Sep 25, 2022

"Dozens of North", "Birds of the Peninsula" will receive the highest award at Ottawa 2022.

At the 46th Ottawa International Animation Festival, awards were distributed on Saturday night, and Japanese Animation was the bona fide beneficiary of this year's jury, winning both the Best Animated Feature Award and the Best Animated Short Award.

Koji Yamamura's "Dazens of Norths" (a Japanese-French co-production) broke through Annecy's Contrechamp section earlier this summer, continuing the Academy Award-nominated film director's red-hot festival run, with another big win for best animated feature. The judges described their choice and said:

The film encourages the audience to use their senses. It breaks the boundaries and structures of storytelling. The images used are consistent with the creative process. The author describes the world and ecosystem of sensations well. Creativity, sensations, visual poetry - everything is beautifully combined.

This year's top award for short animation went to the Peninsula Bird of Atsushi Wada. The film won the Jury and Audience Awards in Hiroshima last month, and just two weeks later won the highest prize in the Swiss Fantosch. A jury in Ottawa says of the film:

By challenging the medium through its inexplicable universality, the next short film is captivating, expressive, comedic, complete and concise.

Responsible for selecting the festival's top Canadian animation, the Canadian Film Institute chose the Flying Sailor from multiple Oscar nominations and multiple Ottawa Award・winning duo Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbes:

Animation For its thoughtful, poetic evocation of human dignity in times of catastrophe with an impressive, inventive combination of contemporary style.

From the Animated Short category, director Sumito Sakakibara's Iizuna Fair, according to the judges, "Immersive excavations and exploratory polyrhythms create a kinetic experience within that medium."

Best narrative short participated in Tal Kantor's Letter to A Pig, won the Zlatko Grgic Award for short at Zagreb, and won the award at the beginning of this summer. It won the Israeli Film Academy Award. The Ottawa judge said:

The story and structure that will influence the core of the next film by tearing up the walls for visceral internal conversation, a fresh new lens

The Ottawa public had their say too, choosing Thunder June's Sierra for this year's Wacom Public Awards.

Short Animation Award

Bird of the Peninsula – Atsushi Wada

Animation Feature Award

Dozens of North – Koji Yamamura

Wacom Public Award

Winner: Sierra Sandajun

First: Airship Rider – Wendy Tilby, Aman

Second: Dog's Apartment–Priit Tender

CANADIAN FILM Institute (CFI) Best Canadian Animation Award

Winners: The Flying Sailor–WENDY TILBY, Amanda Forbes

Special Mention: Animal Collective–We Go Back – Winston Hacking, Michael Enzbrunner

Non-Narrative

Iizuna Fair–Sumito Sakakibara

Best Story

Letter to the Pig–Talcantor

Best Consignment

Humane Society International– Save Ralph Spencer Sassa

Bent Box Award Best Student Animation

Tears of the Seine- Alice letailleur, Eliott benard, etienne moulin, HADRIEN pinot, lisa vicente, nicolas Mayeur, Filipino singer, Yanis Belaid

Animation for young audiences 3+ Competition

Winner: My Name Is fear – Eliza Plocieniak-Alvarez

Special Mention 1: Infant Story– Diane Reichenbach

Animation for young audiences 7+ Competition

Winner: Ruth and Locke–Britrais

Special Mention: Lost Brain–Isabel Favez

Animated Series

Winner: My Year of Dicks "Sex Talk"– Sarah gunnarsdottir

Special Mention: Safe Mode: Lana Justin Tomchuk in Lily

Virtual Reality Competition

biolun – Abel Cohen

Canadian Student Competition

Winner: I dreamed of a house at Night–Charlie Galea McClure

Special Mention 1: Sculptor – Andreas Phobes

Special Mention 2: Mileage – Jennifer Wu, Kim Santiago

Best Script

Drone Sean buckelew

Best design

Backflip Nikki

Best technique

Hotel Kalura-Sophie Coco Gate

Best sound design

Zoon–Jonatan Schwenk