9/25/2016

Ottawa International Animation Festival Announces Award Winners

I Like Girls. Courtesy of the NFB
The Ottawa International Animation Festival has announced its winners for 2016. On the 40th birthday of Ottawa’s top festival and the largest animation showcase in North America, OIAF fêted a nice contingent of Canadian films with Canuck flicks earning both top jury prizes. (I had planned to attend this year, but wasn’t able to make it, unfortunately, due to various commitments/unexpected hitches.)

Diane Obomsawin’s queer comedy I Like Girls won the festival’s highest honour, the Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short Animation. The jury, which consisted of Window Horses director Ann Marie Fleming, Brooke Keesling (Director of Animation Talent Development at Disney Television Animation), and Sarina Nihei (animator and winner of the OIAF 2015 Grand Prize for Short Animation), remarked, “Fresh, funny, sweet. We were delighted by the charming coming of age tales, told from different perspectives. The vignettes were strong. The design and colours were excellent. Simple, lovely animation.” I Like Girls is now eligible for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film as a result. Other big OIAF winners included the Canada/France co-production Louise en hiver in the feature animation category and OIAF favourite Theodore Ushev did double duty winning the CFI Award for Best Canadian Animation and the prize for Best Narrative Short Animation for his spectacular Blind Vaysha.


The full list of winners is as follows:

Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short Animation
J’aime les filles (I Like Girls)
Diane Obomsawin, Canada

Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature
Louise en hiver
Jean-François Laguionie, France & Canada

Honourable mention
Cafard, Jan Bultheel (Belgium/France/The Netherlands)

Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation
Blind Vaysha
Theodore Ushev, Canada

Honourable mentions
4min15 sec au revelateur, Moia Jobin-Paré
Begone Dull Care, Paul Johnson

VIA Rail Award for Best Canadian Student Animation
Nihil
Khoebe Magsaysay, Sheridan College

Cartoon Network Award for Best Narrative Short Animation
Blind Vaysha
Theodore Ushev, Canada

Award for Best Experimental or Abstract Animation
Suijun-Genten (Datum Point)  
Ryo Orikasa, Japan  
FROM THE JURY

Award for Best Undergraduate Animation
Cialo Obce (Foreign Body)
Marta Magnuska, Poland

Walt Disney Animation Award for Best Graduation Animation
Frankurter Str. 99
Evgenia Gostrer, Germany

Award for Best Commissioned Animation
Honda – ‘Paper’
PES, USA

Award for Best Short Film Made for Young Audiences
Three Little Ninjas Delivery Service
Karim Rhellam & Kim Claeys, Belgium

Honourable Mentions
Accidents, Blunders, Calamities, James Cunningham (New Zealand)
Novembre,  Marjolaine Perreten (France)

Award for Best Animated Series Made for Young Audiences
Shaun the Sheep – ‘The Farmer’s Llamas’
Jay Grace, UK

DHX Public Prize
Fired on Mars
Nick Vokey and Nate Sherman, USA 
  
Award for Best Script
Fired on Mars
Nick Vokey and Nate Sherman, USA

Award for Best Design
The Absence of Eddy Table
Rune Spaans, Norway

Award for Best Animation Technique
Velodrool
Sander Joon, Estonia

Award for Best Sound
Squame
Nicolas Brault, Canada