France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (clermont-filmfest.org) announced the winners of its second edition of partner prizes on Thursday. The awardees include two animated shorts and an immersive VR experience.
The winners of the official juried competitions and audience prizes will be announced at the festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday, February 8. The Grand Prix films from the international and national competitions qualify for Academy Awards consideration in the Live-Action and Animated Short Film categories.
Roberto Catani’s Pinocchio-inspired short Il Burattino e la Balena (The Puppet and the Whale) out of France won the SACD Award for Best French-Speaking Animation. Hand-drawn on paper, the dialog-free film is produced by Withstand (Davide Ferazza and Alessandro Giorgio) and Miyu Productions (Emmanuel-Alain Raynal and Pierre Baussaron) and tells “the story of a puppet that does not become a child.” The short screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival last September.
Another animated short came out a Partner Prize winner, with Kris Borghs’ Eureka! (Belgium) winning the Canal+ Kids Award.
Produced by Tom Van Gestel at Fabrique Fantastique, the non-dialog CG comedy follows an extraterrestrial duo crossing the universe to share technological insights with less brilliant minds. On one peculiar planet, things don’t quite go as planned…
Also worth mentioning is the VR experience In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats (U.K.), created by Darren Emerson, which won the Best XR Film Award by Evaveo. The project previously won Location-Based Experience of the Year at the 2023 VR Awards.
Produced by East City Films, the interactive adventure takes audiences into a multi-sensory journey back to 1989, immersing them in the euphoric and revolutionary rave scene at the heart of the Acid House Movement.
