The Toronto International Film Festival’s kiddie content fest revealed the winners of its kid, adult and audience-selected awards on Friday. Here are the key animation winners:
Adult Jury Award – Best Animated Short Film
My Mom is an Airplane, dir. Yulia Aronova (Russia/U.S.)
Aranova’s storybook-like film about a young boy whose mother literally soars above the rest impressed the adult jury (New Real FIlms producer Jennifer Jonas, CTV’s The Social co-host Traci Melchor and Aircraft Pictures producer Andrew Rosen) with “its fresh treatment combining unique ideas and exuberant, childlike images, and for being a total pleasure to watch.”
Honorable Mention: The Dam Keeper, dir. Dice Tsutsumi & Robert Kondo (U.S).
Audience Choice Award – Best Short Film
The Numberlys, dir. William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg (U.S.)
Based on the Webby Award-winning app also produced by Joyce and Oldenburg’s Moonbot Studios, The Numberlys is a kid-friendly homage to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis starring friends 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 who live in a world with no alphabet, only numbers. One day they decide they want to shake up their orderly, black-and-white world, leading to the creation of a colorful world of creativity.
Young People’s Jury Award (Ages 9-13) – Best Short Film
The Dam Keeper, dir. Dice Tsutsumi & Robert Kondo (U.S.)
Pixar artists Tsutsumi and Kondo deals with the issues of bullying by centering on a barely-surviving town in a desolate future which is only protected by a windmill dam that keeps out poisonous clouds. The dam operator, Pig, works tirelessly to keep the sails spinning despite the bullying of his classmates and indifference of the public. When a new student, Fox, joins Pig’s class, things begin to change.
Honorable Mention: Rabbit and Deer (Nyuszi és Őz), dir. Péter Vácz (Hungary)
For a complete list of winners and programs, visit tiff.net.
