According to AWN, SIGGRAPH has announced the winners of the 2009 Computer Animation Festival. Competition was stiff and since the SIGGRAPH Festival is pretty much the gateway to nominations for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, everyone was vying for the coveted Best in Show.
“This year’s accepted films really overwhelmed us with the level of technical expertise and expert storytelling, which made the awards decision process extremely difficult,” Carlye Archibeque, SIGGRAPH 2009 Computer Animation Festival Executive Producer. “The winners not only exemplify what makes excellent animation today, but also provide a glimpse into the great things we have awaiting us in the future.”
However the Best in Show prize when to the film FRENCH ROAST, which uses character acting without dialogue, and clever use of camera and mirrors to show an uptight business man’s dilemma of losing his wallet at a coffee house. This film was created by Fabrice O. Joubert of The Pumpkin Factory and his character designes and trailer of FRENCH ROAST can be seen on the Character Design Blog.
Other winners include DIX by BIF Production and The Mill for the Jury Award; ALMA by Rodrigo Blaas and Cecile Hokes for the Jury Honorable mention Award; PROJECT: ALPHA by Matthias Bjarnason, Christian Munk Sørensen, and Nicolai Slothus of The Animation Workshop for the Student Award; and UNBELIEVABLE FOUR by Sukwon Shin and In Pyo Hong for the Well Told Fable Award.
