Cardiff Animation Festival 2018 Award Winners
The closing ceremony of Cardiff Animation Festival 2018 took place on Sunday 22nd April at Chapter, after a jam-packed four-day celebration of animated film! Our festival awards were designed and built by the amazing sculpting duo Josh and Nathan Flynn of Sculpt Double.
We had so many amazing people to thank at the ceremony, including our principal sponsor Animortal Studio; our major sponsor Cloth Cat Animation; our funders Ffilm Cymru Wales, the BFI Network and Anim18; our festival sponsors Creative Europe Desk UK – Wales, the University of South Wales, Beryl Productions, Jammy Custard Animation and the British Council; everyone at Chapter, our incredible festival venue; and our amazing festival partners. The festival couldn’t run without the crucial support of all these amazing organisations doing brilliant work in Wales.
Our Jury and our Student Jury had such a hard task choosing a winning film in each category from the 99 brilliant short films in competition. Without further ado, the winning films were:
STUDENT JURY AWARD
Our Student Jury from the University of South Wales were Carys Carter, Tim Hawkins, Eirian Davies, Michael Wiltshire and Sophie Seymour. The Student Jury chose Ben Steer's wonderful Mamoon as the winner of the Student Jury Award.
QUICKDRAW ANIMATION JAM WINNER
The QuickDraw Animation Jam took place on the 6th-8th April 2018, organised by Michael Wiltshire and Tim Hawkins, with four teams creating brand new brilliant animated short films over 36 hours. The BBC's Louise Hillam and Cardiff Animation Festival's Dani Abram judged the competition, and they chose Hollie Moxham's fantastic entry (created all by herself) as the winning film. Hollie accepted her award at the Cardiff Animation Festival closing ceremony, and made a wonderful speech about how she came to Cardiff Animation Festival all on her own and made loads of new friends, which warmed our hearts – we hope she has a whole team of new collaborators to enter the next animation jam with her!
AUDIENCE AWARD
Our audiences at all of our shorts screenings in competition had the chance to vote for their favourite films. It was hotly-contested, but in the end the Audience Award went to Tomer Eshed's hilarious The Common Chameleon.
BEST STUDENT SHORT
Our Jury were Rhiannon Evans (independent director), Ben Mitchell (author and Managing Director of Skwigly Animation Magazine), Jen Hall (Producer of Manchester Animation Festival), Will Becher (Animation Director at Aardman) and Helen Brunsdon (independent producer and new Director of the British Animation Awards).
SPECIAL MENTION:
For its unique design, performance, characters and story which has classic and subtle observations of a great all rounder film, the jury want to give a special mention to
THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM
WINNER:
For its choice of cleverly observed moments combined with confident sound design which transport the viewer by creating a powerful sense of place, the Best Student Short award goes to TRAVELOGUE TEL AVIV.
BEST SHORT
And now for the Grand Prix. The jury wanted to give two special mentions in this category.
SPECIAL MENTION:
A beautiful film with a refreshingly calm rhythm and pace, and a warmth that is rare, the jury want to give a special mention for a short film for a family audience, TWO TRAMS.
SPECIAL MENTION FOR A COMMISSIONED FILM:
For its stylish approach to commercial animation, this look into a looming automated future was both thought provoking and visually stunning, the jury want to give a special mention for a commissioned film to THE LAST JOB ON EARTH.
WINNER:
For crafting a compelling and engaging piece that uncompromisingly takes on a prevalent social issue with a unique and exciting mixed-media approach, the Best Short award goes to MAMOON.
Congratulations to all the award-winners, and a huge thank you to everyone who attended Cardiff Animation Festival, everyone who said lovely things and made the atmosphere so friendly and wonderful, all the filmmakers who submitted their films, all our wonderful guest speakers and attending filmmakers, all our brilliant volunteers, and of course all the amazing people who helped make the festival happen. We hope we can do it again next year. Watch this space...
Lots of love
– the Cardiff Animation Festival team
