The 2nd Annual Palm Springs Intl. Animation Festival & Expo has announced its extensive list of Audience Choice Award winners, with Richard Lanni’s Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero taking the prize for Best Animated Feature. Perry Chen’s Changyou’s Journey , Florian Brauch’s Hybrids and Nikita Diakur’s Ugly are among the 40 short films selected as winners in a wide range of technical and thematic categories by audiences during the three-day festival.
This year, the festival, held at the historic Camelot Theater, now known as the Palm Springs Cultural Center, partnered with Comic-Con Palm Springs (CCPS), screening 10 features and 250 short films from 103 countries, in addition to hosting a number of panels, masterclasses and live animation demonstrations. Brian Neil Hoff, the festival’s founder and director, and Chris Spellman, founder of Comic Con Palm Springs, combined their audiences to bring some of the top comic book and animation artists to the Coachella Valley for the 5-day event.
The Audience Choice awards were given out in 40 short film and one animated feature category. The winning animated feature, Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero , tells the true story of a stray dog who befriends a soldier during WWI, traveling from battlefield to battlefield – for his heroic efforts, he becomes one of the most decorated dogs in American history. Produced by Fun Academy Motion Pictures, Sgt. Stubby was animated by Mikros Animation.
During the festival, autistic animator Dani Bowman hosted the Academy of Dream awards panel, featuring animators with disabilities, who share their powerful stories of challenges and overcoming the odds to create their animated films.
The festival also featured a masterclass with DreamWorks animator Cinzia Angelini, who shared with the audience her international co-op project Mila , which combines the work of over 350 artists from 35 countries working remotely to create the powerful animated short film.
In addition, Hoff interviewed Canadian animation director Nancy Florence Savard, who is known for being one of the first females to direct an animated feature in Canada. She shared her journey to bring the animated adventure Mission Kathmandu: The Adventures of Nelly & Simon to the big screen.
The complete list of winners:
Animated Feature
Sgt Stubby: An American Hero
Studio: Fun Academy
Director: Richard Lanni
Producer: Jordan Beck
Distributed by Paramount Pictures & Fun Academy
Short Films by Category
Abstract
Machine – 2:54 – Mexico – Director: Fer Saldaña
Classic
The Balloonatic – 3:00 – UK – Director: Eoin Mcloughlin
Traditional
Free Wheels – 3:36 – Belgium – Director: Jacinthe Folon
3D Drama: Teens / Family
The Stained Club – 6:39 – France – Director: Mélanie Lopez
3D Drama: Love, Loss and Second Chances
No Gravity – 7:56 – France – Director: Charline Parisot
3D Drama: Heartwarming
Joy Story – 3:19 – Australia – Director: Kyra & Constantin
3D Drama: Fantasy
Lillandril – 9:42 – France – Director: Margaux Tamic
3D Drama: Strange
Hooked – 7:50 – France – Director: Lucil Lepeuple
3D Drama: Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure
Or Bleu – 6:40 – France – Director: Nicolas Chiarot, Amandine Comes, Eva Fekete, Haunu Maeta, Baptiste Miquel, Thomas Rousvoal
2D Comedy
Frank – 9:01 – USA – Director: Cameron Gavinski
Winter Holiday Family Drama
Snow in Love – 2:38 – USA – Director: Trey Solberg
3D Comedy: Family
Like an Elephant in a China Shop – 6:12 – France – Director: Louise Chevrier
3D Comedy: Dark
Slug Invasion – 6:01 – Denmark – Director: Morten Helgeland
2D Twisted, Dark, Odd and Out There
Life Smartphone – 3:06 – China – Director: Xie Chenglin
3D Award-Winning Dark Fiction
Hybrids – 4:53 – France – Director: Florian Brauch
3D Dark Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Mystery
Flutter – 10:00 – USA – Director: Vladimir Todorov
Dark and Mysterious: Stop-Motion
La Mort, Pere & Fils – 13:32 – France – Director: Paronnaud Vincent
Dark and Mysterious: Hand-Drawn
The Backwards Astronomer – 10:02 – USA – Director: Jacob Nelson
2D Drama: Hand-Drawn / Painted / Watercolor
Home is Here – 2:53 – USA – Director: Suejee Lee
2D Drama: Family
Changyou’s Journey – 5:35 -USA – Director: Perry Chen
2D Drama: Mystery / Contrasting Visions
Black – 14:32 – Italy – Director: Sara Taigher
Fun: Stop-Motion
Kaliska – 2:00 – France – Director: Objectif 3D
Fun: VFX & Rotoscoping
The Sandman – 10:15 – USA – Director: Richard Duan
Hand-Draw:n Inner Journey
Egg – 12:07 – France – Director: Martina Scarpelli
Hand-Drawn: Abstract
Wandering Bondy – 2:13 – Czech Republic – Director: Veronika Zacharova
Hand-Drawn: Light Hearted
The Big Adventure of a Little Line – 7:26 – France – Director: Antoine Robert
Watercolor
Silent London – 2:46 – UK – Director: Ivelina Ivanova
Global Issues – Socially Relevant
The Driver is Red – 14:46 – USA – Director: Randall Christopher
Experimental
Ugly – 11:54 – Germany – Director: Nikita Diakur
Stop-Motion: Comedy
Enough – 2:19 – UK – Director: Anna Mantzaris
Stop-Motion: Powerful and Interesting Drama
Dolls Don’t Cry – 20:00 – Canada – Director: Frédérick Tremblay
Stop-Motion: Thought Provoking Drama
The Burden – 14:10 – Sweden – Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr
Stop-Motion: Love and Romance
Him and Her – 7:48 – Germany – Director: Nathalie Lamb
2D Women, Sexuality and the Complexity of Love
Tabook – 2:44 – Netherlands – Director: Dario van Vree
3D Sexuality on a Roller Coaster of Love, Romance and Insanity
Sailor’s Delight – 5:54 – France – Directors: Louise Aubertin, Eloise Girard, Marnie Meneyrol
Academy of Dream Award
My Heart Flies – 3:27 – USA – Director: Faith Butterfield
LGBT
Expiration Date – 4:21 – USA – Director: Shwenn Shunya Chang
2D | 3D Kids / Family
Rocket Boys – 4:04 – South Africa – Director: Karien Benz
3D Pre-School / Kids
Diddl Zapping – 3:00 – Spain – Director: Thomas Goletz
Animated Documentary
Lotte the Silhouette Girl – 9:59 – USA – Director: Carla Patullo
Source: PSIAF
