Now that the 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival is history, the OIAF media team has released the winners of the various competitions. There was some controversy over the winners (more on that below), but mostly the jury made some decent selections.
Here are the big winners at the 2008 OIAF:
Nelvana Grand Prize For Best Independent Short Animation
- "Chainsaw" (2007), directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia
Grand Prize For Best Animated Feature
- Best Animated Feature Film: Terra, directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas
- Honourable Mention: Best Animated Feature Film: Sita Sings the Blues, directed by Nina Paley
Grand Prize For Best Student Animation
- "I Slept With Cookie Monster" (2008), directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, USA
National Film Board People's Choice Award
- "This Side Up" (2008), directed by Smith & Foulkes, UK
Grand Prize For Best-Commissioned Animation
- Sony Bravia "Play-Doh" (2007), directed by Frank Budgen & Darren Walsh, UK
Canadian Film Institute Award For Best Canadian Animation
- "Drux Flux" (2008), directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada
Animation School Showreel
- Best Animation School Showreel: Rhode Island School of Design (USA)
- Honourable Mention: Best Animation School Showreel: Supinfocom (France)
Independent Short Animation Competition
- Narrative Short Animation under 35 minutes: "Chainsaw" (2007), directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia
- Experimental / Abstract Animation under 35 minutes: "Muto" (2008), directed by Blu, Italy
- Honourable Mention: "Dialogos", directed by Ülo Pikkov,
- Honourable Mention: "Drux Flux" (2008), directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada
Student Animation Competition
- Adobe Prize for Best High School Animation: "The Depose of Bolskivoi Hovhannes," directed by Will Inrig, Canada
- Undergraduate Animation: "I Slept With Cookie Monster" (2008), directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, USA
- Graduation Animation: "Camera Obscura" (2007), directed by Matthieu Buchalski, Jean-Michel Drechsler & Thierry Onillon, France
Commissioned Animation Competition
- Promotional Animation: Sony Bravia "Play-Doh" (2007), directed by Frank Budgen & Darren Walsh, UK
- Music Video: Último "Spong Ice" (2008), directed by Bolos Quentes Design, Duarte Amorim, Albino Tavares, Miguel Marinheiro & Sérgio Couto, Portugal
- Television Animation for Adults: People from The Dark Years 'Bates' (2008), directed by John Halfpenny, Canada
Animation Made For Children
- Best Short Animation: "The Swimming Lesson," (2008) directed by Danny De Vent, Belgium/Netherlands/France
- Honourable Mention: "Leon in Wintertime," (2007) directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon & Pascal le Nôtre, France/Canada
- Television Animation for Children: "The Upstate Four," (2007) directed by Fran Krouse, USA
- Honourable Mention: "The Bunjies" (2008), directed by Andreas Hykade & Ged Haney, Germany
The jury – made up of filmmakers and experts such as Amica Kubo (from Japan), Christopher Mills (Canada) & Heather Harkins (Canada) – made some <ahem> unorthodox choices when selecting their favourite short and feature-length films.
The biggest surprise was the winner of the Feature Film Competition: Terra, directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas. The jury decided that this was their fave, despite the film getting hissed and heckled at its two screenings.
"What the ****?" was the comment most heard from the audience when this film was announced as the winner, with almost no people applauding the jury's choice.
The Honourable Mention prize went to the movie most people had short-listed as their fave: Sita Sings the Blues, directed by Nina Paley.
Among the shorts, Theodore Ushev's "Drux Flux" didn't get a lot of love from audiences, but the jury awarded it multiple prizes, including Best Canadian Animation, and an Honourable Mention in Independent Short Animation.
One of the big audience faves, Kunio Kato's "La Maison en Petits Cubes (The House of Small Cubes)" went nowhere with the jury, despite winning at the Annecy Animation Festival, and getting big applause in Ottawa.
Another big surprise was the music video for Último "Spong Ice" (2008), which was directed by Bolos Quentes Design, Duarte Amorim, Albino Tavares, Miguel Marinheiro & Sérgio Couto. Many experts in the audience questioned how much animation really went into the short, since it was mainly splashes of primary colour surrounding and overlaying a video of the band dancing.
The 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival went from September 17th to 21st. For more information, hit www.animationfestival.ca.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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