OIAF ANNOUNCES 2017 COMPETITION WINNERSThe Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), North America’s leading animation film festival, announced the winners of its 2017 Official Competition today at an awards ceremony held at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts. The OIAF received a total of 1992 entries and selected 105 short films and 5 feature films from 85 different countries.

The Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short went to Nikita Diakur’s Ugly, a simulated short film about two beings trying to find peace in a dystopic neighborhood. The Grand Prize for Features went to the surrealist romantic comedy  Night Is Short, Walk on Girl, directed by Masaaki Yuasa. Yuasa made OIAF history this year by becoming the first filmmaker to have two nominations in the features category, with his film Lu Over the Wall also in competition.

This year’s Short, Feature and Young Audiences Competition screenings were judged by three official juries. The Competition Short Jury featured illustrator, art and animation director Janice Nadeau (Canada), Marta Pajek (Poland), and Theodore Ushev (Bulgaria/Canada), animator and winner of last year’s Cartoon Network Award for Best Narrative Short Animation (Blind Vaysha). The Competition Feature Jury comprised of the award-winning director and writer of Child Dream Christophe Gérard (France), former Grand Prize winner and animator Peter Millard (UK), and animation director and optical effects specialist Elise Simard (Canada). The third jury is comprised of Ottawa-area children between the ages of 8 and 12 who judged the Young Audiences: Preschool and Ages 6-12 Competitions. In addition, we also had members of the Canadian media pick a winner for our Media prize, with Di Golding, Ramin S. Khanjani, and Pat Mullen awarding The Tesla World Light.

A selection of the Festival’s award-winning films will be screened on Sunday, September 25 at 7:00 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. in the Best of OIAF 17 screening at the ByTowne Cinema (325 Rideau Street). Tickets are available online at www.animationfestival.ca and will be sold at the Box Office.

OIAF 2017 AWARDS

Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short Animation

UGLY

Nikita Diakur

Germany

2017

FROM THE JURY

“An apocalyptic and heartwarming vision of deconstructive reality."

Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature

YORUWA MIJIKASHI ARUKEYO OTOME

(NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL)

Masaaki Yuasa

Japan

2017

FROM THE JURY

“Masaaki Yuasa's manic masterpiece is unexpected and delightful from beginning to end.”

"This inventive and daring film takes animation storytelling to another level.”

Honourable Mention

TORREY PINES, Clyde Peterson (USA)

FROM THE JURY

"The film brings a real freshness to the art of paper cut out animation. Without a spoken word, Clyde Peterson gives a vivid and humorous representation of what it was like to question ones gender identity in the 90s."

CATEGORY AWARDS

Cartoon Network Award for Best Narrative Short Animation

KÖTÜ KIZ (WICKED GIRL)

Ayce Kartal

Turkey

2016

FROM THE JURY

"[An] unforgiven ode to resilience."

Award for Best Non-Narrative Animation

Any Road

Boris Labbe

France

2016

FROM THE JURY

"Familiarity versus strangeness."

Award for Best Student Animation

END OF RECORDING

Lukas Conway, Stefan Jaroszonek & Olivier Sommelet

2016

FROM THE JURY

"[A] disturbing and itching line."

Award for Best Commissioned Animation

MARK LOTTERMAN ‘HAPPY’

Alice Saey

Netherlands, France

2017

FROM THE JURY

"Hypnotizing choreography."

Award for Best Animated Film or Series for Young Audiences – Preschool

DER KLEINE VOGEL UND DIE RAUPE

(THE LITTLE BIRD AND THE CATERPILLAR)

Lena von Döhren

Switzerland

2017

Honourable Mentions

KONIGIRI-KUN UNDOKAI (KONIGIRI-KUN KITCHEN SPORTS DAY), Mari Miyazawa (Japan)

ISLAND, Max Mörtl & Robert Löbel (Germany)

THE CLOUD AND THE WHALE, Alyona Tomilova (Russia)

GEORGE & PAUL ‘AFL EVERING: SLAAPWANDELEN’ (GEORGE & PAUL ‘EPISODE: SLEEPWALKING’),Erik Verkerk & Joost van den Bosch

Award for Best Animated Film or Series for Young Audiences – Ages 6-12

MOUNTAIN OF SGAANA

Christopher Auchter

Canada

2017

Honourable Mentions
LA LICORNE (THE UNICORN), Rémi Durin (France, Belgium)

REGULAR SHOW “MEET THE SEER” JG Quintel (USA)

 

CRAFT AWARDS

Award for Best Script

MANIVALD

Chintis Lundgren

Canada, Croatia, Estonia

Narrative Short

2017

Award for Best Design

SPECTACLE OF THE REAL

Buck Design, Orion Tait,

Thomas Schmid & Daniel Oeffinger

USA

Commissioned Animation

2016

Award for Best Animation Technique

TESLA ‘LUMIÉRE MONDIALE’

(THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT)

Matthew Rankin

Canada

Narrative Short Animation

2017

Award for Best Sound

AIRPORT

Michaela Müller

Switzerland, Croatia

Non-narrative Short

2017

OTHER AWARDS

Public Prize

DECORADO  

Alberto Vazquez

Spain, France

Narrative Short

2017

Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation

FOUR FACES OF THE MOON

Amanda Strong

Canada

Narrative short

2017

FROM THE JURY

“[A] poetic, passionate, and powerful evocation of Canada's troubled history”

Honourable Mentions

INSECT EXPRESS, Emily Pelstring (“[an] inventive experimental approach to animating music”)

HEDGEHOG’S HOME, Eva Cvijanovic (“marvelous craft and impressive storytelling”)


 

Award for Canadian Student Animation Film

END OF RECORDING

Lukas Conway, Stefan Jaroszonek & Olivier Sommelet

Concordia

2017

Honourable Mentions

THE LOST SOUL, Marie-Josée Doutre (Concordia)

QUARTERS, Airin Budiman (Sheridan)

Media Prize

TESLA ‘LUMIÉRE MONDIALE’

(THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT)

Matthew Rankin

Canada

2017

Narrative Short Animation

FROM THE JURY

"The jury was impressed by the outstanding range of styles and stories among these shorts, but The Tesla World Light stood out with the technical ingenuity, madcap humour, and haunting beauty in Matthew Rankin's experimental rendition of an obsessed mind."

ABOUT THE OIAF

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is one of the world’s leading animation events providing screenings, exhibits, workshops and entertainment since 1976.  OIAF is an annual five-day event bringing art and industry together in a vibrant hub and attracting more than 28,000 artists, producers, students and animation fans from around the world. This year’s OIAF runs September 20-24, 2017. Visit the OIAF website at: www.animationfestival.ca.   

For more information, interviews, press materials, photos, please contact Sara Grainger, Media & Marketing Coordinator for OIAF by e-mail (media@animationfestival.ca).