OIAF 2023 Wraps with Awards
by Staff Editors
(September 25, 2023 – Toronto, ON) Over the weekend, the 2023 edition of the Ottawa International Film Festival closed with the announcement of this year’s awards. It was a great year for Canadian animated films.
The Grand Prize for Feature Animation was given to Adam change lentement (When Adam Changes, pictured above), directed by Joël Vaudreuil. Adam is a highly impressionable teenager. The examples are at first funny. For example, when he goes to visit his grandmother in the hospital for a final goodbye, she croaks her final words, a comment about his “long torso”, which causes his body to literally extend. It’s been this way all his life. Whenever his body is mocked, it distorts to reflect the callous comments of relatives and his fellow teens. His physical transformations are in some ways the least of his worries as he tries to navigate teenage life in late 1990s Québec complete with an impossible crush, pool parties, summer jobs, and a bit of existential dread. Remember this name because Adam change lentement (When Adam Changes) is the feature debut for director Joël Vaudreuil.
Miserable Miracle from director Ryo Orikasa) won the Grand Prize for Short Animation. The Canadian animated short, Albums de familles (Families’ Albums) from director Moïa Jobin-Paré, was honoured with the award for Best Non-Narrative Short.
This year’s DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation winner, Un trou dans la poitrine (A Crab in the Pool) by directors Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel, dared to show audiences how imagination can transform trauma.
The Hélène Tanguay Award for Humour is the latest OIAF award and was created in memory of the late Hélène Tanguay. It was awarded to Pipes by directors Kilian Feusi, Jessica Meier, and Sujanth Ravichandran.
Coming off its recent win at the Toronto International Film Festival, Electra, directed by Daria Kashcheeva, is a film that blends live-action and stop-motion animation. It was awarded the Wacom Public Prize. The Best Narrative Short Award went to Tomek Popakul and Kasumi Ozeki for Zima, which painted a portrait of a world turned inhospitable leaving audiences to question their perception of self.
The DGC Award for Best Canadian Animationwas given to Un trou dans la poitrine (A Crab in the Pool) by co-directors Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel. Honourable Mentions went to La fille au béret rouge (The Girl with the Red Beret) (dir. Janet Perlman) and A Bear Named Jesus (dir. Terril Calder).
In keeping with tradition, the OIAF 2023 award statues were designed by Ottawa-based scrap metal artist Tick Tock Tom. The statues are working phénakisticopes featuring an animation by New York artist George Griffin.
Click here for a full list of all the award-winners at the 2023 Ottawa International Film Festival.
SOURCE: OIAF
