Toronto Animation Arts Festival International’s 2014 short film award winners selected by the 2014 award jury:
- Lolo Desrosiers-Guité
- Chris Landreth
- Keltie Duncan
- Tom Knott
Best Student Short
Blackout – dir. Sharron Mirsky, Canada (2013)
(Chosen by Education Specialist, National Film Board of Canada, Laurence Desrosiers-Guité)
Blackout is a short, animated documentary film in which several storytellers share their experience of the 2003 NorthEast Blackout which affected much of Ontario, and 7 U.S states. The unexpected effects on the community highlight the best of humanity under adverse conditions. A variety of direct-animation techniques will be used to capture the warmth and spontaneity of the events described.
Best Canadian Short
Bless You – dir. David Barlow-Krelina, Canada (2013)
(Chosen by Programming and Technical Coordinator – Ottawa International Animation Festival, Keltie Duncan)
A man takes the subway. Inside his brain, a countdown clock hits zero and a little person prepares for lift-off. The man sneezes.
Bless You from DavidBK on Vimeo.
Best International Short
Rabbit and Deer – dir. Péter Vácz, Hungary (2013)
(Chosen by Producer, Tom Knott)
Rabbit and Deer are living happily and careless until their friendship is put to the test by Deer’s new obsession to find the formula for the 3rd dimension. After an unexpected accident Deer finds himself in a new world, unknown to him. Separated by dimensions the two characters have to find the way back to each other.
Special Mentions:
The Dam Keeper – dir. Daisuke Tsutsumi, Robert Kondo, USA (2013)
The Dam Keeper, a short film by feature-animation artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi tells the tale of a young pig with an important job, and a new classmate who changes everything. The short film blends traditional hand-drawn animation with digital painting techniques to bring Kondo and Tsutsumi’s celebrated painting style to life. In a desolate future, one small town has survived because of a large windmill dam that acts as a fan to keep out poisonous clouds. The dam’s operator, Pig, works tirelessly to keep the sails spinning and protect the town, despite bullying from classmates and an indifferent public. When a new student, Fox, joins Pig’s class, everything begins to change. Produced by Megan Bartel, Duncan Ramsay, The Dam Keeper will premiere in 2014.
Passer, Passer – dir. Louis Morton, USA (2013)
An city symphony celebrates the hidden world of background noise. Field recordings from the streets of Los Angeles create a living rhythmic creature.
Grand Prix
The Missing Scarf – dir. Eoin Duffy, Ireland (2013)
(chosen by Filmmaker – National Film Board of Canada, Chris Landreth)
The Missing Scarf – Teaser from Eoin Duffy on Vimeo.
Albert the Squirrel makes a startling discovery … an empty space where once his favourite scarf lay. He heads off into the forest only to find everyone else is preoccupied with worries of their own. He helps who he can before moving on but never seems to get any closer to his goal. Ultimately, Albert’s problem is put in perspective by the friends he helped and the problems they faced and overcame together.
Special Mentions:
Junkyard – dir. Hisko Hulsing, Belgium, Netherlands (2012)
A man is being robbed and stabbed by a junkie. In that last second before he dies, a youth friendship flashes before his eyes. He and and his bosom-friend grew apart, when the latter was being drawn more and more into a misty world of drugs and criminality under influence of a lowlife dealer who lives with his father on the junkyard in their neighbourhood.
Recipe for Gruel – dir. Miss HatHorn aka Sharon Smith, UK (2013)
Life, one meal at a time.
Padre – dir. Santiago ‘Bou’ Grasso, Argentina, France (2013)
During the end of the dictatorship in Argentina, a military’ s daughter passes her days serving her sick father, completely absent from the outside world.
Audience Choice
Yet again… The Missing Scarf – dir. Eoin Duffy
This is the 2nd Taffy for Eoin Duffy at this year’s Fest!