Mar 27, 2019

Glass Animation Festival 2019: Acid Rain continues to be a success with top awards

The Berkeley, California-based GLAS Animation Festival came to a close on Sunday, March 24 and winners for its 4th edition were announced at the event's awards ceremony.

Tomek Popakul's Acid Rain took home the Grand Prix in the main competition out of 41 shorts. Popakul's short has enjoyed a highly successful festival run with stops at the Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam, and soon Hong Kong Int'l Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, and Annecy.

This year, GLAS introduced the Vimeo Staff Pick Award for the first time. Vimeo's curation team selected the winner: Les Lèvres Gercées by Fabien Corre and Kelsi Phung. Aside from a $2,500 cash prize, the short film was launched as a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere on Monday, March 25.

“With natural performances and realistic dialogue, this moving short shines a light on how a lack of understanding and acceptance between a parent and their LGBTQ child can have devastating consequences,” the Vimeo jury said of Les Lèvres Gercées. “Its sensitive approach to this important topic is one that is vital to share for the betterment of our world.”

Additionally, this was the second year of the FXX Elevation Award presented by FX Networks, which honors a film in competition that embodies distinctive characters, bold storytelling, and a singular point of view. The 2019 winner was Sophie Koko Gate and her film Slug Life. The director will receive a $25,000 all-in development and production deal to develop an original animated project with FX that will be aired on the network.

“This year's FXX Elevation Award winner is a filmmaker with unmistakable vision,” FX said of Gate's film. “Her film succeeds because of its instantly distinctive visual style and impossibly imaginative storytelling. It is delightfully surreal, surprisingly funny and – albeit through artificial intelligence, industrial dance moves, and some suggestive slugs – offers a unique woman's perspective into the most human of desires: finding somebody to love.”

Here is the full list of winners:

Jury: Meghan Oretsky, Dennis Tupicoff, Koji Yamamura

Grand PrixAcid Rain by Tomek Popakul

New Talent AwardBloeistraat 11 by Nienke Deutz

High Risk AwardEgg by Martina Scarpelli

Meghan Oretsky Special MentionThe Night of the Plastic Bags by Gabriel Harel

Koji Yamamura Special MentionEmbraced by Justine Vuylsteker

Dennis Tupicoff Special MentionFly in the Restaurant by Xi Chen

FXX Elevation AwardSlug Life by Sophie Koko Gate

Vimeo Staff Pick AwardLes lèvres gercées by Kelsi Phung and Fabien Corre

Jury: Luce Grosjean, Christy Karacas, Marc James Roels

Family Competition Honorable MentionDum dee bolala dum by Peter Millard

Family Competition Award WinnerKuap by Nils Hedinger

Best Gif Award presented by Giphy: Brandon Buir

US Special MentionBallerina by Steven Subotnick

Best US FilmSparky by Xinbaonuzi