Red Stick Festival announces the 2012 Best of the Fest.

The Red Stick International Animation Festival announced the winner of this year’s Best of the Fest competition at Saturday afternoon’s screening.  The short film “Frankie Rulez!!!” by Sam Charoenchai, the story of a narcissistic space traveller claiming ownership of all he sees, won the Baton D’Or (Golden Baton) as best film of the festival, as well as Best Short Film in the professional category.  Nelson Boles’ “Little Boat,” the delightful film about the amazing voyage of a small children’s toy won Best Short Film in the student category. Other winners included “Impetus” by Stephan Larson for Best Experimental Animation, and “Countdown” by Celine Desrumaux for Best Music Video.

The festival closed out its 2012 season with an advanced screening of Disney/Pixar’s newest film, Brave, Sunday, at the Manship Theatre. Despite heavy rains all weekend, this year’s festival was the best attended according to festival director Stephen David Beck. “We were really pleased with how the community has come to value and support what we do. It’s a testament to everyone in Baton Rouge who works to make the animation, visual effects and digital media industries an important and vibrant economic sector for the region.”

The Red Stick Festival is produced by LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology, and was sponsored this year by the City/Parish of East Baton Rouge.