SELECT ANIMATED SHORTS
Drumroll please!
The Florida Animation Festival (FAF) is the only festival of its kind in the region, celebrating the art of animation in all its forms. From stop-motions to visual effects, there are thousands of frames and keyframes involved that create the magic before our eyes.
The first annual Florida Animation Festival in 2016 was all programmed content-- and it went very well! But we wanted our festival to grow, and to screen unique content from professional, independent, and student animators from around the world. Since our first call for submissions in 2017, we have received over 500 invidual submissions from almost every continent-- looking at you guys, Africa and Antarctica!
2019 presented us with 147 submissions from 25 countries. Of those, 122 worked their way up through a screening selection for showcasing at FAF. 59 moved up into phase two to be entered into the Juried Selections; our international panel of 6 judges scored all of those films based on Story/Content, Visual Aesthetic, Editing, and Euphony. Every screening included audience voting.
Films that moved up to the judges were ranked on a 10-point scale. We will present the awards in the following order:
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Overall winners are presented with up to two honorables and 1 first place per overall category (animation technique), regardless of sub-category.
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Sub-category winners by genre, meaning Student, Independent, and Professional animators in all 5 categories (animation technique) are awarded up to 2 honorable mentions and one first place.
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Films that scored at 6.6 and above are awarded first places, with the top three of those being our best in show as well as 1st place.
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Films that scored 5-6.5 are honorable mentions.
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Some sub-categories did not have firsts or two honorables based on scoring outlined above, and you will likely see some overlaps across the two different award types.
Without further ado, we are proud to announce the results of the 2019 Florida Animation Festival's Submitted Shorts!
Fun Fact: we compiled all of the winners in this video, or you can visit our social media pages to watch it all!
BEST IN SHOW
Directed by Liron Topaz, Pierre Perfiel, JP Sans | USA
A lonesome Bilby finds himself an unwitting protector and unexpected friend to a helpless baby bird.
BEST IN SHOW: FIRST PLACE
Directed by Frédéric Schuld, Valentin Riedl | Germany
As a child, Carlotta didn’t expect the people around here to have faces. She even doesn’t recognize her own face. Years later, she learns about a rare, untreatable deficit of her brain. It was art, after all, that offered her a way to finally recognize herself.
BEST IN SHOW: SECOND PLACE (TIED)
LOVE ME, FEAR ME
Directed by Veronica Solomon | Germany
"What would you be willing to do for them to love you? "
LOVE ME, FEAR ME is a dance metaphor about the roles we play and the shapes we take, about the stages we chose, the audience we try to impress and the price of acceptance.
BEST IN SHOW: SECOND PLACE (TIED)
CATEGORY: 3D ANIMATION
Directed by Liron Topaz, Pierre Perifel, JP Sans| USA
A lonesome Bilby finds himself an unwitting protector and unexpected friend to a helpless baby bird.
3D ANIMATION: FIRST PLACE
GAME CHANGER
Directed by Aviv Mano | USA
A macho toy arcade prize is quick to judge a young girl who wants to win him, and goes on a life changing journey in attempt to stop her from winning enough tickets and taking him home.
3D ANIMATION: HONORABLE MENTION
REBOOTED
Directed by Sagar Arun, Rachel Kral | USA
When Retro Owl Guy and his rebooted counterpart, Owl Guy, come face-to-face for the first time, they must learn to put their differences aside in order to defeat the Lumberjack.
3D ANIMATION: HONORABLE MENTION
CATEGORY: 2D ANIMATION
Directed by Frédéric Schuld, Valentin Riedl | Germany
As a child, Carlotta didn’t expect the people around here to have faces. She even doesn’t recognize her own face. Years later, she learns about a rare, untreatable deficit of her brain. It was art, after all, that offered her a way to finally recognize herself.
2D ANIMATION: FIRST PLACE
HOUNDS
Directed by Ido Shapira, Amit Cohen | Israel
The life of a dog, trained to act as human, changes when a pack of Hounds gathers around his house.
2D ANIMATION: HONORABLE MENTION
Directed by Raymond Limantara Sutisna | Singapore
Balance is a 2D animated short film about a boy and a girl fighting for painting space, both refusing to give in until the mess they create goes out of control. They then realise the only way out is to work together and strive for coexistence.
2D ANIMATION: HONORABLE MENTION
CATEGORY: FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL
Directed by Scott Farrel | USA
After countless blind dates that have gone poorly, Bernard swears that his next date will be "the one." But could her flaw be too much for him to overcome? Bristled is a hand drawn comedic short film that deals the way we perceive others as well as ourselves.
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL: FIRST PLACE
FUSE
Directed by Shadi Adib | Germany
A mousetrap snaps shut, a market place awakens. A group of men heatedly discuss how to kill the animal in the little box.
One after the other, they try to trump each other’s sadistic fantasies, and even a stranger’s suggestion to let the creature loose, turns out to be a sick manipulation. But as the macabre game unfolds and spirals out of control, both victim and tormentor suffer the same fate.
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL: HONORABLE MENTION
Directed by Ani Antonova | Austria
In 16th Century the elephant Süleyman makes a long journey from Ceylon to Portugal, then walks the whole way from Lisbon to Vienna trough the Alps for five months. To be a living royal gift is not an easy job, where even the death is not a peaceful end.
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL: HONORABLE MENTION
CATEGORY: MIXED MEDIA/EXPERIMENTAL
LEMONS
Directed by Daniela Godel | Spain and France
Emerging from the water, Nadir, the blue man, goes on a bicycle journey through villages and arid mountains. He will cross paths with the mysterious Derina, creator of life.
MIXED MEDIA/EXPERIMENTAL: FIRST PLACE
SUGARLOVE
Directed by Laura Luchetti | Italy
Gemma and Marcello are about to get married. They have long desired this moment. Like all the newlyweds promise eternal love, but Gemma and Marcello are not like all the spouses. Gemma and Marcello are two statues of sugar on a wedding cake ..
MIXED MEDIA/EXPERIMENTAL: HONORABLE MENTION
ABEO
Directed by Brenda López Zepeda | Canada
ABEO is a hard hitting mixed media animated short that depicts the journey of Nadia and Lupe, two immigrants who risked their lives to cross the Arizona desert in search for a better life.
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL: HONORABLE MENTION
CATEGORY: STOP MOTION
LOVE ME, FEAR ME
Directed by Veronica Solomon | Germany
"What would you be willing to do for them to love you? "
LOVE ME, FEAR ME is a dance metaphor about the roles we play and the shapes we take, about the stages we chose, the audience we try to impress and the price of acceptance.
STOP MOTION: FIRST PLACE
GOOD INTENTIONS
Directed by Anna Mantzaris | United Kingdom
After a young woman is responsible for a hit and run, strange and spooky things starts to happen... A small thriller about people that are not always the best at making decision
STOP MOTION: HONORABLE MENTION
Directed by Cesar Diaz | Spain
Life can arise anywhere, nature behave strangely and days can last for minutes. Although everything is familiar to us, nothing is what it seems in this place.
STOP MOTION: HONORABLE MENTION
2D ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: INDEPENDENT ANIMATORS
Directed by Frédéric Schuld, Valentin Riedl
5 minutes | Germany | PG
--
As a child, Carlotta didn’t expect the people around here to have faces. She even doesn’t recognize her own face. Years later, she learns about a rare, untreatable deficit of her brain. It was art, after all, that offered her a way to finally recognize herself.
FIRST PLACE,
Independent Animator - 2D Animation
KIDS
Directed by Michael Frei
9 minutes | Switzerland | PG
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An animated short exploring group dynamics. How do we define ourselves when we are all equal?
HONORABLE MENTION,
Independent Animator - 2D Animation
RIDE
Directed by Richard O'Connor
2 minutes | Brooklyn, NY | G
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At the lowest point of my life, I met people on the other side of the world who made me want to belong to the living. This is the story of that moment.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Independent Animator - 2D Animation
2D ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: STUDENT ANIMATORS
FUSE
Directed by Shadi Adib
7.5 minutes | Germany | R (strong language, mature themes)
--
A mousetrap snaps shut, a market place awakens. A group of men heatedly discuss how to kill the animal in the little box.
One after the other, they try to trump each other’s sadistic fantasies, and even a stranger’s suggestion to let the creature loose, turns out to be a sick manipulation. But as the macabre game unfolds and spirals out of control, both victim and tormentor suffer the same fate.
FIRST PLACE,
Student Animator - 2D Animation
ELEVATOR HITCH
Directed by Jack Muino
1 minute | Savannah, GA | G
--
When a little child walks into an empty elevator, he ends up having an adventure, far beyond his wildest dreams.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - 2D Animation
PREY
Directed by Jing Sun
6 minutes | Los Angeles, CA | G
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As an ancient eastern proverb described: “a mantis hunting the cicada unknowingly falls prey to the eyes of an oriole.”— the most vivid view of natural cycle in human societies is best seen through lens of karma on a microscopic scale.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - 2D Animation
3D ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: PROFESSIONAL ANIMATORS
BILBY
Directed by Liron Topaz, Pierre Perifel, JP Sans
8 minutes | Las Angeles | G
--
A lonesome Bilby finds himself an unwitting protector and unexpected friend to a helpless baby bird.
FIRST PLACE,
Professional Animator - 3D Animation
THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH EXTENDABLE ARMS
Directed by Luca Paulli
2 minutes | United Kingdom | G
--
What would you do if you had a pill that gave you extendable arms? Bring a whole new world within your reach.
A brand new pill: Ugrow, you but better.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Professional Animator - 3D Animation
3D ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: STUDENT ANIMATORS
GAME CHANGER
Directed by Aviv Mano
2.5 minutes | Sarasota, FL | G
--
A macho toy arcade prize is quick to judge a young girl who wants to win him, and goes on a life changing journey in attempt to stop her from winning enough tickets and taking him home.
FIRST PLACE,
Student Animator - 3D Animation
CAUSIMS
Directed by Toberg
2.5 minute | United Kingdom | PG
--
An impossible microcosm generated out of simulated nature completely departed from reality in an impossible microcosm generated out of simulated nature completely departed from reality in an impossible microcosm generated out of simulated nature...
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - 3D Animation
IN AN EMPTY WOOD
Directed by Chia-Hsin Lee
2.5 minutes | Valencia, CA | G
--
This is a poetic animation film on the jealousy of seeing someone succeed in a path you once considered.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator
EXPERIMENTAL/MIXED MEDIA ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: PROFESSIONAL ANIMATORS
SUGARLOVE
Directed by Laura Luchetti
9 minutes | Italy | PG-13
--
Gemma and Marcello are about to get married. They have long desired this moment. Like all the newlyweds promise eternal love, but Gemma and Marcello are not like all the spouses. Gemma and Marcello are two statues of sugar on a wedding cake
FIRST PLACE,
Professional Animator - Experimental Animation
GUNSHOP
Directed by Patrick Smith
2 minutes | Montauk, NY | PG
--
There are currently 393 million firearms in the US. This film shows 2328 of them. “Gun Shop” juxtaposes the frightening visual power of guns with a whimsy of Jazz percussion, and a dose of cultural irony.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Professional Animator - Experimental Animation
THINGS WERE BETTER BEFORE
Directed by Lu Pulici
6 minutes | Italy | G
--
Tankus the Henge and Trukitrek Puppet Company have dreamt up an animation that is both beautiful in it's design and poignant in its message dealing as it does with environmental issues, specifically the death of our oceans. The film, made entirely using found or recycled materials, is a “Wake-up Machine” to those who view it, encouraging green and sustainable thinking to a society which needs to pay attention and affect real change before it’s too late.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Professional Animator - Experimental Animation
EXPERIMENTAL/MIXED MEDIA ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: INDEPENDENT ANIMATORS
DATASTREAMIMAGINATION
Directed by Eric Kunzendorf
6 minutes | Jacksonville, FL | G
--
datastreamimagination is a fusion of data and imagination that finds its expression through the streaming medium of animation. Both a noun and a verb, the idea of stream can be though of as expressing the entire work at once. But it may also be synonymous with the act of playing or “streaming” the work for an audience. The narrative interrogates ideas of building complexity from simplicity, destruction being necessary for creation, imagination overcoming even death and opposites giving form to each other.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Independent Animator - Experimental Animation
ONE LAST TIME
Directed by Javier Longobardo
5.5 minutes | Spain | PG
--
A flies' carnival inside a soldier corpse.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Independent Animator - Experimental Animation
EXPERIMENTAL/MIXED MEDIA ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: STUDENT ANIMATORS
LEMONS
Directed by Daniela Godel
4.5 minutes | Spain and France | G
--
Emerging from the water, Nadir, the blue man, goes on a bicycle journey through villages and arid mountains. He will cross paths with the mysterious Derina, creator of life.
FIRST PLACE,
Student Animator - Experimental Animation
ABEO
Directed by Brenda López Zepeda
7 minutes | Canada | PG-13
--
ABEO is a hard hitting mixed media animated short that depicts the journey of Nadia and Lupe, two immigrants who risked their lives to cross the Arizona desert in search for a better life.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - Experimental Animation
NEGATIVE SPACES
Directed by Michaela Wadzinski
6 minutes | Lincoln, NE | PG
--
What if your sketchbook drawings came to life? The possibilities of an open page are exciting, but being erasable has its drawbacks.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - Experimental Animation
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: PROFESSIONAL ANIMATORS
BRISTLED
Directed by Scott Farrell
5 minutes | Queens, NY | PG-13
--
After countless blind dates that have gone poorly, Bernard swears that his next date will be "the one." But could her flaw be too much for him to overcome? Bristled is a hand drawn comedic short film that deals the way we perceive others as well as ourselves.
FIRST PLACE,
Professional Animator - Frame-by-Frame Animation
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: INDEPENDENT ANIMATORS
THE FLOOD IS COMING
Directed by Gabriel Böhmer
9 minutes | United Kingdom | PG
--
A forest hermit tries to prepare for a flood, but he becomes distracted by his noisy neighbour - who happens to be the hermit's left eye. The Flood is Coming explores the growing anxiety about the state of nature, and our place in it.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Independent Animator - Frame-by-Frame Animation
FRAME-BY-FRAME/TRADITIONAL ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: STUDENT ANIMATORS
THE BACKWARD ASTRONOMER
Directed by Gabriel Böhmer
9 minutes | United Kingdom | PG
--
A forest hermit tries to prepare for a flood, but he becomes distracted by his noisy neighbour - who happens to be the hermit's left eye. The Flood is Coming explores the growing anxiety about the state of nature, and our place in it.
FIRST PLACE,
Student Animator - Frame-by-Frame Animation
The Outlander
Directed by Ani Antonova
5.5 minutes | Austria | G
--
In 16th Century the elephant Süleyman makes a long journey from Ceylon to Portugal, then walks the whole way from Lisbon to Vienna trough the Alps for five months. To be a living royal gift is not an easy job, where even the death is not a peaceful end.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - Frame-by-Frame Animation
Conversation
Directed by Star Bazancir and Carl Hedsved
5 minutes | Sweden | G
--
A peculiar conversation in space between man and God. What does it mean to possess and lose, to grow up, to age and die? After a series of flashbacks the conversation gets an unexpected turn and there is nothing left to grasp - there has never been anything to grasp. This is a story based on a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - Frame-by-Frame Animation
STOP-MOTION ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: PROFESSIONAL ANIMATORS
DOROTHY THE WANDERER
Directed by Emmanuelle Gorgiard
8.5 minutes | France | G
--
Rosine, Aglaé, Marguerite and Clarisse never really live any wild adventure. Therefore, they don't know much about the world outside of it. One day, they see a very strange and hairy creature who is sleeping in their very own meadow.
FIRST PLACE,
Professional Animator - Stop-Motion Animation
STING OF THE CACTUS
Directed by Bekky O'Neil
2.5 minutes | Ontario, Canada | G
--
In this fun-filled slice of musical life, stop-motion animator and cartoonist Bekky O'Neil captures singer-songwriter's Ori Dagan's journey in jazz, from the streets of Toronto to the world stage.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Professional Animator - Stop-Motion Animation
STOP-MOTION ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: INDEPENDENT ANIMATORS
MIX
Directed by Kotoko NAKAMURA
6.5 minutes | Japan | PG
--
A “lie” hidden within a happy-looking family.
For what, for whom is this secret kept?
What is important to you in this “mix” of a world? Fact or fiction? Right or wrong?
HONORABLE MENTION,
Independent Animator - Stop-Motion Animation
STOP-MOTION ANIMATION
SUB-CATEGORY: STUDENT ANIMATORS
LOVE ME, FEAR ME
Directed by Veronica Solomon
6 minutes | Germany | PG
--
"What would you be willing to do for them to love you? "
LOVE ME, FEAR ME is a dance metaphor about the roles we play and the shapes we take, about the stages we chose, the audience we try to impress and the price of acceptance.
FIRST PLACE,
Student Animator - Stop-Motion Animation
GOOD INTENTIONS
Directed by Anna Mantzaris
8.5 minutes | United Kingdom | PG
--
After a young woman is responsible for a hit and run, strange and spooky things starts to happen... A small thriller about people that are not always the best at making decisions.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - Stop-Motion Animation
EXPEND
Directed by Bismark Fernandes
4 minutes | Savannah, GA | PG
--
A stop-motion film about a man’s endless hunt for elusive energy sources in a decaying world.
HONORABLE MENTION,
Student Animator - Stop-Motion Animation