'The Crossing', 'Beast' win big prizes in Bucheon

The 23rd edition of South Korea's Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF2021) concluded on Tuesday, announcing the winners of this year's award. The crossing by Florence Mialhe won the BIAF Grand Prix for Feature Film, the Audience Award and the Diversity Award. Another artistic feature, My Sunny Maad by Michaela Pavlátová won both the Jury Prize and the Music Prize. In competition short films, Hugo Covarrubias Bestia won the Grand Prix while Steak house by Špela Čadež won the Jury Prize.

The crossing is a unique film that shows the problems of refugees from the point of view of children. A fairytale style of painting that uses mostly primary colors makes this POV stand out - however, the colors aren't the light and vibrant ones normally associated with kids, but they are rather dreary. The juries of BIAF2021 praised Mialhe's incredible work for its consistency in the theme, highlighting the maximum diversity of animated expressions in the film.

The jury said the use of impact music to push the story inside My Sunny Maad: “It was impressive that the refreshing wind instrument of the music drove the melody on the native base reminiscent of Middle Eastern culture, harmonized the center without erasing the color of tradition, and helped the film develop its natural scenes. It was great because they were all combined and it felt like they were listening to one song. In the more educational scenes where women dream of freedom, they played pop-style music showing their unlimited musical production, which further [showed] the meaning of the film about women's freedom and growth ”. (Read more about the film in the December '21 issue of Animation magazine, available soon.)

Winners of the BIAF2021 Award:

Feature

• Grand Prix - The crossing, Firenze Mialhe (Germany / France / Czech Rep.)
• Jury Prize - My Sunny Maad, Michaela Pavlátová (Czech Republic / France / Slovakia)
• Special Distinction Award - Inu-oh, Masaaki Yuasa (Japan)
• Special Distinction Award - Archipel, Félix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada)
• Audience Award - The crossing, Firenze Mialhe (Germany / France / Czech Rep.)

Short film

• Grand Prix - Bestia, Hugo Covarrubias (Chile)
• Jury Prize - Steak house, Špela Čadež (Slovenia / Germany / France)
• Special Distinction Award - I love dad, Diana Cam Van Nguyen (Czech Republic / Slovakia)
• Special Distinction Award - anxious body, Yoriko Mizushiri (Japan)
• Special Distinction Award - Battery dad, Seungbae Jeon (South Korea)
• Audience Award - Ecorce (peel), Samuel Patthey, Silvain Monney (Switzerland)
• AniB's choice - Bark (To peel), Samuel Patthey, Silvain Monney (Switzerland)

Graduation film

• Jury Prize - Girl in the waterR, Shirou Huang (Taiwan)
• Special mention - amayi, Subarna Das (India)

TV and films on commission

• Jury Prize - vanilla, Guillaume Lorin (France / Switzerland)

VR

• Jury Prize - Hangman at home, Michelle and Uri Kranot (Denmark / France / Canada)

Korean short film

• Jury Prize - People, Erick Oh (USA)
• Special Distinction Award - Battery dad, Seungbae Jeon (South Korea)

Special Award

• EBS Award (short) - L'Amour en Plan (Projects for love), Claire Sichez (France)
• KOSCAS Award for the most popular movie - Luck favors Ms. Nikuko, Ayumu Watanabe (Japan)
• COCOMICS Music Award - My Sunny Maad, Michaela Pavlátová (Czech Republic / France / Slovakia)
• Diversity Award - The crossing, Firenze Mialhe (Germany / France / Czech Rep.)
• KAFA Award (Korean Academy of Motion Picture Arts) - invisible eyes, Seunghee Jung (South Korea)

BIAF2021 was held October 22-26 in Bucheon, South Korea. Learn more at biaf.or.kr/en.