OIAF 08 Post-Festival
We're excited to announce our new mid-Autumn dates for
OIAF 09!
The next edition of the Ottawa International Animation Festival will run October 14 to 18, 2009. We are looking forward to welcoming new and old friends to the beautiful fall colours of the Ottawa landscape. Join us to watch the leaves turn, see the geese fly south, and of course enjoy some outstanding animation!
Now that we've all had some time to recover, we can look back at what turned out to be our biggest and best festival yet! With exciting new venues, record attendance to TAC, and 13% more passholders than last year, it was certainly a festival to remember.
Here is a look at the Grand Prize winners selected by our International Jury:
NELVANA GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATIONChainsaw, directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia
GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Terra, directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas
MyToons GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST STUDENT ANIMATIONI Slept With Cookie Monster, directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, USA
GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST COMMISSIONED ANIMATIONSony Bravia 'Play-Doh', directed by Frank Budgen & Darren Walsh, UK
Click here for the complete list of award winners!
If you missed any of the fun this year, or if you want to take a walk down memory lane, be sure to check out the photo gallery for some of the highlights!
The crew at TAC was sad to see the conference go by so quickly; however, we are very pleased to announce that TAC 2008 welcomed over
370 attendees from over
200 companies. We'd like to thank everybody for joining us for this milestone edition.
We would also like to give special thanks to our keynote speakers Brown Johnson, Seth Green and Matt Senreich, as well as our prestigious guests and panelists. It was a dizzying two days, and we look forward to doing it all again next year for our new mid-Autumn dates, October 14 & 15, 2009.
If you want your school, film co-op, or theatre to be the destination for animation fans in your town, look no further! Organize a screening of one of the best animated touring programs there is: Best of Ottawa 2008!
The Best of Ottawa program showcases some of the finest animation to take part in competition each year. The 2008 program includes such highlights as Run Wrake's hilarious adventure
The Control Master; Andy and Carolyn London's thought-provoking
A Letter to Colleen; underground legend Bruce Bickford's brain-melting trip
The Comic that Frenches Your Mind; and the intense and award-winning
Chainsaw from director Dennis Tupicoff.
Since
Chainsaw is unable to screen at all venues, we will also be assembling an alternate program in which the Grand Prize winner will be replaced by a selection of other films from the very best of this year's crop. This alternate program will be screened only when Chainsaw is unavailable.
Click here for the full line-up, updated screening dates, and information on bookings.
“Animation lost a pal the other night... and more than that the world lost another good person. And I don't mean that in a glib, ‘he's dead so let's say only nice things’ sorta way. Emru Townsend was truly a good person. He was compassionate, sharing and positive to the point of making me uncomfortable (hey, that's just me. It's easier to be cynical). We weren't buddies, pals, chums, bros, but we did know each other for about 12 years. I am forever grateful to Emru for being the first person to publish my writing on animation. It was in his beloved magazine Fps. I submitted a piece just for the heck of it and was quite pleased when Emru accepted it. It gave me confidence as a writer and told me that, hey, maybe this is a path I want to explore. So, selfishly, I thank you for that Emru.
What's with animation losing good young people lately? Helen Hill. Wendy Jackson Hall. Emru Townsend. I guess the gods above, below and beyond don't like the toons. It's not fair. It sucks.
Meantime... I send all things good to Emru's family... and especially to Vicky, Max and Tamu.”
- Chris Robinson
In memory of Emru, we encourage you to add yourself to your country's bone marrow and stem cell registry and to tell others to do the same. Please visit www.healemru.com for information, links, and materials to help you get the word out.
Our friends at the
South Beach International Animation Festival have announced their call for entries, so now is the time to submit! The
November 15th early-bird deadline is just days away, followed by the official deadline of
January 15, 2009.
Although there is a small entry fee, the money will be fully refunded to any filmmakers whose work is not selected. So you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain!
Visit www.southbeachanimationfestival.com for all the information you need!
Need something to pass the time until next October? Why not pick up Artistic Director Chris Robinson's new book
Ballad of a Thin Man: In Search of Ryan Larkin from
Amazon.com,
Chapters/Indigo, or your nearest local book store? (Don't worry. We know we're shameless when it comes to self-promotion.)
After a huge festival this year, we are not stopping for a moment! Plans for
OIAF 09 are well underway, and it promises to be a big one. Here's a preview of what you can expect:
- A 20th anniversary celebration of German powerhouse
Studio Film Bilder- An exciting look at
Contemporary Quebec Animation.
- Filmmaker retrospectives including the surreal images of
Suzan Pitt and
Stan Vanderbeek- A showcase of the the bizarre, hilarious work of pop-culture phenomenon
Don Hertzfeldt... and there is much more to come! Stay tuned to
www.animationfestival.ca for all the news!
www.grimmarket.com
