Andreas Hykade's festival favorite "Altötting" is previewed online for free

May 3, 2021

The award-winning animated short film by German animation director Andreas Hykade Altötting debuts online today, available to watch worldwide for free on the Filmbilder & Friends YouTube channel. The film will be launched together with the making documentary Myself Talk about Altötting, following a Zoom Premiere Party organized by the director's hometown.

“After a year of exciting festival tours, we will bring the film Altötting I return to my hometown and to people around the world, "said Hykade." I am particularly happy to be able to accompany Altötting with the film Myself Talk about Altötting, which delves into the making of the film. "

Altötting it will also participate in the International Competition of the Stuttgart Animated Film Festival. The film will be available online as part of the festival program from 6 to 16 May. Registration is now open at www.itfs.de/en.

"You know, when I was a boy, I fell in love with the Virgin Mary."

In the small Bavarian town of Altötting, a mother takes her young son to visit a nearby chapel. The boy is entranced by the Shrine of the Virgin Mary inside the chapel and begins the daily pilgrimages to see his beloved Madonna. His love, devotion and passion for her continue to grow, until one day his world is crushed by the devastating secret behind her eternal beauty.

Hykade is the director of award-winning shorts including We lived in Grass (1995) Ring of fire (2000) The Runt (2006) Love and theft (2010) and Pepite (2015). Since 2015 he has been director of the Animationsinstitut at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and president of FMX: The Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media.

With the drawings of the award-winning Portuguese animator / artist Regina Pessoa (Uncle Thomas), Altötting is a co-production between Studio Film Bilder, National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Ciclope Filmes. Hykade's first collaboration with the NFB won awards from Cinanima, Ottawa Int'l Animation Festival, Filmschau Baden-Württemberg and ICONA, and was screened in competition at Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, GLAS, Bucheon and others.