Canterbury Anifest Award Winners 2019
Skwigly
Now in its twelfth year, Canterbury Anifest is the largest annual animation festival in Kent. Produced by Canterbury Christ Church University, the festival gives audiences the chance to hear behind-the-scenes talks from industry speakers, participate in practical workshops, and see the latest outstanding short animation from all around the world.
A key feature of the festival is the international film competition and this year a total of 387 films from 56 different countries were submitted. 80 films were chosen to be screened during the festival, giving audiences a chance to see animations from Canada, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Iran, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, and the UK, to name but a few of the countries represented. Of the films screened, 32 were shortlisted for Canterbury Anifest Awards.
Judging the winners were Teresa Gallagher (renowned voice over artist), Dariusz Szczuraszek (Senior Animator at Pixel Circus), Steve Segal (Former Pixar Animator), and Simon Taylor (Animation Director at Blue Zoo). There was also a chance for festivalgoers to have their say through the selection of an Audience Choice Award.
Festival Director, Dr. Chris Pallant, notes how “Canterbury Anifest is now a well-established event for many, and we have a wonderful audience of animation enthusiasts, families, and students – many of whom are Anifest regulars!”
Canterbury Anifest Award Winners 2019
Best British Film
Winner: Anna (Jessica Mountfield)
Runner Up: Up Hill (Amalie Vilmar)
Anna (Jessica Mountfield)
Best International Film
Winner: Five Minutes to Sea (Natalia Mirzoyan)
Runner Up: I Want to Live in a Zoo (Evgenia Golubeva)
Five Minutes to Sea (Natalia Mirzoyan)
Best Student Film
Winner: Hide and Seek (Mohsen Shokrtalab)
Runner Up: Best Friend (David Feliu, Varun Nair, Juliana de Lucca, Nicholas Oliverieri, Yi Shen)
Hide and Seek (Mohsen Shokrtalab)
Audience Choice Award
Winner: I Want to Live in a Zoo (Evgenia Golubeva)
Runner Up: Hors Piste (Loris Cavalier, Camille Jalabert, Oscar Malet, Leo Brunel)
I Want to Live in a Zoo (Evgenia Golubeva)
Best Animation
Winner: Hors Piste (Loris Cavalier, Camille Jalabert, Oscar Malet, Leo Brunel)
Runner Up: Anna (Jessica Mountfield)
Hors Piste (Loris Cavalier, Camille Jalabert, Oscar Malet, Leo Brunel)
Best Art Design
Winner: Sur Mesure (Lea Cousty, Chloe Astier, Raphael Guez, Melanie Fourgeaud, Hugo Bourriez, Victoire Le Dourner)
Runner Up: New Devonia (Kelly Mann)
Best Sound
Winner: Marfa (Greg and Myles McLeod)
Runner Up: Five Minutes to Sea (Natalia Mirzoyan)
Character Design Awards
A Character Design award was also launched this year for people to design an Anifest character. There were three categories, Aged 8 and under, Aged 9 -15, and Aged 16+. Here are the winning entrants with the final characters created from the original designs:
Describing the family-friendly nature of festival, Co-Director, Ms. Jo Samuel, concludes that “it was lovely to see so many families enjoying designing characters and making animations at the workshops – it has been a great couple of days, and we will be back in 2020!”.
For more information about Canterbury Anifest and past winners at the festival, please visit the website: www.canterburyanifest.com