OIAF Artistic Director Chris Robinson Shares the Animated Highlights of This Year’s Festival

This article was written for the September/October '24 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 343).

Now in its 48th year, the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) returns September 25-29. Who better to guide you through this year’s highlights than someone who has been there for 33 of them?

For those who haven’t attended before, the OIAF is North America’s largest and oldest animation event. It features competition screenings, historical programs, industry panels and talks, exhibitions and a host of parties. Whether you’re a student, teacher, producer, filmmaker, art fan, content creator or just a passerby, there’s always a little something for everyone’s tastes.

OIAF24 brings its usual electric weirdness, fusing oddball independent animation with plenty of industry events.

Before diving into the competition highlights, let’s take a gander at this year’s Special Screenings and Retrospectives. At the core of these screenings is an informal spotlight on stop-motion animation. But you won’t find the usual, well-known works. Instead, there’s an emphasis on lesser-known yet equally brilliant talents.

A key part of this multipart tribute is a focus on the sublime work of the Croatian duo, Thomas and Ivana Volda. Their stop-motion talents shine in their own films (Imbued Life, Remember How I Used to Ride a White Horse) as well as in other such projects as the beloved Hedgehog’s Home (Eva Cvijanović). Media scholar and animation curator Alla Gadassik returns to present Threads and Fibres: Animated Textiles, a carefully curated screening and discussion of stop-motion films, including classics by Len Lye, Kihachirō Kawamoto and others. There’s also a screening of Ukrainian stop-motion classics, curated by the state film archive, Dovzhenko National Centre.

Other highlights include the looping retrospective of the smooth sci-fi-influenced minimalist work of Jonathan Djob Nkondo (Scavengers Reign). There are also spotlights on contemporary Korean and Spanish animation (yes, there’s some stop motion in there, too). With current events in mind, there will be a special two-part screening examining war through the lens of animation called What Is it Good For? Plus, there’s a brand-new documentary about the beloved Canadian animation master, Pierre Hébert.

Oh, did I mention there’s also a special sneak peek of DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot just days before its official release? I didn’t mention that? Well, I have now!

On the Competition side, seven diverse features are screening, ranging from award winners such as Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot), Sultana’s Dream (Isabel Herguera) and Flow (Gints Zilbalodis) to surprising and bold new voices: Olivia & the Clouds (Tomás Pichardo Espaillat), Journey of Shadows (Yves Netzhammer), Sunburnt Unicorn (Nick Johnson) and Boys Go to Jupiter (Julian Glander). This year’s feature jury consists of Neil Hunter, Thomas Volda and Dahee Jeong.

The Short Competition features five screenings, showcasing Narrative, Non-Narrative, Commissioned and Student categories all in the same screenings. This unique format offers a kaleidoscope of emotions, from laughter to tears to screams and head-scratching moments. I’d mention a few personal highlights, but that wouldn’t be fair, and the Short Competition jury (Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Ivana Volda, Anastasiya Verlinska) might be reading this and start getting ideas. Suffice to say, each screening will take you on an emotional journey.

“The Short Competition features five screenings, showcasing Narrative, Non-Narrative, Commissioned and Student categories all in the same screenings. This unique format offers a kaleidoscope of emotions, from laughter to tears to screams and head-scratching moments!”

But wait, there’s more. There’s also competitions for Animated Series, Films for Kids and another for Teens.

As always, attendees get a chance to meet competition filmmakers (and there’s a lot of them attending this year!) during the Meet the Filmmaker sessions. These sessions tend to be silly and profound and never dull (one year someone came dressed as an astronaut).

Keep an eye out for the Panorama screenings, which feature the best films that didn’t quite make it to competition. This year’s World Panorama includes outstanding films that have played in Annecy and Zagreb, among others. Alongside the Canadian Panorama, there is an OIAF first: a Canadian Feature Panorama featuring the independent film, The World’s Divide (Denver Jackson)

Over on the industry side, this year marks the 20th edition of The Animation Conference (TAC), the three-day industry event for production executives, creators, broadcasters, streamers and all sorts of folks from Canada and beyond. Moving to a new home at the National Arts Center, TAC features many talks and panels, including this year’s spotlight on the Spanish and Irish animation industries, and Art + Biz Day presented with the BRIC Foundation presenting career advice aimed at helping to break and reinvent the animation industry. Always an audience favorite, Pitch THIS!, presented in partnership with Mercury Filmworks is an epic battle for the best new series concept.

“Phew…you say, that’s a lot of stuff. Isn’t there any time to relax?”

”Come on, it’s Ottawa, you know there will be parties … and more parties and even a picnic.”

The Ottawa International Animation Festival takes place September 25-29. All the details are at animationfestival.ca.

 

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