OIAF Announces 2016 Prize Winners

This year's Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) was a particularly significant one. 2016 marked the 40th iteration of the festival, so this year's event featured a celebration of the past. As usual, though it also celebrated animation's present (and future) and screened work from some of the world's most foremost animated talents, both established and up-and-coming. The festival received a total of 2311 entries from 86 countries this year, of which just 7 features and 80 shorts were selected to compete for the top prizes. On September 24th, the OIAF announced this year's prize winners.


The Grand Prize for Feature Films went to Louise En Hiver (Official English title Louise By The Shore,) from director  Jean-François Laguionie. This was the second grand prize for Laguionie, with his previous win being back in 1982. Louise En Hiver is a beautiful looking French animation that follows an elderly woman living alone in a seaside town. The film was also a selection at this year's Annecy.




The Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short went to  J'aime Les Filles (I Like Girls) from director  Diane Obomsawin, which comprises a series of vignettes featuring women discovering lesbian desire for the first time.

The other winners were:

• Cartoon Network Award For Best Narrative Short Animation: Blind Vaysha (Director: Theodore Ushev).
•  Best Experimental or Abstract Animation: Datum Point (Director:  Ryo Orikasa)
• Best Undergraduate Animation: Foreign Body (Director: Marta Magnuska)
• Walt Disney Animation Award For Best Graduate Animation: Frankfurter Str. 99 (Director: Evgenia Gostrer)
• Award For Best Commissioned Animation: HONDA- Paper (PES)
• Award For Best Short Made For Young Audiences: Three Little Ninjas Delivery Service (Directors: Karim Rhellam & Kim Claeys)
• Award For Best animated Series Made For Young Audiences: Shaun The Sheep- The Farmer's Llamas (Director Jay Grace)

Craft Awards:

• Best Script: Fired On Mars  ( Nick Vokey and Nate Sherman)
• Best Design: The Absence Of Eddy Table (Rune Spaans)
• Best Animation Technique: Velodrool (Sander Joon)
• Best Sound: Squame (Nicolas Brault)