Ottawa International Animation Festival Reveals Feature Competition

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is one of North America's biggest animation festivals. This year it celebrates its landmark 50th edition, and does so with an expanded feature competition. OIAF has announced the seven films that will compete for the festival's top prize. Together they offer a snapshot of where feature animation is today- expansive in style, global in perspective, and increasingly driven by distinct, individual voices.

The selected works will compete for the Grand Prize For Feature Animation, to be awarded by an all-Canadian jury comprising Alisi Telengut, Lillian Chan and Luc Chamberland.

In alphabetical order, this year's competition includes:

• Girlfriends Of Father (dir. Xi Chen | China)
• Magic Atlas (dir. Xun Sun | China, Singapore)
• O Filho da Puta (Son of a Bitch) (dirs. Erica Maradona, Tania Anaya, Otto Guerra, Sávio Leite | Brazil)
• Tangles (dir. Leah Nelson | Canada, United States)
• The Orbit of Minor Satellites (dir. Christopher Sullivan | United States)
• 『劇場版モノノ怪 第三章 蛇神』 (Mononoke the Movie: Chapter III – The Curse of the Serpent) (dir. Kenji Nakamura)
• 我々は宇宙人 (We Are Aliens) (dir. Kohei Kadowaki | Japan)

The selection includes two films from the United States, two from Japan, two from China and one each from Brazil and Singapore.

Tangles is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name about the author's mother's battle with Alzheimer's disease. The film features the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Abbi Jacobson and Seth Rogen, among others. 

Mononoke The Movie: Chapter III_ The Curse Of The Serpent brings the acclaimed Mononoke trilogy to a close. Directed by Kenji Nakamura, the film follows the Medicine Seller as he uncovers the 150-year-old secrets of the Ōoku to confront the resentful Serpent God.

“The strength of this year’s submissions is reflected in our expanded lineup of seven films,” said OIAF artistic director Chris Robinson. “Their diversity and depth—across techniques, perspectives and voices—show how much feature animation has evolved since we introduced the competition in 2002, while offering a glimpse of where it might be heading next. It feels especially fitting as OIAF celebrates 50 years of championing distinctive animated voices.”

The festival received a record 3,026 entries for its 50th edition. The Grand Prize winner for Feature Animation will be announced live by the Jury at the OIAF Awards Ceremony on September 26 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

OIAF also recently announced the selection for Animation For Platforms. Formerly the Animated Series selection, the competition has been rebranded to better reflect today's televisual landscape. Eligible entries include pilots, episodes, series, instalments and standalone shorts developed for platform-driven audiences.

“Animation made for audiences outside the traditional festival circuit has changed radically. What we once called series or television animation no longer fully describes the range of work we receive. Some of these projects are not technically series, but they share more DNA with platform-based animation than with the more eccentric independent works in our main competition,” says Chris Robinson. “Renaming the section Platform Animation is a nod to that shift — to animation now living across Netflix, YouTube, streaming services, social platforms and spaces that barely existed a generation ago. The old world of channels has largely vanished. This category reflects the new, unruly, wide-open landscape.”

• Adult Swim’s The Elephant | Pendleton Ward, Ian Jones-Quartey, Rebecca Sugar, Patrick McHale, Mike L. Mayfield, Humberto Irigoyen, Remus Buznea & Kyriaki Kyriakou | United States
• Glen: Wrestler | Travis Pelto, Joe Hingelberg & Shawn Golden | United States
• Kevin ‘Fourth of July’ | Angelo Hatgistavrou & Sarah Seember Huisken | United States
• Mating Season ‘The Truth About Canada’ | Henrique Jardim | United States
• Qui on croit et pourquoi? L’injustice testimoniale (Who Do We Believe, and Why? Testimonial Injustice) | Martine Frossard | Canada
• TedEd ‘Can Saunas Make You Live Longer?’ | Noam Sussman & Ali Kellner | Canada, United States

Also revealed earlier was the selection for Animation For A Young Audience, divided into 7-12, and teen audiences (13+). The winners will each be selected by a youth jury made up of Ottawa-area animation enthusiasts aged 7-12 and festival-goers aged 13 and up.

“One of my personal highlights at every OIAF is hearing the statements from the kids’ jury. Unlike the more polished, self-conscious adult juries, the kids offer wonderfully raw, unfiltered responses to the films they choose,” says Chris Robinson. “It’s both hilarious and touching to hear young minds uncover details and meanings that adults might miss. More than that, it gives kids a rare chance to develop critical thinking and to see animation as something deeper than passive screen entertainment. Hopefully, we’re encouraging the next generation of critics, programmers, and curators.”

Animation Made for Young Audiences 7-12

• ? | Anastasia Shtolko | Ukraine
• Bats & Bugs | Leah Von Döhren | Switzerland
• Candy Caries | Tomiki Misato | Japan
• Dance Film | Kelly Gallagher | United States
• En, ten, týky! (Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe!) | Andrea Szelesová | Czechia, Slovenia
• Hondenleven (A Dog’s Life) | Sophie Olga de Jong & Sytske Kok | Netherlands
• Land of No Man | Muling Tzai & Olivia Lin | United States, Taiwan
• O Jardim Mágico (The Magic Garden) | Carlon Hardt & Naira Carneiro | Brazil
• Owsiankowy potwór (Porridge Monster) | Izabela Plucińska | Poland, Germany, Azerbaijan
• Pingvinas ir Balandis (Backstreet Birds) | Gertrūda Nemčauskaitė | Lithuania

Animation Made for Teen Audiences 13+

• Birds of Paradise | Nikita Greer & Abbey Collings | USA
• Blue Flavoured | Jett Ulysses | USA
• Cabbage Daddy | Grace An | Canada
• Dekle, ki se ni balo medvedov (The Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid of Bears) | Lea Vučko | Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia
• Fish in My Stomach | Yehor Holovkov | Ukraine
• La comète (The Comet) | Julie Charette | Canada
• Srcolom (Heartwreck) | Luka Vucić | Croatia
• The Sky Was Candy | Anh Tu Nguyen | Germany
• Welcome to Starmart | Caz Shen, Vanessa Buice & Vinny Wang | United States
• Wolpie Of The Woods | Kat Messing | United States

Ottawa International Animation Festival runs this year from September 23-27.