Sep 29, 2018

"Solar Walk", "This magnificent cake!""Take the Top Prize in Ottawa 2018

Réka Busci's enigmatic Solar Walk is the winner of the 2018 Ottawa International Animation Festival's top prize for an independent short, the Nelvana Grand Prize. With the win, Bucsi's film joins the group of animated short films that have qualified for the 2018 Academy Awards.

Belgian filmmakers Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels took home the feature animation prize for their stop-motion film This Magnificent Cake, telling the intertwined stories of various characters in the late 19th century during Belgium's colonization of the Congo Basin in West Africa.

The awards were announced tonight at an awards ceremony held at the National Gallery of Canada. This season, the festival received a total of 2,469 entries from 84 countries and selected 110 for competition.

The full list of competition winners is below:

NELVANA GRAND PRIZE FOR SHORT ANIMATION ?Solar Walk, by Réka Bucsi, Denmark ?Jury Comment: “The Jury was enveloped by a playful animation that drifted outward, defying gravity. The colorful utopic world's transports is far away from where bodies were sitting, that resulted in an overwhelming feeling of joy that evoked infinite possibility.

FEATURE ANIMATION?Winner: This Magnificent Cake! by Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, Belgium, France, Netherlands?Special Mention: On Happiness Road by Hsin-Yin Sung

ANIMATION FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES COMPETITION: PRESCHOOL ?Winner: Koniguri-Kun Music Box by Mari Miyazawa ?Second Place: The Highway Rat by Jeroen Jaspaert

ANIMATION FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES COMPETITION AGES 6 TO 12?Winner: The Green Bird, by Maximilien Bourgeoi, Quentin Dubois, Irina Nguyen-Duc, Marine Goalard and Pierre Perveyrie ?Second Place: Funny Fish, Krishna Chandran A. Nair

CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE CANADIAN STUDENT COMPETITION?Winner: Bird Milk, Christopher Strickler, Emily Carr University ?First Special Mention: Concatenate, Simone Northey, OCAD University ?Second Special Mention: 1992, Una di Gallo, Sheridan College?Third Special Mention: GIF Me Something To Hold, Chhaya Naran, Emily Carr University

BEST CANADIAN ANIMATION?Winner: My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes by Charlie Tyrell?Special Mention: Turbine, by Alex Boya?Special Mention: Biidaaban, Amanda Strong

BEST SCRIPT ?Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes) by Amanda Strong, Canada ?Jury Comment: “For script, the jury was looking for stories that urgently needed to be told in out time. We were struck by the layered and political narratives; ones that spanned the past, present and future in Amanda Strong's Biidaaban.”

BEST DESIGN?III, by Marta Pajek, Poland? Jury Comment: “The jury was delighted by the luscious and haptic visual textures, feeling with our eyes the most delicate and sensuous details in III.”

BEST TECHNIQUE ?Fest, Nikita Diakur, Germany Jury Comment: “For making 3D animation a puppets theatre where ugly, possessed characters are raving their lives away…”

BEST SOUND?Ride, by Paul Bush, Portugal and United Kingdom ?Jury Comment: “For bringing hundreds of museum bikes on the street again for letting us hear them!”

VIRTUAL REALITY ?Nothing Happens, by Michelle Kranot and Uri Kranot, Denmark and France ?Jury Comment: “By adapting their film to a cinematic vr experience, the authors literally immerse us into their visual world.”

COMMISSIONED ANIMATION?Kensington Market, by Bruce Alcock, Canada? Jury Comment: “The jury was struck by the colorful and dynamic animation that depicted the vibrant growth of a community shop in Kensington Market.”

STUDENT ANIMATION ?Hedge, by Amanda Bonaiuto, USA ?Jury Comment: “For a risk-taking, delightfully animation technique and peculiar character design.”

NON-NARRATIVE ANIMATION?La Chute (The Fall) by Boris Labbé, France? Jury Comment: “For a formal exploration of a Dante-esque world that resonates through a precise and ornamental choreographic staging.”

CARTOON NETWORK AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT ?Guazuma, by Nara Normandie, France and Brazil ?Jury Comment: For a breathtaking and intimate journey through friendship that spans time and distance.”

VIMEO AWARD ?My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes, by Charlie Tyrell, Canada ?Jury Comment: Honest, funny, nostalgic and incredibly inventive, it tells the story of a young man sifting through his late father's belongings in an attempt to uncover the intimate details of his life. A perfectly arranged menagerie of old film footage, audio recordings and meticulously crafted stop motion animation, it is a beautiful tribute to a complicated but loving and devoted father and son relationship.”

PUBLIC PRIZE ?Facing It, by Sam Gainsborough, United Kingdom

This year's Short, Feature and Young Audience Competition screenings were judged by three official juries. The Competition Feature Jury featured Estonian-born animation director Chintis Lundgren, American independent filmmaker Steven Subotnick, and Chel White, co-founder of Bent Image Labs.

The Competition Short Jury included Canadian director Nicolas Brault, Animateka festival director Igor Prassel (Slovenia), and American experimental animator Kelly Sears.

The third and final jury was comprised of Ottawa-area children between the ages of eight and 12 who judged the Young Audiences: Preschool and Ages six to 12 Competitions.