During a ceremony hosted by Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning comedian and writer Amy Gledhill, Manchester Animation Festival (MAF) unveiled the winners of the 2023 Industry Excellence Awards and Film Awards. The awards ceremony was held on the November 16.
For the first time, this year recipients of the film festival’s Short Film Award will be eligible for consideration in the Short Films competition of the Academy Awards, without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules. The inaugural winner of this honor is Nienke Deutz for her film The Miracle. “Thank you so much. It’s a film that’s really close to my heart, so this is great,” the director said on receiving the award. “Me and the team are really happy.”
This years’ Manchester Animation Festival featured screenings and panels from leading companies such as Netflix, Aardman and Disney. The festival saw an audience increase of 22%, and, for its industry-focused day the Animation Nation Forum, over 72%.
The festival is running online until the November 30. The next in person MAF Presents event will be a 20th anniversary screening of Satoshi Kon’s ‘okyo Godfathers at HOME Manchester on December 5.
Manchester Animation Festival will return November 10-15, 2024. Learn more at manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk.
Industry Excellence Awards
Script Writing — Frank Cottrell-Boyce for Kensuke’s Kingdom (Lupus Films)
Storyboarding — Kayvon Darabi-Fard for My Father’s Dragon (Netflix)
Character Design — Tom Angell for The Sound Collector (ITV)
Character Animation — Freddie Elsom for The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe (Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe)
MAF Film Awards
Short Film — The Miracle by Nienke Deutz
Special Mention — Whatever Moves Is Alive by Noémie Marsily
Feature Film — Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
British Animated Short Film — All Gucci My Broski by Harry Plowden
Audience Award — King Sausage by Mascha Halberstad
Student Film — Rising Above by Natálie Durchánková
Short Film for Children — Dewmini by Siqi Song
Commissioned Film — Ashnikko “Worms” by Raman Djafari
Special Mention — The Lords of Water Launch Film by Golden Wolf
Immersive Award — From the Main Square by Pedro Harres
The Jury for the Industry Excellence Awards comprised Will Becher (Aardman Animations), JP Vine (director, Ron’s Gone Wrong), Glen Southern (VFX artist and digital sculptor) and Andrew Burrell (writer, Disenchantment, Danger Mouse).
The Short Film Category Jury was Aneta Ozorek (Artistic Director of Kaboom Animation Festival), Mohamed Ghazala (Vice President of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA) and Ornela Čop (Festival Coordinator at Animafest Zagreb).
The Feature Film Jury was made up of Claire Jennings (animation producer, Coraline, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), Kambole Campbell (freelance critic) and Kata Gugić (President of ASIFA Croatia).
The Children’s Film Award was judged by a specially formed panel of nine- to 14-year olds from Into Film’s Youth Advisory Group.
