Squirm, Smile, Shout, and Shake: OIAF Takes Award-Winning Animation on Tour
Skwigly
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) announces its Best of Ottawa program, including 10 animated short films from the 2024 Festival, including the Festival’s signal film animated by Lei Lei and the 97th Academy Awards-shortlisted film, Percebes. Annually, the OIAF curates a selection of short films, award winners and audience favourites, for its touring Best of Ottawa Program. The program highlights achievements in the art of animation and represents a variety of styles, techniques, and perspectives that animation is uniquely capable of realizing. Organizations of varying sizes can book an in-person or virtual screening of the program as of February 25, 2025.
“What do you want me to say? The title says it all. This is a super sampler of some of the best contemporary international animation that also happened to impress OIAF jurists and audience members alike,” says OIAF Artistic Director Chris Robinson. “This screening has it all: tourism troubles, guardian angels, war, social media and the long-awaited battle between Woody and Buzz Lightyear. What more could you possibly need or want? The answer? A ticket to the screening.”
This year’s Best of Ottawa includes:
- OIAF 2024 Signal Film (dir. Lei Lei)
- Percebes (dirs. Alexandra Ramires & Laura Gonçalves)
- Carrotica (dir. Daniel Sterlin-Altman)
- Gina Kamentsky’s Pinocchio in 70mm (dir. Gina Kamentsky)
- Martyr’s Guidebook (dir. Maks Rzontkowski)
- In the Shallows (dir. Arash Akhgari)
- I Died in Irpin (dir. Anastasiia Falileieva)
- Corridor ‘Jump Cut’ (dir. Winston Hacking)
- La Voix des Sirènes (dir. Gianluigi Toccafondo)
- you’ve got a friend in me (dir. Peter Millard)
Only available for in-person screenings of Best of Ottawa, Ramires and Gonçalves’s Percebes received the Craft Award for Best Design at OIAF 2024. Additional award winners at the 48th edition of the Festival that are part of the in-person and online screenings include: Carrotica (Wacom Public Prize), Martyr’s Guidebook (Bento Box Award for Best Student Animation), In the Shallows (DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation), I Died in Irpin (Craft Award for Best Script), Corridor ‘Jump Cut’ (Best Commissioned Animation, Honourable Mention: DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation), La Voix des Sirènes (Grand Prize for Short Animation), and you’ve got a friend in me (Best Non-Narrative Short Animation).
Best of Ottawa works on a tiered pricing model to make the program more accessible for small arts organizations while ensuring that filmmakers are paid. Organizations can book a screening by contacting the OIAF by emailing bestofottawa@
The longest-running animation event in North America, the OIAF opens its entry window from March 1 to May 31, 2025, for its upcoming festival. Selections for the 49th edition of the Festival will be eligible for the Best of Ottawa 2025 program.