The 6th edition of Animation is Film announced winners for its 5-day festival that kicked off with Studio Ghibli’s just-released 'The Boy and The Heron,' directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and wrapped with director Sam Fell and Peter Lord presenting Aardman's upcoming film, ‘Chicken Run: Dawn of The Nugget.’
The 6th edition of Animation is Film (AiF) revealed the winners today for its 5-day festival that ran October 18-22 in Hollywood. The program kicked off last week with a presentation of Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and The Heron, the latest film from legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, wrapping up with the Los Angeles premiere of Aardman’s Chicken Run: Dawn of The Nugget. The film’s director, Sam Fell, executive producer, and Oscar-nominated director Peter Lord were on hand for a Q&A.
The AiF opening night and closing night films were not eligible for jury or audience prizes.
Animation is Film 2023 Winners:
Grand Prize and Audience Award - Features:
Chicken For Linda! directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach.
- Paulette feels guilty after unjustly punishing her daughter Linda and would do anything to make it up to her. Linda immediately asks for a meal of chicken with peppers, which reminds her of the dish her father used to make. But with a general strike closing stores all across town and pushing people into the streets, this innocent request quickly leads to an outrageous series of events that spirals out of control, as Paulette does everything she can to keep her promise and find a chicken for Linda.
The Special Jury Prize:
Robot Dreams, directed by Pablo Berger.
- Based on the popular graphic novel by the North American writer Sara Varon, the film tells the adventures and misfortunes of Dog and Robot in NYC during the '80s
Grand Prize - Shorts:
Letter To a Pig, directed by Tal Kantor.
- A Holocaust survivor writes, after the war, a thank-you letter to a pig that saved his life. After his testimony in a classroom, a young student dreams a tragic version of his story.
Special Jury Prize - Shorts:
Wild Summon, directed by Karni Arieli & Saul Freed
- A natural history fantasy film, following the dramatic life cycle of the wild salmon in human form.
Throughout the weekend, AIF hosted several sold-out special events and Q&As with influential filmmakers. Attendees got treated to a sneak peek “Work-In-Progress” of Walt Disney Animation’s upcoming animated feature, Wish, and its newest animated short film, Once Upon a Studio, a celebration of Disney’s 100 years.
“The only metrics we can rely on for determining 'success' are audience size and growth, and by both of those standards, the sixth Animation Is Film was a triumph,” said AiF director Matt Kaszanek. “We are so humbled and gratified at how AiF has been embraced by LA's community of cinephiles. Thank you to our sponsors, our filmmakers, and our audience. We truly could not do this without you.”
The 2023 Features Jury included:
- Peter Debruge (Chief Film Critic, Variety / Jury Chair)
- Andrew Ruhemann (Oscar-winning Director of THE LOST THING)
- Bill Desowitz (Awards Editor, Craft & Animation at Indiewire)
- Charles Solomon (Critic and Historian)
- Marge Dean (Emmy-winning producer and Head of Animation Studio at Skybound Entertainment, President of Women in Animation)
- Nora Twomey (Oscar-nominated director of The Breadwinner and My Father’s Dragon)
- Ramin Zahed (Editor-in-Chief for Animation Magazine)
The 2023 Shorts Jurors included:
- Monica Lago-Kaytis (producer of Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, co-founder, Rise Up Animation)
- Aubry Mintz (Director at the School of Art at CSULB and VP ASIFA-Hollywood)
- Pamela Ribon (Oscar-nominated writer of My Year of Dicks and Moana)
Source: AiF
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
