This year’s Grand Prizes went to Sarina Nihei’s Small People With Hats won Best Independent Short Animation, and Patrick McHale’s Over The Garden Wall took the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
It is the first time a student film has won the top honors in the festival’s history.
Small People With Hats also picked up an award for Best Sound. The Prize for Best Short Film Made For Children was awarded to Frits Standaert for Compte les moutons (Counting Sheep). Dan and Jason won the Prize for Best Animated Series for Children with Bird and Bear.
This year’s Short, Feature and Kids Competition screenings were judged by three official juries. The Competition Short Jury includes Kaspar Jancis (Estonia), Leah Shore (USA) and Yiorgos Tsangaris (Cyprus). The Competition Feature Jury includes Chris Dainty and Maral Mohammadian (Canada) and Saschka Unseld (USA). The Competition Kids Jury is comprised of Ottawa-area children.
The OIAF programming team, led by Chris Robinson, selected 75 short films and 4 feature films for competition from nearly 2,100 entries.
The full list of winners follows:
OAIF AWARDS
Grand Prize for Best Independent Short Animation
Small People With Hats | 2014 | Sarina Nihei | UK | 6:51 | Graduation Animation
Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature
Over The Garden Wall | 2014 | Patrick McHale | USA, South Korea | 110:41 | Animated Feature
* Honorable mention to La Montagne Magique (The Magic Mountain) by Anca Damian.
CATEGORY AWARDS
Cartoon Network Prize for Best Narrative Short Animation
Isand (The Master) | 2015 | Riho Unt | Estonia | 18:00 | Narrative Short Animation
Prize for Best Experimental/Abstract Animation
The Five Minute Museum | 2015 | Paul Bush | Switzerland, UK | 6:20 | Experimental/Abstract
Prize for Best Undergraduate Animation
Violet | 2015 | Ryan Ines | USA | 5:56 | Undergraduate Animation
Walt Disney Animation Prize for Best Graduation Animation
Loop Ring Chop Drink | 2014 | Nicolas Ménard | UK | 9:45 | Graduation Animation
Prize for Best Commissioned Animation
Jazz Orgie | 2015 | Irina Rubina | Germany | 0:53 | Commissioned Animation
Prize for Best Short Film Made For Children
Compte les moutons (Counting Sheep) | 2015 | Frits Standaert | France, Belgium | 7:00
Prize for Best Animated Series Made for Children
Bird and Bear | 2014 | Dan and Jason | USA | 4:31
CRAFT AWARDS
Award for Best Script
World of Tomorrow | 2015 | Don Hertzfeldt | USA | 16:30 | Narrative Short Animation
Award for Best Design
Loop Ring Chop Drink | 2014 | Nicolas Ménard | UK | 9:45 | Graduation Animation
Award for Best Animation Technique
Alateadvuse maja (House of Unconsciousness) | 2015 | Priit Tender | Estonia | 10:41 | Narrative Short Animation
Award for Best Sound
Small People With Hats | 2014 | Sarina Nihei | UK | 6:51 | Graduation Animation
OTHER AWARDS
DHX Public Prize
World of Tomorrow | 2015 | Don Hertzfeldt | USA | 16:30 | Narrative Short Animation
Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation
Mynarski chute mortelle (Mynarski Death Plummet) | 2014 | Matthew Rankin | Canada | 7:46 | Narrative Short Animation
* Honorable mention to Sonámbulo by Theodore Ushev and Focus by Alex Boya.
VIA Rail Prize for Best Canadian Student Animation
Fears | 2015 | Nata Metlukh | Vancouver Film School | 2:08
* Honorable mention to Religatio by Jaime Giraldo, Vancouver Film School.
