The second awards announcement covering the jury prizes were announced this weekend at the close of the 47th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (clermont-filmfest.org). The festival’s Partner Prizes were announced last week.
Organizers note that the 2025 edition, which presented a special focus on Lebanese cinema and highlighted the importance of sound in films, broke a record with nearly 173 000 admissions and more than 4,100 professionals accredited for the Short Film Market.
While the Oscar-qualifying competitions went to live-action films, animated shorts still made a strong showing in the awards and special mentions. The International Grand Prix was awarded to Australian short Unspoken by Damian Walsh-Howling, while the national Grand Prix was given to Genealogy of Violence by Mohamed Bourouissa.
The Award for Best Animation, presented by DOTimages, was bestowed on Anastasiia Falileieva’s I Died in Irpin (Czechia / Slovakia / Ukraine). Previously awarded at Ottawa International Animation Festival, London International Animation Festival, Kyiv International Short Film Festival and others, the autobiographical animated documentary is based on the director’s experience of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On February 24th in the morning my boyfriend and I decided to go from Kyiv to Irpin to see his parents. It is hard for me to recall the chronology of those days, my mind blocks and minimizes all the memories, erases them, but the only thing I know for sure is that every day everything rapidly became worse.
Another animated documentary, Ship of Fools by Alia Haju (Germany/Lebanon), won the Lab Special Jury Prize, presented by CNC. The colorful film stitches together the director’s lived experiences as a Lebanese woman with a fantastical twist.
Growing up facing war and displacement, searching and not finding freedom, Alia forms a friendship with a would-be superhero on the shore of Beirut called Abu Samra. She trains with him, and their monsters meet. Together, Alia and Abu Samra survive by finding comfort in the insanity that the city has sown in them. When the Lebanese revolution starts on October 17, 2019, they realize they are not alone.
Composer Fredrika Stahl received the Award for Best Original Score for the animated short Ashen Sun (Soleil Gris | France / Belgium), directed by Camille Monnier. The watercolor 2D short is produced by Novanima and Animal Tank.
Under a scorching sun, Charlie is bored stiff and dreams of going to the seaside. But she’s forced to stay in a dingy motel with her cousin Jess, who slouches in her deckchair. The two teenagers don’t get along and bicker at every opportunity. On the radio, the monotone voice of an eminent researcher in collapsology predicts the imminent end of the world. The pool is empty, the sun is beating down and the tension is mounting: the ecological apocalypse announced on the airwaves suddenly becomes real.
In addition to the main awards, the Clermont-Ferrand juries also bestowed Special Mentions on several deserving films. The Student Jury awarded one to Lab winner Ship of Fools. In addition, the International Jury included the hybrid short My Brother, My Brother (Egypt) by twin brothers Saad and Abdelrahman Dnewar in its four special mentions.
Combining 2D animation and live-action footage, the 15-minute sort chronicles the deep, affectionate lifelong relationship between twins Omar and Wesam, told through a split narrative offering dual accounts of their memories.
Twin brothers trace their bond from their mother’s womb to the moment they’re heartbreakingly separated.
