The awards ceremony of the Stop Motion Montreal Festival in the online edition
The 12a edition of Montreal Stop Motion Festival, ended with a closing ceremony in live streaming, held on Sunday 20 September. The Festival team and jury members gathered to announce the winners of this year's award. Thanks to the virtual format, some of the directors have teamed up to accept their awards from anywhere in the world.
The jury of professionals in the sector was composed of Maral Mohammadian; National Film Board of Canada producer Bren López Zepeda; Montreal-based independent animator and director Aaron Wood; co-founder and producer of London's Slurpy Studios.
The official category winners are:
Best Emerging Talent Film: Une de Perdue | One lost by Marie Clerc (France)
Best Independent Film: KKUM by Kangmin Kim (South Korea)
Best Professional Film: Uzi | Ties by Dina Velikovskaya (Germany / Russia)
Best Children's Film: The silly wizard of the ducks by Terry Ibele (Canada)
École NAD - UQAC Special Award for a Canadian film: In the shade of the pines by Anne Koizumi (Canada)
Public Choice Award presented by See Learn Academy: A Coeur d'Or | Golden Heart by Simon Filliot (France)
Special mentions from the jury went to:
Teen Movies: Something Sorcerer by Arielle Demilecamps (Norway)
Emerging Talent Films: À la mer poussière | To the dusty sea by Héloïse Ferlay (France)
Independent films: Machines by Tétshim and Frank Mukunday (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Professional movies: Matilda ir atsarginė galva | Matilda and the escort head by Ignas Meilunas (Lithuania)
The Festival partnered with the Canadian broadcast platform VUCAVU to bring 90 short films starting from 30 different countries e three masterclasses for special guests online and available to audiences around the world this year, in an effort to provide a safe Festival experience for all during these unprecedented pandemic times.
Virtual Stop Motion Montreal has been extended to one seven day experience, compared to past physical editions, which took place over three days. A total of 11 different film screening programs , which included nine in-competition and two thematic programs, one highlighting local talent, in a Quebec film retrospective and another featuring a selection of Scottish films from the Edinburgh Short Film Festival.
Due separate technical skill animation workshops, were led by renowned industry leaders Julia Peguet, Dale Hayward and Sylvie Trouvé of the See Learn Academy, who attracted participants of all levels from India, the United States, Germany, France, Colombia, Montreal and Hungary.
The comments to the festival
“Dale and Sylvie were fantastic mentors and super generous with their knowledge of the stop motion craft and the industry - I took A LOT of notes. Their feedback on our tests was helpful and encouraging. I left feeling inspired and confident and it was a great experience animating from my home together with a group of animators in different time zones around the world! "
- Aarica North, animator and producer (United States)
“The workshop was great. There are so many students [in India] who love stop motion and are very talented but can't afford to come to Montreal. I learned so much in two days from Miss Julia. It really helped me focus on my goals as an animator and my short film. It was my first experience in a film festival and I loved every part of it. I hope I can also participate in next year's film festival. "
- William Pakyntein, 2D and stop-motion animation / animator student, (India)
The free activities of the festival
The Festival also offered a slew of free activities throughout the week on their social networks in a conscious effort to keep viewers connected and engaged, which included a multitude of interactive Watch the holidays e Live streaming. Among the offers was a virtual tour of the studio with Alicia Eisen of Vancouver, 19 different meetings with directors from the competition programs, a Fireside Chat with the members of the jury 2020 ea Cozy brunch conversation with Jean-François Lévesque and the crew members of I, Barnabé (NFB).
VIP Pass holders have had access to a private individual Network Pod, allowing festival-goers to interact and network with each other, ask questions in a safe environment, offer film and masterclass reviews, job opportunities and more! The Opening and closing ceremonies they were also live streamed with the addition of a bonus Official Cake Bake Along 2020, with all these free activities remaining on the Festival's Facebook page to watch at your leisure.
Sales doubled
The 2020 Festival has doubled its VIP pass sales from its previous edition, having had tuned-in attendees from nearly every continent and reaching over 400.000 accounts on their growing social networks.
The pandemic challenge has been met and overcome, leaving the Stop Motion Montreal team proud to have fulfilled its mandate in making stop-motion animation detectable and accessible to all, in providing a platform to make artists and artists shine. their works and in stimulating the local and international stop motion industry.
The good reception of this online edition has certainly shaped the future of the Festival which will continue to develop and expand its reach. Upcoming hybrid editions are being studied to meet the diverse needs of local and international stop motion communities.
The 23rd Stop Motion Montreal Festival will be held in September 2021.
