17th 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. .
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)
Short Film
The Miracle by Nienke Deutz
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 directed by Natálie Durchánková
Commissioned Film
Ashnikko: Worms directed by Raman Djafari
Immersive Film
From the Main Square directed by Pedro Harres
Children’s Film
Dewmini directed by Siqi Song