Ottawa Animation Fest announces the official selections for the online edition
Il Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) today announced its official lineup. This year, the OIAF received 1.950 entries from 84 different countries. Of these, 92 shorts - including animated series and VR (finalists will be announced in August) - were selected for the competition.
Six films were chosen for the Film Competition. In addition, 16 films were selected in the Canadian Student Competition and 41 Panorama films were chosen to represent the efforts of Canadian, international and student communities.
While Festival organizers are disappointed that the films will not be shown on the big screen, showing them online will be a positive alternative: bringing the work to new audiences and virtually bringing the animation community together.
This year's OIAF and virtual TAC will be held from 23 September to 4 October (www.animationfestival.ca).
"The pandemic certainly hasn't slowed the animators down," said Chris Robinson, OIAF art director. “This year's film crop is as solid, inspired, bizarre and diverse as everyone else. There is sexual stupidity (by Peter Millard Cumcumcumcumcum All and Ivan Li is sure to be animatedly discussed in brief, Fruit), indie rock icons (new music videos for Sparks and The Breeders), alcoholic preachers (Me, Barnabas), love affairs with a prisoner (stop-motion documentary by Shoko Hara, Just a boy) and some quite current films dealing with those pandemic words that we all know so well: touching the face (Leah Shore Don't touch your face), masks (by Patrick Smith Beyond Noh), elderly (bad) cares (Kaspar Jancis' funny and touching cosmonaut) and isolation (the playful Living in a box by Oscar nominee Theodore Ushev). "
It is a stellar year for the National Film Board of Canada, with five films in the Official Competition and two in the Canadian Panorama. NFB selections range from the work of award-winning film director Robin McKenna Thanadoula to the work of Atikamekw multidisciplinary artist Meky Ottawa (The fake calendar) graduated from the NFB Hothouse program.
The feature film competition offers the chance to see films that are truly out of the ordinary. Three of the six very different and unusual films are Mosley, a family movie with lots of appeal for everyone. This 3D animated love work comes from New Zealand director Kirby Atkins. Kill him and leave this city is the first feature film by the animator Mariusz Wilczynski, a personal film that retraces Poland in the 70s. The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. There's also the minimalist Zen-inspired hilarity of the South African film Bru & Boegie: The Movie.
The competition also includes a number of independent directors, including a trio of former OIAF Grand Prix winners Sarina Nihei (Polka dot boy), Andreas Hykade (Altötting) to Hisko Hulsing (Amazon Prime series undone).
Select the category selections below. Visit the OIAF website for a complete list.
Feature:
Bru & Boegie: The Movie by Mike Scott (South Africa)
Circumstantial pleasure by Lewis Klahr (United States)
Kill him and leave this city by Mariusz Wilczynski (Poland)
Mosley by Kirby Atkins (New Zealand)
My favorite war by Ilze Brukovska Jacobsen (Latvia / Norway)
The Nose or The Conspiracy of Mavericks by Andrey Khrzhanovsky (Russia)
Narrative short films:
10.000 ugly ink blots by Dmitry Geller (Russia / China)
4 North A by Howie Shia & Jordan Canning (Canada)
Alien Felines from Beyond the Galaxy by Ugo Vittu and Peter the Moon (France)
Altötting by Andreas Hykade (Germany / Canada / Portugal)
cosmonaut by Kaspar Jancis (Estonia)
Fruit by Ivan Li (Canada)
Happiness by Andrey Zhidkov (Russia)
To hide by Daniel Gray (France / Canada / Hungary)
Homeless home by Alberto Vazquez (France / Spain)
Human nature by Sverre Fredriksen (Netherlands)
Me, Barnabas by Jean-François Lévesque (Canada)
In the shade of the pines by Anne Koizumi (Canada)
Just a boy by Shoko Hara (Germany)
KKUM by Kang-min Kim (South Korea / United States)
Lizard ladder by Ted Wiggin (United States)
Mom didn't know by Anita Killi (Norway)
My exercise by Atsushi Wada (Japan)
Polka dot boy by Sarina Nihei (France)
Dreams at the camp by Magda Guidi & Mara Cerri (France)
Something to remember by Niki Lindroth von Bahr (Sweden)
Thanadoula by Robin McKenna (CAnada)
Washing Machine by Alexandra Májová (Czech Rep.)
Non narrative shorts:
Authorless by Steven Subotnick (United States)
Beyond Noh by Patrick Smith (United States / Japan)
cumcumcumcumcum at all by Peter Millard (United Kingdom)
Dune by Gabor Ulrich (Hungary)
Flamingo by Kawo Sushijojo (Taiwan / Macao)
Ghosts by Jee-youn Park (South Korea)
Glitch hierarchy by Vessela Dantcheva (Bulgaria / Austria)
Living in a box by Theodore Ushev (Canada)
Median life and / or death by Petteri Cederberg (Finlan)
Opera by Erick Oh (South Korea / United States)
Perennial flow by Sonnye Lim (United States)
The sea is too much to drink by Charlotte Arene (France)
Urban sphinx by Maria Lorenzo (Spain)
Student films:
2,3 x 2,6 x 3,2 by Jiaqi Wang (United Kingdom)
A girl who is afraid of touching people by Liang Hsin Huang (United Kingdom / Taiwan)
Hi little block! by József Fülöp & Éva Darabos (Hungary)
Cockpera by Kata Gugi (Croatia)
Doghead by Momo Takenoshita (Japan)
Endless more beautiful shapes by Meredith Binnette (United States)
Suspended by Mathieu Georis (Belgium)
Naked by Kiril Khachaturov (Russia)
Pope Sun by Noah Gallagher (, United States)
Room with sea view by Leonid Shmelkov (Estonia)
SH_T Happens by David Stumpf and Michaela Mihalyi (Czech Rep. / Slovakia / France)
The source and the tower by Melinda Kádár (Hungary)
