Tonko House Studio's ‘The Dam Keeper’ wins the inaugural award for Best Animated Short; Vancouver Film School short ‘Religatio’ receives special mention for Best Student Film.
SPARK CG Society announced that The Dam Keeper (USA), directed by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo, has won the inaugural award for Best Animated Short at the 2014 SPARK ANIMATION Conference, Film Festival and Job Fair. The award was announced at the final shorts program on October 26 at the Vancity Theatre in Vancouver, B.C.
Produced by Tonko House Studio, The Dam Keeper tells the tale of a young pig with an important job, and a new classmate who changes everything. The short film blends traditional hand-drawn animation with digital painting techniques to bring Kondo and Tsutsumi's celebrated painting style to life.
The jury was led by Academy Award winning director David Fine, who won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 1995 for Bob's Birthday. As Jury President, David also announced a special President’s Prize to Timber, directed by Nils Hedinger from Switzerland.
A Canadian short, Religatio, directed by Jaime Giraldo of Vancouver Film School was one of four films to receive an Honourable Mention for Best Student Animated Short.
Special Mention for Excellence in Cinematics went to Assassin's Creed Unity: E3 Cinematic, directed by TrailerIstván Zorkóczy of Hungary. The Special Mention for Excellence in Animated Music Video was awarded to Sodagreen: Story, directed by Muh Chen from Taiwan.
The full list of award recipients is shown below:
WINNER, BEST ANIMATED SHORT
The Dam Keeper
Dice Tsutsumi, Robert Kondo (United States)
PRESIDENT’S PRIZE
Timber
Nils Hedinger (Switzerland)
SPECIAL MENTION FOR EXCELLENCE IN CINEMATICS
Assassin's Creed Unity: E3 Cinematic
TrailerIstván Zorkóczy (Hungary)
SPECIAL MENTION FOR EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO
Sodagreen: Story
Muh Chen (Taiwan)
HONOURABLE MENTION, ANIMATED SHORT
Bear Story
Gabriel Osorio (Chile)
HONOURABLE MENTION, STUDENT ANIMATED SHORT
Religatio
Jaime Giraldo (Canada)
Mortal Infernal Breakup
Paula Assadourian, Marlène Beaube, Débora Cruchon, Maxime Delalande, Thibaud Gayral, Batiste Perron (France)
Cupidiculous
Panop Koonwat (Thailand)
Chaud Lapin
Geraldine Gaston, Flora Andrivon, Alexis Magaud, Mael Berreur, Soline Bejuy (France)
SPARK ANIMATION is a celebration of Animation from around the world. The Conference, Film Festival and Job Fair featured the premiere of local co-production, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, and the legendary animator Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast) who presented his latest project, Duet. Film Festival co-presented with the Vancity Theatre.
Source: Spark Computer Graphics Society
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
