2024 SPARK ANIMATION Festival Awards Announcements
– The Spark Computer Graphics Society (SPARK CG) held its awards ceremony for the 2024 SPARK ANIMATION Festival.
– The festival showcased talent worldwide and specifically within Canada.
– The animation awards celebrated diversity in storytelling and innovation in filmmaking.
– The cream of the crop? The Lifetime Achievement Award, which went to none other than Torill Kove, a Canadian animation whizz.
Well, That’s the Torill of the Tape!
Animate This! SPARK CG Lights Up the Animation World
And the award goes to…the animation community for keeping us amused, amazed, and sometimes, brilliantly confounded, with their magic! This year’s SPARK ANIMATION Festival beamed up a fantastically diverse range of talent from all around the globe (not just the usual places). But let’s get to the crowning jewel. The Lifetime Achievement Award, presented as delicately as a royal scepter, to the ruler of the animation realm – Torill Kove! Canadian extraordinaire and animation auteur, Kove has been sweeping us off our feet into a whirlwind of whimsical worlds, all conjured from the depths of her brilliant imagination. Now, isn’t that a story worth animating?
However, this isn’t just about the awards, but also about the reality that animation continues to evolve and surprise us in myriad ways. From the mind-blowing technology to the heart-tugging narratives – the world of 3D animation is more alive than a cartoon character on their fourth cup of “wake-up juice”. After all, there’s nothing quite like watching inanimate objects take on a life of their own! So here’s to the animators, the mad scientists of the art world who keep the kid in every one of us awestruck and full of wonder. Keep those pencils sketching, and those pixels dancing!
Announcing the 2024 award winners of the Spark Computer Graphics Society (SPARK CG)‘s prestigious SPARK ANIMATION Festival! Worldwide and Canadian talents get recognized this year, spotlighting distinct narratives and cutting-edge filmmaking.
Maybe Elephants (Directed by Torill Kove, National Film Board of Canada/Mikrofilm)
The coveted Lifetime Achievement Award goes to celebrated Canadian animator and filmmaker, Torill Kove, for her extraordinary contributions to animation artistry.
Best known for her Oscar-winning short, The Danish Poet, Kove continues to mentor the upcoming generation of animators with her narrative expertise. Also, she’s bagged this year’s Canadian Film accolade for her recent short, Maybe Elephants (Mikrofilm/NFB).
The Academy Award®-Qualifying Best in Show prize goes to In the Shadow of the Cypress by directors Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani (Iran) for their profoundly elegant film, which now stands a chance for an Oscar in Animated Short Film category, testifying their top-notch animation talent.
Let’s highlight a few more award honorees:
- Film Diversity Award – Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman (Canada)
- Organization Diversity Award – Zombie Studio (Brazil)
- Jury’s Pick – The Ones Who Never See the Moon (France) by ECOLE MoPA students Solène Marché, Lou Thoby, Tom Saurel, Evelyne Philippart, Marie Fantini, Amélie Soto
- Director’s Choice – Razor Ruckus (Canada) directed by APPI
- Best Student Film – Mum’s Spaghetti (UK) by Lisa Kenney
- Top Music Video – Hero (Brazil) by Paulo Garcia
- Best Student Music Video – Rabbits Have Red Eyes (South Korea) by Yoonsun Lee and Jiwon Choi of Kaywon University
- GameVerse Pick – Control – Juno Hero Trailer (USA) by Brian Horn
You can find the complete list of winners here.
The awards were selected by the esteemed jury of the festival on September 28 and 29 in Vancouver, and will be officially given out at the SPARK ANIMATION CELEBRATION on Sunday, November 3, 2024, in Vancouver. Post the event, you can watch these award-winning animations on demand on SPARK ANIMATION Online from November 4 to December 31.
Our award winners spotlight the phenomenal creativity, diversity, and international appeal of animation as an expressive medium.
-Marina Antunes (Festival Director)
Book your spot for in-person events now at sparkanimation.ca
Original article: https://www.skwigly.co.uk/2024-spark-animation-festival-awards/