Italy-based animation & VFX confab VIEW has announced the short animated film award winners of its virtual 2020 festival. Jury President and VIEW Conference Director Maria Elena Gutierrez noted the exceptionally high overall quality of entries in the 2020 competition.
“The jurors were impressed with the variety of the types of animation and stories,” Gutierrez said. “And, they said the production level the entrants have gotten to is insane.”
And the winners are…
Award for Best Short Film: Migrants
An 8’17” film by fifth-year students Zoé Devise, Lucas Lermytte, Hugo Caby, Aubin Kubiak and Antoine Dupriez of POLE 3D in Roubaix, France sends two polar bears driven into exile due to global warming on a quest for a new home. Unfortunately, the immigrants’ ice floe docks at a territory ruled by proprietary brown bears. The Jurors noted the relevance of the strong, story-driven film’s metaphors of climate change and immigration treated in an emotional, deep, and unique way. The crafty textures of the knitted polar bears and fuzzy brown bears contributed to a beautiful overall look. The nine-member international jury unanimously gave this unique, gorgeous film the top prize of 2,000 euros.
Jury Award: Latitude du Printemps
A 7’34” film by Sylvain Cuvillier, Chloé Bourdic, Théophile Coursimault, Noémie Halberstam, Maŷlis Mosny and Zijing Ye, recent recipients of Masters degrees from the Rubika School in Valenciennes, France. In this unpredictable film, a dog, abandoned at the side of the road and attached to a streetlight, meets a young astronaut wannabe and a professional cyclist trying to beat her highest score. The jury loved the innovative storytelling, refreshing animation and especially that it was so much fun to watch, and gave this film the 500 euro VIEW 2020 Jury Award.
Honorable Mention: Trésor
In this seven minute film directed by Alexandre Manzanares, two sea-going, treasure-hunting explorers disturb a romance between an octopus and his beloved. The jury praised the clever animation in the parallel storylines, and gave this film a 200 euro VIEW 2020 Honorable Mention.
Honorable Mention: The Dead Hands of Dublin
Directed by Leo Crowley. A pair of enchanted gloves transform a failed pianist into a maestro. But, fate deals the pianist a cruel hand. The jury loved the fantastic writing, courageous use of a limerick, the rhythm, and the unpretentiousness, and awarded this film the second 200 euro VIEW 2020 Honorable Mention.
ItalianMix 2020 Award: For Teddy
In this three-minute film directed by Marco Giglio from the Big Rock School of animation and visual effects, a lifeless teddy bear receives a rousing farewell from its Space Marine pals. Director Giglio receives a Wacom Tablet Intuos Pro.
The nine-member International jury met virtually this year. Jurors included: Journalist Barbara Robertson, Jury Chair; VIEW Conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez, Jury President; Terry Flores, Senior Editor at Variety; Celine Desrumaux, award-winning production designer; Steve Meunch, animated film investor and fan; Kristina Morss, video editor, sound designer and The Closing Credits podcast host; Theodore Ty, global head of character animation at DNEG; Dylan Sisson, digital artist and Pixar RenderMan evangelist; and Francesco Narciso, graduate in design and visual communication at Polytechnic of Turin.
Learn more about the winning films at viewconference.it.
