MANCHESTER ANIMATION FESTIVAL REVEALS FILM AWARDS AND INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS
17 November 2023
During a ceremony last night hosted by Edinburgh Comedy Award winning comedian and writer Amy Gledhill, Manchester Animation Festival (MAF) unveiled the winners of the 2023 Industry Excellence Awards and Film Awards. The awards ceremony was held on the 16th November.
This year’s Film Awards, which is the festival’s international film competition, have categories of Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best British Film, Best Student Film, Best Children’s Film, Best Commissioned Film and Best Immersive Film.
For the first time, this year recipients of the festival’s Short Film Award will be eligible for consideration in the Short Films competition of the Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.
The Industry Excellence Awards, which recognise individuals working in industry in the fields of writing, storyboarding character design and character animation. .
THE 2023 INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS ARE:
Script Writing
Frank Cottrell-Boyce for ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ (Lupus Films)
Storyboarding
Kayvon Darabi-Fard for ‘My Father’s Dragon’ (Netflix)
Character Design
Tom Angell for ‘The Sound Collector’ (ITV)
Character Animation
Freddie Elsom for ‘The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince’ Ivandoe (Hanna Barbera Studios Europe)
MANCHESTER ANIMATION FILM AWARD WINNERS ARE:
Short Film
‘The Miracle’ by Nienke Deutz
Special Mention: ‘Whatever Moves is Alive’ by Noémie Marsily
Feature Film
‘Chicken for Linda’ by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
British Animated Short Film
‘All Gucci My Broski’ directed by Harry Plowden
Audience Award
‘King Sausage’ by Mascha Halberstad
Student Film
‘Rising Above’ by Natálie Durchánková
Short Film for Children
‘Dewmini’ directed by Siqi Song
Commissioned Film
‘Ashnikko: Worms’ directed by Raman Djafari
Special Mention: ‘The Lords of Water’ by Golden Wolf
Immersive Award
‘From The Main Square’ directed by Pedro Harres
On receiving the Oscar qualifying Short Film Award, Nienke Deutz said: “Thank you so much. It’s a film that’s really close to my heart, so this is great. Me and the team are really happy.”
The Jury for the Industry Excellence Awards comprised of WILL BECHER (Aardman Animations), JP VINE (Director, ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’), GLEN SOUTHERN (VFX Artist and Digital Sculptor) and ANDREW BURRELL (Writer, ‘Disenchantment’, ‘Danger Mouse’).
The Short Film Category Jury included ANETA OZOREK (Artistic Director of Kaboom Animation Festival), MOHAMED GHAZALA (Vice President of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA) and ORNELA ČOP (Festival Coordinator at Animafest Zagreb).
The Feature Film Jury was made up of CLAIRE JENNINGS (Animation Producer, ‘Coraline’, ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’), KAMBOLE CAMPBELL (Freelance Critic) and KATA GUGIĆ (President of ASIFA Croatia).
The Children’s Film Award was judged by a specially formed panel of 9-14 year olds from Into Film’s Youth Advisory Group.
This years’ Manchester Animation Festival saw a fantastic lineup of events, screenings and panels from leading companies such as Netflix, Aardman and Disney. The festival saw an audience increase of 22%, and, for its industry focused day the Animation Nation Forum, over 72%.
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