ALL WINNERS OF THE CATEGORIES - OFFICIAL SELECTION TO THE LIVE SCREENING
The festival will screen films from Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and North America. Congratulations to all selected films !!!
Mila (United States)
Director: Cinzia Angelini
– Best Animation Short Film (under 30 minutes)
– Best Orginal Score in Animation Film
MILA is a war story that takes on a child’s perspective. Inspired by World War II stories from the director’s mother, the character of Mila represents the best of humanity. Although she has lost everything – her family, her house, her peace – she still clings to hope. With a little more than imagination and humanity, Mila manages to profoundly impact others, including a caring stranger who saves her.
Strike (United Kingdom)
Director: Trevor Hardy
– Best Animation Feature Film (over 30 minutes)
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A young mole must try to achieve his impossible dream of becoming a footballer in order to save his hometown gold mine from a greedy supervillain known only as ‘The Boss
The Case (Italy)
Director: Maurizio Forestieri
– Best Director
In an unknown time and place, a young boy escapes war with nothing but a dream and a violin case. Along the way he meets the beautiful Naila and a group of other travelers. He crosses deserts and seas during a long and dangerous trip. The music in his heart will guide him along the journey to find his path on the other side of the border and destroy prejudice.
Malakout (Iran)
Director: Farnoosh Abedi
– Best Stop Motion Animation
Music was his passion…
Love was his masterpiece…
HeadNoise (United States)
Directors: Rafael Jimenez & Alejandro Álvarez
– Best Animation US Short Film (under 30 minutes)
Friends Rashaun and Damon are talented basketball players from the same inner-city neighborhood. Both are NBA hopefuls; but Rashaun is the more coveted pick among college recruitment scouts. The snag… Rashaun’s passion isn’t basketball, instead, he desires to be a sculptor. A broken promise becomes a broken dream. Although Rashaun’s journey to follow his passion is plagued with systemic disadvantages he is determined to not be defeated by his internal head noise.
Mime Your Manners (United States)
Directors: Kate Namowicz & Skyler Porras
– Best Animation Student Film
An arrogant man berates a mime. As a consequence, he is transformed into a mime until he learns to treat others how he would like to be treated.
The Smurfs Season 1 (Belgium)
Director: William Renaud
– Best Animation TV/Web Series
Peyo’s beloved characters are careening back on TV in a brand new, high-voltage, 3D version of this perennial favorite. Using pure Smurf DNA from the comic books, this new series aimed at girls and boys will push the charm and absurdity of the original to greater heights, fitting in perfectly with today’s faster-paced times. We’re going to present original stories with more complex characters, snappier dialogues, joyful anarchy, and irresistible global appeal for a contemporary audience aged 5 to 10. It will be an explosive box of adventure and humor!
Goodbye Home (Australia)
Director: Jonathan Chong
– Best Animation Documentary Film
– Best Motion Graphics Project
On a hot summer day, a young boy lounges in a tyre swing hanging from the big branch of an old ghost gum. He peers through binoculars to catch glimpses of a baby koala and its parents living at the top of the gum’s mighty trunk. The surrounding bush vibrates with native animal life. In the distance, plumes of grey smoke rise above the coastal landscape, showering the horizon with ash.
As the boy helps his parents prepare their home for an evacuation, so too do the animals prepare their homes: a wombat clears his burrow of debris, a finch tidies her nest; flocks of birds begin their migrations to safer skies. The boy and his kelpie sit on the porch, watching on with trepidation.
Windup (United States)
Director: Yibing Jiang
– Best Animation 3D Film
A father tries to stay connected with his unconscious daughter through music. He plays a windup music box and hopes she can hear it while fighting with his own emotions to stay strong. Meanwhile, his daughter follows the melody in her dreams and looks for a way back.
On / Off (Argentina)
Director: Nicolas P. Villarreal
– Best Animator
Endless distractions threaten to destroy creativity.
An Innocent Man (United Kingdom)
Director: Jess Cope
– Best Animation Music Video
The video is based on the well-known novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and set in the 1930’s. The narrative depicts a father raising his two children and teaching them lessons about the harsh reality of adulthood and racial inequality.
Earthfall (Norway)
Director: Simone Hooymans
– Best Animation Experimental Film
In this experimental animation made of hand-made ink drawings, artist Simone Hooymans explores the transforming powers of crisis. Landscapes, cityscapes and abstract shapes are moving slowly, while growing into an avalanche threatening to destroy everything in its way. Then the destruction is a fact, but from the rubble and chaos emerges a glimpse of a new beginning: Unknown and undefined, but maybe hopeful? The film is a symbolic exploration of current global challenges, yet also an inner journey exploring how a crisis can transform you.
The Ticket Maker (United Kingdom)
Director: Mario Kkounnous
– Best Student Animator
The Ticket Maker is a short story about a man who finds himself overcome with the fear of being alone. Desperate, he sits on a train platform waiting in case someone turns up. A storm hits and he runs towards the woods for safety. Will he find solace or will he have to face his own demons? The story underlines events in my life that I wanted to explore and tell a story through animation. The film addresses a variety of issues that underpin the learning activity and professional practice for an individual working on an animation project within education. The film explores a hybrid of techniques that one person can use to help complete a project within their financial and technical limitations.
Two Different Kinds of Love (United States)
Director: Alyce Vest
– Best Student Director
A little girl is excited to discover more about her adoption story.
LEA'S SECRET (Philippines)
Director: Rico Gutierrez
– Best First Time Director
When Lea and her father move in to their new condominium unit, she suddenly acquires the power to go through walls and closed doors. She doesn’t tell anyone about it— not even her mother who works as a nurse in London. At school, Lea tries out her newfound power to no avail. Taking note of her strange behavior, Teacher Cynthia reaches out and soon discovers that Lea’s power is actually the ability to survive through the harrowing trauma of sexual molestation from her own father. This short animated film is based on the acclaimed children’s book that aims to raise awareness on child sexual abuse, and empower victimized children to seek help and tell their stories.
The Abandoned Block (Canada)
Director: James Bourne
– Best Sound in Animation Film
A useless, damaged, forgotten block of marble after years of neglect, emerges as one of the greatest and most beautiful works of art.
Pork Chop (United States)
Director: Katherine Guggenberger
– Best Character Rigging
A severed pig’s head becomes conscious, finding himself in a deli shop with a terrifying butcher. In order to escape his predicament, the pig’s head assembles a new body, made out of the parts of other animals he finds in the shop’s meat freezer. After overcoming the butcher with his newfound power, the pig slices off the butcher’s head, takes his human body, and escapes the butcher shop as a pig-human hybrid.
Life (United States)
Director: Griffin Lapham
– Best Animation Film By Young Filmmaker (under 18 years old)
In a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, a man risks everything to protect one of the last reminders of his old life.
