OIAF Awards Masaaki Yuasa's 'Night Is Short, Walk On Girl' and More

Last week the prestigious Ottawa International Animation Festival's 41st edition took place. As the festival came to a close, it was time for the traditional awards to be handed out. The festival received a total of 1992 entries and selected 5 features and 105 shorts from 85 different countries.

This year's feature line-up was remarkable in that one film-maker had two films in competition. Of the five animated features competing, two were directed by Masaaki Yuasa. Would that make him likely to win, or split the vote? In the end, the Jury selected Yuasa's Night Is Short, Walk On Girl as the grand prize winner, beating out his own Lu Over The Wall and three others. The Jury described the film as "a manic masterpiece" which is " unexpected and delightful from beginning to end", and said that it "takes animation storytelling to another level".

Honourable mention in the category went to Torrey Pines, a dialogue-free paper-cutout animation from US animator Clyde Peterson.

The Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Animated Short went to Ugly  "An apocalyptic and heartwarming vision of deconstructive reality" from Germany's Nikita Diakur.

The full list of winners, follows.

CATEGORY AWARDS

Cartoon Network Award for Best Narrative Short Animation

KÖTÜ KIZ (WICKED GIRL) 

Ayce Kartal
Turkey
2016

Award for Best Non-Narrative Animation
Any Road
Boris Labbe
France
2016

Award for Best Student Animation

END OF RECORDING
Lukas Conway, Stefan Jaroszonek & Olivier Sommelet 2016


Award for Best Commissioned Animation

MARK LOTTERMAN ‘HAPPY’
Alice Saey Netherlands, France
2017


Award for Best Animated Film or Series for Young Audiences – Preschool

DER KLEINE VOGEL UND DIE RAUPE
(THE LITTLE BIRD AND THE CATERPILLAR)
Lena von Döhren
Switzerland
2017

Honourable Mentions

KONIGIRI-KUN UNDOKAI (KONIGIRI-KUN KITCHEN SPORTS DAY), Mari Miyazawa (Japan)

ISLAND, Max Mörtl & Robert Löbel (Germany)

THE CLOUD AND THE WHALE, Alyona Tomilova (Russia)

GEORGE & PAUL ‘AFL EVERING: SLAAPWANDELEN’ (GEORGE & PAUL ‘EPISODE: SLEEPWALKING’),Erik Verkerk & Joost van den Bosch

Award for Best Animated Film or Series for Young Audiences – Ages 6-12

MOUNTAIN OF SGAANA
Christopher Auchter
Canada
2017

Honourable Mentions
LA LICORNE (THE UNICORN), Rémi Durin (France, Belgium)

REGULAR SHOW “MEET THE SEER” JG Quintel (USA)

CRAFT AWARDS

Award for Best Script
MANIVALD
Chintis Lundgren
Canada, Croatia, Estonia
Narrative Short
2017


Award for Best Design

SPECTACLE OF THE REAL
Buck Design, Orion Tait,
Thomas Schmid & Daniel Oeffinger
USA
Commissioned Animation
2016

Award for Best Animation Technique

TESLA ‘LUMIÉRE MONDIALE’
(THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT)
Matthew Rankin
Canada
Narrative Short Animation
2017

Award for Best Sound

AIRPORT
Michaela Müller
Switzerland, Croatia
Non-narrative Short
2017

OTHER AWARDS

Public Prize
DECORADO
Alberto Vazquez Spain, France
Narrative Short
2017

Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation

FOUR FACES OF THE MOON
Amanda Strong
Canada
Narrative short
2017

Honourable Mentions

INSECT EXPRESS, Emily Pelstring

HEDGEHOG’S HOME, Eva Cvijanovic 

Award for Canadian Student Animation Film
END OF RECORDING
Lukas Conway, Stefan Jaroszonek & Olivier Sommelet
Concordia
2017

Honourable Mentions
THE LOST SOUL, Marie-Josée Doutre (Concordia)

QUARTERS, Airin Budiman (Sheridan)

Media Prize

TESLA ‘LUMIÉRE MONDIALE’
(THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT)
Matthew Rankin Canada
2017
Narrative Short Animation