Héloïse Ferlay's stop-motion short scores Jury Award for best animated short at AFF 2020; DreamWorks Animation and Taylor Meacham’s animated short, the latest entry in the studio’s shorts program, awarded Audience Award for best animated short;
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) has announced the 2020 Film Competition Jury & Audience Award winners. Following each screening, audience members cast their votes for the Audience Award, recognizing the audience’s festival favorites among the 2020 film slate. Two stand outs in animation were recognized: the Film Jury Award for best animated short went to To The Dusty Sea (À La Mer Poussière), written and directed by Héloïse Ferlay; Dreamworks Animation’s To: Gerard, written and directed by Taylor Meacham, was awarded the Audience Award for best animated short;
A graduation film by Ferlay, To the Dusty Sea uses puppetry and stop-motion animation to tell a story of about two young children, Malo and Zoe, who left to their own devices in the deepest part of summer try to catch their mother’s attention.
To: Gerard, the latest entry in the DreamWorks Shorts program which launched in November 2017, is a love letter from Meacham (making his directorial debut) to his father - one that unifies his love for animation and the art of illusion. In the film, we meet Gerard, who despite working in a post office his entire life, dreams of one day finding his audience as a famous magician, just like his childhood hero. With effortless dexterity that accompanies mastery, this delightfully overgrown kid practices magic every day with a special coin…a gift from The Great Vivonti.
A complete list of AFF winners is available here.
Source: Austin Film Festival
