Animation Is Film Awards 'Flow' 'Memoir Of A Snail' and More
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Animation Is Film announced the winners for the competition for their seventh festival this week. Flow from Gints Zilbalodis (Away) took home the top honour The Grand Prize. Memoir Of A Snail directed by Adam Elliot (Mary and Max) was awarded the Jury Prize. The Audience Award went jointly to Memoir Of A Snail and The Colours Within. In the shorts section, Wander to Wonder won the Grand Prize and A Crab In The Pool was awarded the Special Jury Prize.
For the 2024 competition, the features included Boys Go To Jupiter, Flow, The Colours Within, Memoir Of A Snail, Sultana's Dream, and Ghost Cat Anzu. The AIF Centrepiece movie The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was not eligible for any jury or audience prizes.
“Without a word of dialogue, Gints Zilbalodis weaves sound, music and immersive animation to show how powerful the medium can be when coupled with the right story. Flow seriously considers how human actions are impacting the environment, and what effect that has on animals, centering their perspective in a way that only animation can,” said the Jury.
Flow is a fantasy adventure, told entirely without dialogue. It follows a cat at the end of the world, trying to survive among various other species. The film was the winner of the Jury Prize at the Annecy International Animation Festival.
Memoir Of A Snail is the second "Clayography" feature from Oscar-winning Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot. The film was the winner of the top prize at Annecy.
“The distinctive personality of Adam Elliot’s stop-motion feat flows directly from its well-crafted screenplay. Wobbly lines and endearingly odd character designs work in concert with the film’s dark (but never despondent) sensibility, which embraces human imperfection and finds beauty in unlikely forms.” the Jury said.
In the shorts category, the Grand Prize went to Wander to Wonder directed by Nina Gantz. The short takes place in the 80s where Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton starred in the television program Wander To Wonder. When the show's creator passes away, they are left alone in the studio.
"Bonkers in the best way possible, Nina Gantz’s profound meditation on grief won this jury over with its unique visual style and sense of hope.” said the Shorts Jury.
In "an incredibly difficult decision", the Juried Prize went to A Crab In The Pool directed by Jean-Sebastien Hamel and Alexandra Myotte, “a poignant short about family and loss.”
"The short follows young adolescent, Zoe, a ball of anger haunted by an intimate terror. Theo, still a child, flees reality into a fantastical world. During a scorching summer day, the two children will have to burst the abscess of their relationship so as not to lose each other. "
Animation Is Film hosted a weekend full of sold-out screenings, special events and Q&A with influential filmmakers including a special preview of Disney's Moana 2, a work-in-progress session of Yoppaman, a Q&A session with The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie director Pete Browngardt, as well as sessions with the filmmakers behind The Wild Robot, Transformers One and Inside Out 2.
“With virtually *every* screening and event sold out, this year’s Animation Is Film Festival eclipsed each previous edition in terms of attendance and energy,” said Matt Kaszanek, Executive Director of AIF. “How enormously gratifying it was to see so many new faces alongside our regulars. Congratulations - and thank you! - to all of the filmmakers for an extraordinary year in animation. Animation is film. Scream it from every rooftop!”
Features Jury:
Shorts Jury:
The seventh annual Animation Is Film Festival took place at the historic TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. The festival featured six feature films in competition, plus filmmakers attending screenings and taking part in Q&As. The festival was presented by GKIDS Films in association with Annecy International. The full festival line-up is available at AnimationIsFilm.com
