Talk to the Snail

Part I of my Ottawa International Animation Festival re-cap.

“Rabbit”

There were a few films I really enjoyed in this competition, which is divided into two sub-categories: Narrative Short Animation and Experimental/Abstract Animation.

I’m not a huge fan of experimental animation, and although the programmers divvied up just eleven nominated shorts across five screenings, it still seemed there were a lot more than that (maybe it’s because the student experimental films were thrown in the mix as well). Most of them I forgot quickly, but the one I remember most was “Jeu” by Switzerland’s Georges Schwizgebel. The festival’s jury awarded “Jeu” Best Experimental/Abstract Animation under 35 Minutes.

“Carnival of the Animals”

There were a bunch of good films in the Narrative category, as usual. There were also four or five films that made me want to jump off a cliff. I especially loved Obom’s “Here and There”, “Tiger” by Guilherme Marcondes, Jonas Odell’s “Never Like the First Time!”, Run Wrake’s “Rabbit”, and “Carnival of the Animals” by Michaela Pavlatova. However, by a smidgeon, my favorite film – the one I’d encourage friends to see first – was Joanna Quinn’s “Dreams & Desires: Family Ties”. I couldn’t understand a word spoken in the film, but it was such an enjoyable short from beginning to end. Quinn’s film won this year’s Nelvana Grand Prize for Best Independent Short Animation. “Here and There” took home Best Narrative Short under 35 Minutes honors, while “The Carnival of the Animals” received an Honorable Mention. Try and track down all of them.

Congratulations to the filmmakers.