Quest is a 1996 German animated short film directed by Tyron Montgomery, written (story) and produced by Thomas Stellmach at the University of Kassel - Art College. After four years of production it won several awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Supported by the German Federal Film Board and the Cultural Film Fund of the State of Hessian the puppet animation film was shot frame by frame with an ARRI II BV and a self constructed single frame motor. The character was made of brass skeleton, latex foam and sand. Together with the flying paper, the falling stones and the rotating machines the puppet was manipulated and photographed 19,000 times and reviewed only by video control. No digital compositing software was used.
Quest is distributed by Thomas Stellmach. It is part of the Animation Show of Shows as well.
Story In search of water, a sand puppet leaves the sand world in which it lives, wandering through worlds made of paper, stone and iron, following the sound of dripping water. In the end the sand puppet manages to reach the water, in a tragic way.Animation film QUEST by Tyron Montgomery & Thomas Stellmach, accessed 18 August 2026.
Awards Quest (1996, excerpt of the Oscar® winning film) on Vimeo OSCAR© of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the Best Short Animation Film 1996, (awarded 1997), Los Angeles Chris Farley and David Spade at the Oscars®-Oscars on YouTube Certificate: "exceptional valuable" Film Valuation Authority Wiesbaden, Germany CARTOON D'OR 96, best film of the European Animated Prize Winner Films, awarded by the European Association of Animation Film, Brussels, Belgium Grand Prix for best school film 1997, European First Film Festival of Angers, France European Broadcasters Award, European Short Film Competition, Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (BIFFF), Belgium (1997) Best Debut Film 1997, World Animation Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA Special Jury Prize 1997, Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival, France Bronze Worldmedal 1997, New York Festival, USA ALVES COSTA PRIZE, Special Award of the Journalists, International Animation Film Festival Espinho, CINANIMA 96, Portugal ZLATKO GRIGIC - Prize for Best Debut Film, International Animation Film Festival Zagreb 1996, Croatia Golden Damby award International Animation EXPO Seoul 1997, Korea CITY OF MELBOURNE AWARD for Best Animation Film 1996, International Film Festival of Melbourne, Australia DON QUIJOTE - Prize of the critics FICC International Short Film Festival of Kraków, Poland GOLD HUGO, 1996, Student Animation Category, International Film Festival Chicago, USA Best European Short Film, International Film Festival Cork 1996, Ireland Best Animation 1996, Albany International Short Film Festival, USA Best Animation 1997, MEDIAWAVE, International Festival of Media Arts, Győr, Hungary Best Animation 1996, Molodist - Kyiv International Film Festival, Ukraine Grand Prix for Best School Film 1997, International Film Festival Huy, Belgium Grand Prix 1997, International Film Festival of Environment, "Green Vision", St. Petersburg Grand Prix International Mountain and Adventure Film Festival Graz 1997, Austria Category Award (10 to 30 min), International Animation Film Festival "Krok", Kyiv 1997, Ukraine First Audience Prize of the German TV Station - SDR 1996, International Animation Film Festival of Stuttgart, Germany SILVER DANZANTE for the best Animation Film 1996, Huesca International Film Festival, Spain Nominated for the German Short Film Award 1996, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany First Audience Prize of the 7 nominated German short films 1996, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany ANIMAT'T Award, Sitges International Fantasy Film Festival of Barcelona 1996, Spain First Audience Prize 1996, International Film Celebration of Dresden, Germany Jury Special Award 1996, Festival international du film d'environnement, Rienna, France SECOND PRIZE 1996, International Short Film Festival Drama, Greece Best Animation Film 1996, International Short Film Festival of Hamburg, Germany OEKOMEDIA Award for the Best Artistic Achievement 1996, International Ecological Film Festival of Freiburg Germany Special Prize of the Federal Minister of the Environment for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Environment Education 1996, Oekomedia, International Ecological Film Festival of Freiburg Special Prize of the National Park Administration "Lower Saxony Mud-flats" 1996, Maritime Film Days of Wilhelmshaven, Germany Laudable Mention of pupils 1996, Maritime Film Days of Wilhelmshaven, Germany Second Prize 1996, Exground on screen, Wiesbaden, Germany Tour Prize of the University Kassel 1996, Germany Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Prize 1996 Wiesbaden, Germany Compilation Best of Ottawa 1996, International Animation Film Festival of Ottawa, Canada
Preservation The Academy Film Archive preserved Quest in 2010.
Bibliography Olivier Cotte (2007) Secrets of Oscar-winning animation: Behind the scenes of 13 classic short animations. (Making of Quest) Focal Press.
Notes
External links Quest Quest (French)