ANNECY, FRANCE – For the second year in a row, a Brazilian feature has taken the top prize at the prestigious international animation festival here, with Ale Abreu’s The Boy and the World (O menino e o mundo) taking home the Cristal Award.
A stunning visual feat of colorful, crayon-like drawings that tells a cautionary tale of globalization, The Boy and the World received excellent reviews and great buzz among animation fans at the festival. It was picked up by Gkids for U.S. distribution and is widely expected to make an Oscar push.
The film also took home the audience award for favorite film during the festival, voted by attendees online.
The Jury Award went to legendary filmmaker Bill Plympton for his Cheatin’, a hand-drawn story of lust, love and loss that the two-time Oscar nominee made independently and finished off with Kickstarter cash.
Japan’s Giovanni’s Island (Giovanni no Shima) took home the Jury Distinction. The Japanese and Russian- language film produced by Tokyo’s Production IG, explores friendship and loss during the occupation of Japan by Soviets in the aftermath of WWII.
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In the short film category, the Cristal award went to Dahee Jeong’s Man on the Chair. The film was a co-production between France and South Korea.
France also won the TV production category, taking the Cristal award for En sortant de l’école’s Tant de forêts, from directors Burcu Sankur and Geoffrey Godet.
For a commissioned film, Japan’s Tissue Animals won for director Fuyu Arai and in the graduation category, the U.K.’s Daisy Jacobs took home the Cristal for The Bigger Picture.
Independent prizes were also awarded, including the Fipresci Prize by a jury of international critics, which went to the short film No Fish Where to Go, directed by Nicola Lemay and Janice Nadeau. The film explores the friendship of two little girls from opposing clans in an increasingly tense village.
In the music category, France’s composers and musicians union SACEM awarded their prize to composer Etienne Perruchon for his work on the French-Swiss co-production Hasta Santiago, directed by Mauro Carraro and Pierre Manchot. The film also won the Jean-Luc Xiberras prize for a first film.
French-Japanese co-production Wonder took home the CanalPlus short film award for director Mirai Mizue.
The Gan Foundation prize, which awards assistance in distribution for a work in progress, recognized Simon Rouby’s Adama.
The Festival Connections Award, awarded by a regional committee, went to the U.K.’s Through the Hawthorn, produced by Likely Story and directed by Anna Brenner, Pia Borg, and Gemma Burditt.
