MAF awards Buzz with top marks for "Flee", "The Musician"

MAF awards Buzz with top marks for "Flee", "The Musician"

During a ceremony on Thursday 25 November hosted by festival director Steve Henderson, Manchester Animation Festival (MAF) has unveiled the winners of the Industry Excellence Awards and the Film Awards 2021. The animated documentary by Jonas Poher Rasmussen Flee, produced by Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, won the Festival's first prize ever Best Feature Film award following a unanimous decision of the jury who stated of the film: “Once you've seen Flee, there's no arguing with the quality of the work on display in his craft, it's a deeply emotional story and it's an incredible artistic design ”.

Earlier this year, MAF introduced the feature film category with the aim of showcasing the skills of international film talent through four dedicated titles. This year, children's shorts were also able to receive an award (supported by BBC Children's), highlighting some of the best family shorts from around the world.

This year's Film Awards, which is the Festival's international film competition, also have categories for best short film, best student film, best commissioned film and special mentions for the films that this year greatly impressed the audience. judges. You can read more about each jury here.

Il Awards for industry excellence, who recognize individuals working in industry in the fields of screenwriting, storyboarding, character design and character animation, were judged by Mark Oswin, Kenneth Anderson, Althea Aseoche and Kevin Spruce.

Manchester Animation Festival trophies and Industry Excellence Awards were crafted by master modelers Mackinnon and Saunders, who have brought to life some of the most famous animated characters in the world, fromBob the builder, postman Pat e Fifi and the Flowertots, at Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride and Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox.

“We were delighted to bring our bigger and better than ever Festival competition back to the cinema with the inclusion of our Feature Film Competition which showcases the breadth of amazing internationally made animated films and our Short Films category for presenting children at all ages with a warm and welcoming break from the sometimes stale diet of online children's content, ”Henderson said. “We are delighted to add them to our existing Short, Student, Commissioned and Audience Awards. It was thrilling to see the audience once again basking in the glare of the big screen as they tasted the best that the world of animation has to offer ”.

“We were also thrilled to be able to showcase some incredible talent as part of our Industry Excellence Award, which once again demonstrates that our animation industry is producing incredible talent by working on extraordinary projects,” added the festival director.

MAF Industry Excellence Award Winners

Industry Excellence Awards 2021

Film script:

  • WINNER: Sophie Dutton for Hey Duggee "The pet badge"
  • Alan Robinson and Alex Collier for School of Ruggiti
  • Alex Collier for It's Pony "Closed out"
  • Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Barnett Jones for Dave Spud's Junk World

Storyboard:

  • WINNER: Graeme Young for It's Pony
  • Arly Jones for Absolute Love
  • Jonathan Mortimer for New signs for animation
  • Justin Quinlan for Lisey's story - Main title sequence

Character design:

  • WINNER: Daniel Amar for Alba
  • Greg McLeod for Square circle
  • Mark Pyper for The retro team
  • George Crosbie for Milo

Character animation:

  • WINNER: Philip Ward for Obki
  • Ben Keohane for Milo
  • Aman Gupta for BirdBox
  • Sue Guy for Squib: When this is all over
My favorite war

Winners of the MAF Film Award 2021

Best Feature Film Winner: Run away | Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Jury Statement: “This was a unanimous decision for the jury once you saw it Run away there is no arguing with the quality of the work on display in his craft, it is a deeply emotional story and it is an amazing artistic design. It's a story we've heard in documentaries and feature films before, but told in such a personal and intimate way, with a level of skill that is both masterful in itself and serving the story, it's rare to see history and animation working so harmoniously. and for this reason it is our clear winner. " (To know more.)

Special mention: My favorite war | Director: Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen
"We found My favorite war for being another incredibly personal story from an underrepresented part of the world, describing experiences none of us had seen before in the film, in an accessible and fun way. For this reason we felt it deserved a special mention. " (To know more.)

Navozande, the musician

Winner of the best short film: Navozande, the musician | Director: Reza Riahi
Jury statement: "Navozande, the musician it is an exquisitely captivating film. We were blown away by its handcrafted graphics and mesmerizing soundtrack. This beautiful and heartbreaking story seems timeless, both aesthetically and in its message of the enduring nature of love ”. (Read more in the January '22 issue of Animation magazine.)

Special Mentions: Business of Art (d: Joanna Quinn) + All those feelings in my belly (d: Marko Djeska)
“A special mention goes to Business of Art by Joanna Quinn for her brilliantly humorous portrayal of obsession, artistic persistence and stuffed cockroaches. (Read more.) Another special mention goes to All those feelings in my belly by Marko Dješka for his vivid and highly expressive representation of someone's journey to find love and the space to be themselves. "

Bus Line35A

Winner of the best student film: Bus Line35A | Director: Elena Felici
Statement by the Jury: "Visually and narratively rooted in the worldliness of everyday life, Bus Line35A reflects on the question, 'What happens when we see something terrible happening and don't take action?'

Special mention: My grandmother is an egg | Director: Wu-Ching Chang

Save Ralph

Winner of the best commissioned film: Save Ralph | Director: Spencer Susser
Jury Statement: “The film touched the jury in many different ways. Aside from the fact that it is an artistically perfect animated film, it tackles a non-human topic of animal experimentation in a sensitive, human and profound way. And this is rare in animated films. The way the main character, the rabbit Ralph, explains his life as an animal, who works every day as a 'tester' for cosmetic products in the film, is the ideal way to describe the extent of the problem and convey the message against. animal testing. "(To know more.)

Special mention: What Really Happened During the Attica Prison Rebellion | Director: Tomás Pichardo Espaillat
“The jury would like to give a special mention to the film What Really Happened During the Attica Prison Rebellion for highlighting a significant and universal story of human rights vindication with an interesting animation technique and a powerful narrative pace.

MAF Film Award Winners

Best Children's Film (Sponsored by BBC Children's) Winner: blue curry | Creators: Magali Dunyach, Chien-Ju Hung, Jimin Jung, Vajra Pancharia, Léa Pietrzyk
This award was decided by the Youth Advisory Council of Into Film.

Audience Award Winner: The night of living terror | Director: Ida Melum
This award was decided by the members of the MAF audience.

MAFter Dark Audience Award Winner: Tales from the Multiverse | Creators: Magnus Møller, Mette Tange and Peter Smith
This award was decided by the public who attended the MAFter Dark event.

The full program of this year's MAF is available online here. MAF 2021 runs from 14 to 30 November; more information and tickets available on www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk.

Go to the source of the article on www.animationmagazine.net