuit for a while, and every time I see it, I'm struck by its narrative clarity and purpose - no mean feat, especially for a student film. It won Anima's award for best student film." Alex Dudok de Wit, Short of the Week See all the awards, selections and reviews at http://aapje.net/flowerfound/