The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) announces the animated shorts included in its Official Selections for the Commissioned, Narrative, Non-Narrative, and Student categories.
The OIAF received a total of 2165 entries for this year’s edition, representing 85 countries; 40 of those submissions were selected for this year’s Shorts competition. The selected animated works will be judged and awarded by a jury formed by the expertise of Alla Gadassik (Canada), Parissa Mohit (Canada) and Xi Chen (China).
“This year’s competition will take you through a roller coaster of emotions,” says OIAF Artistic Director Chris Robinson. “We’re exploring all sorts of fun topics: sexuality and identity (27, Electra), grief (Eeva, A Crab in the Pool), parenting (World to Roam), fractured families (Return to Hairy Hill), colonization (Bear Named Jesus) and mortality (Her Dress for the Final).
“But it’s not all so dark: We also have The Beatles, Werner Herzog musing about chickens, an inside look at the sex lives of furries, some baby superheroes (Baby Force) a silly song about the Montréal metro system (Girl with the Red Beret), and another one about how grand life is (Living the Dream).”
New to the OIAF awards lineup this year is the Hélène Tanguay Award for Humor, which celebrates the late National Film Board employee whose sense of humor had a lasting impact on the animation community. Animation studio Bento Box returns to present the Bento Box Award for Best Student Animation, including a new cash prize of $1,000 CAD for the winner. XPPen will be providing a product prize to the winner of the XPPen Craft Award Prize for Best Animation Technique.
All winners will receive an award statue designed by Ottawa-based scrap metal artist Tick Tock Tom. The statues are working phénakisticopes featuring an animation by New York artist George Griffin.
OIAF 2023 Short Film Competitions
Commissioned
- 14th Anibar Animation Festival Trailer ‘Love’ (dir. Sander Joon; Estonia, Kosovo)
- Ride on Joyfulness ‘The Afternoon Tea’ (dir. Lei Lei, China)
- Silent Labs Launch (dirs. Winston Hacking, Michael Enzbrunner; Canada, United States)
- Starlight Nightcrash (dir. Patrick Buhr, Germany)
- The Beatles ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ (dir. Em Cooper, United Kingdom)
Narrative
- 27 (dir. Flóra Anna Buda; France, Hungary)
- A Bear Named Jesus (dir. Terril Calder, Canada)
- Antipolis (dir. Kaspar Jancis, Estonia)
- Box Cutters (dir. Naomi van Niekerk; France, Netherlands, South Africa)
- Un trou dans la poitrine (A Crab in the Pool) (dirs. Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel; Canada)
- Eeva (dirs. Morten Tšinakov, Lucija Mrzljak; Estonia, Croatia)
- La fille au béret rouge (The Girl with the Red Beret) (dir. Janet Perlman, Canada)
- Haljina za finale (Her Dress for the Final) (dir. Martina Mestrovic, Croatia)
- Herzog’s Chicken (dir. Lukas Conway, Canada)
- Ikimono-san: Turtle (dir. Atsushi Wada, Japan)
- Living The Dream (dir. Ben Meinhardt, Canada)
- The Miracle (dir. Nienke Deutz; Belgium, Netherlands, France)
- Misérable Miracle (dir. Ryo Orikasa, Canada)
- Vanlav (Oneluv) (dir. Varya Yakovleva, Russia)
- Obok (Outside) (dir. Izabela Plucinska; Poland, Germany)
- Etoimoi (Ready) (dir. Eirini Vianelli; Greece, Belgium)
- Retour à Hairy Hill (Return to Hairy Hill) (dir. Daniel Gies, Canada)
- Via Dolorosa (dir. Rachel Gutgarts, France)
- World to Roam (dir. Stephen Irwin, United Kingdom)
- Zima (dirs. Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki; Poland)
Non-Narrative
- Albums de famille (Family Albums) (dir. Moïa Jobin-Paré, Canada)
- Aleph (dir. Slobodan Tomić, Croatia)
- BABY FORCE (dir. Yuki Kubo, Japan)
- Foot Print Shop (dir. Gina Kamentsky, United States)
- Forår (Spring) (dir. Pernille Kjaer, Denmark)
- Our Pain (dir. Shunsaku Hayashi, Japan)
- Vitanuova (dir. Niles Atallah; Chile, Mexico, Spain)
- 나는 말이다 (I Am a Horse) (dir. Chaerin Im; South Korea, Denmark)
Student
- Cyclepaths (dir. Anton Cla, Belgium)
- Electra (dir. Daria Kashcheeva, Czech Republic)
- Fur (dir. Zhen Li, United States)
- Furrie (dir. Lucie Grannec, France)
- Pipes (dirs. Kilian Feusi, Jessica Meier, Sujanth Ravichandran; Switzerland)
- Sewing Love (dir. Yuan Xu, Japan)
- The Eastern Rain (dir. Milly Yencken, Estonia)
Canadian Student
- …To The Sea (dir. Ishaan Thompson, Sheridan College)
- A Body Transgressive (dir. Charlie Galea McClure, Concordia University)
- Abby (dir. Fanny Lord-Bourcier, Concordia University)
- Alongside (dir. River Park, Sheridan College)
- An Ego and I (dir. Jesu Medina, Concordia University)
- Between You and Me (dir. Cameron Kletke, Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
- Bliss (dir. Nadya Aubrey, Université du Québec à Montréal)
- Clean (dir. Nicholas Vassos, Queen’s University)
- The Clock Is Ticking (dir. Thibault Picquoin, Concordia University)
- Corvette (dir. Émile Désilets, Université du Québec à Montréal)
- 聽ㄊ丨ㄥ嘸ㄇˊ ㄡ (Don’t Understand) (dir. Weiwei Wu, Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
- Egg Film (dir. Jacob Tobin, Sheridan College)
- The Fool (dir. Noémi Baron, Université du Québec à Montréal)
- Fruiting Bodies (dir. Mia Milardo, Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
- Jitters (dir. Melanie Tikhonova, Sheridan College)
- رثاء الأندلس (Lament of Andalusia) (dir. Anas M’birkou, Concordia University)
- Look (dir. Constant Yen, Seneca College)
- Mission Popo (dir. Jennifer Wu, Sheridan College)
- Mr. Vaxt’s Venture (dir. Nina Berionni, Pivaut Montréal)
- The Pest (dir. Jungwoo Choi, Sheridan College)
- Prion (dir. Maya Patrich, Emily Carr University of Art + Design)
- Rain (dir. Craig Renaud, Sheridan College)
- Ruins of Equinox (dir. Philippe Shewchenko, Concordia University)
- Synodic (dir. Rebecca Devitt, Concordia University)
- Жвачка (Zhivachka) (dir. Liz Adler, OCAD University)
See all the announced official selections for OIAF 2023 and more information at animationfestival.ca.
