Films
Competition
The Official Competition is a Festival highlight, with 92 short animated films (including VR and Series) and 6 animated feature films vying for an award. An international, six-person jury will be handing out prizes on Friday, October 3.
The Official Competition features works selected from the 1950 entries coming from 84 different countries.
Audiences can watch the Gala screenings for the eight Short Competition and two Young Audiences Competition programmes running “live” at set times throughout the 12 days of the OIAF. Filmmakers will be introduced and get your questions ready for a Q & A afterwards.
The Animated Series Competition, Canadian Student Competition, Feature Competition, and Virtual Reality Competition will be available On Demand.
Also don’t miss Meet the Filmmakers. Festival Artistic Director Chris Robinson will be chatting with Official Competition filmmakers about their work. Meet the Filmmakers will be available in Video on Demand.
Please note the ratings. Some programs are not suitable for younger viewers.
The Best of Ottawa 2020
Short Film Competitions
Short Film Jury
Pixie Cram is a filmmaker and animator who lives in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. She creates work on themes of nature, technology, and war. Her films have screened at festivals across North America, in Europe, and in China. On top of her own art practice, she works as a freelance director, cinematographer, and editor.
Don McWilliams is a live action and animation filmmaker. Meeting Norman McLaren in 1968 inspired him to become a filmmaker. He would later work with McLaren and this lead to two films on McLaren – Creative Process: Norman McLaren (1990), and Norman McLaren: Animated Musician (2014). McWilliams’ other films include The Passerby (1995), which was selected as one of the best 50 filmic essays since 1895 by the Vienna Film Festival in 2007; he was nominated for an Oscar® as producer and editor of Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square in 1999.McWilliams taught experimental animation and documentary production in Norway, and has been a part of the NFB Animation Studio for four decades.
Wong Ping was born in Hong Kong, and received his BA from Curtin University, Perth, Australia in 2005. As a self-taught animator, Wong’s videos take on a bright and childlike aesthetic, creating a light-hearted, humourous, and accessible approach to the deep psychological issues experienced by the protagonists in his films. In 2018, he was the recipient of the inaugural Camden Arts Centre Emerging Arts Prize, and in 2019 he was one of the winners of the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition at the 48th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Wong’s work is held in several permanent collections including Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; M+, Hong Kong; KADIST, Paris/San Francisco; Fosun Art Foundation, Shanghai, among others.Young Audiences Competitions
Feature Film Competition
Feature Competition Jury
Brandon Blommaert is a Montreal based artist who has been working with synesthetic merging of sound and image since he began his animation practice in 2004. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, he obtained his BFA at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, Alberta and moved to Montreal in 2008 to take part in the National Film Board of Canada’s Hothouse program. Brandon has a diverse practice that includes experimental and narrative filmmaking, sound and still image creation. His recent film e:e:e:e:e was selected as Arte TV’s top 10 projects of the Wrong Biennale as well as revue24images.com critic’ choice for 2015’s best short films.
Lise Fearnley began her animation career as Director of Photography for puppet master Pjotr Sapegin. She started working as a producer, and in 1996 she co-founded Mikrofilm. Lise has produced more than 30 animated shorts, as well as a broad range of commissioned films. Among her credits is Torill Kove’s Oscar winning short, The Danish Poet, with NFB as co-producer. Lise and Mikrofilm are currently in production with their feature film debut, Titina, directed by Kajsa Næss.
Amy Kravitz started making animated films when she was eleven. She studied Social Anthropology at Harvard University (AB), and Experimental Animation at California Institute of the Arts (MFA). Her films have won many awards and have screened throughout the world. Her animation is a quiet testimony to the intimate collaboration between viewer and maker that takes experience, encourage students to develop individual approaches to the medium. Her classes explore animation as a distinct language that employs unusual materials, unique spatial expressions, and visual metaphors as its grammar.Virtual Reality Competition
NOTE: Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, the Virtual Reality Competition will only be available to OIAF passholders.
Panorama
The Panorama programmes feature selections of outstanding new animated short films from across Canada and around the world, as well as a variety of new international student work in the World Student Panorama.
All three programmes will be available On Demand.
Special Programmes and Retrospectives
A selection of special retrospectives from celebrated and noteworthy animators and studios.
All five retrospectives will be available On Demand.