The Holon Cinematheque recently announced it will open a comprehensive archive of animated film, the first of its kind here. Although Israeli movies have been getting a great deal of attention worldwide, not until Ari Folman's animated documentary, Waltz with Bashir, was released in 2008 did animated Israeli films truly enter the spotlight. The archive will be devoted to collecting and preserving all animated films made in Israel thus far, as well as upcoming films. It will include feature films, documentaries, shorts and student films, as well as commercials, movie trailers, instructional films and computer games. There will also be a collection of materials used to create animated films (such as figures for clay animation), and books and articles on the subject. A catalogue of all that is available will be posted Online and the archive will be open to the public. The plan to open the archive was announced at a ceremony late last week at the Holon Cinematheque during which prizes were awarded to the winners of the Maratoon competition. 27 films took part in this competition, which had a very strict set of requirements: films had to be made in just five days, were to be between 30 seconds and 1 minute in length, and had to include three elements (which were provided five days before the deadline) - ringing, the number three and a half, and winter. The director of the Holon Cinematheque, Shira Carmi, said, "We were happy that the judges found themselves facing a difficult task. A large number of films competed for the Maratoon title, and this proved that creative thinking and artistic ability can produce creative, high quality and interesting films even in a very short period of time." The winner was Winter, by Alexandra Bronstein. An honorable mention went to Three and A Half Seconds on Life, by the Burger Underground - Yoav Brill, Eran Hilleli, and Shay Yosef. Another honorable mention, for Best Original Script, was given to Three and A Half Rooms by the Afrogotika Group - Boaz Kadman and Gil Lavi. A Special Jury Prize went to Three and a Half, by the Silly Hats Only Group - Liat Har-Gil, Shaul Hamavi, Masha Bitman, and Dudi Rovin. The Audience Award went to Angels, a film by the Takles Group - Nofer Radeh, Oz Yerushalmi, Or Sahar and Smader Levana. The first prize carried a cash award of NIS 5,000, while the creators of the other winning films received several thousand shekels and camera equipment. For more information on the competition and the animation archive go to the Holon Cinematheque's Website at www.cinemaholon.org.il.

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