email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

ANIMAFEST ZAGREB 2019 Awards / GoCritic!

Acid Rain scoops the Grand Prix and Audience Award at Animafest Zagreb

by 

- The Polish film has triumphed in the shorts competition, while Ruben Brandt, Collector picked up the main prize in the feature-length competition

Acid Rain scoops the Grand Prix and Audience Award at Animafest Zagreb
Tomek Popakul, the director of Acid Rain, with his Grand Prix for Best Short Film

The 29th edition of Animafest Zagreb – World Festival of Animated Film, the second-oldest animation festival in the world, ended with its awards ceremony on Saturday 8 June and a double win for Polish filmmaker Tomek Popakul's Acid Rain. The 26-minute film picked up both the Grand Prix and the Audience Award in the Grand Competition – Short Film category.

The jury, consisting of Boris Labbé, Ruth Lingford, Michaela Müller, Tünde Vollenbroek and Chen Xi, was particularly impressed with the immersive quality of Acid Rain. The film, which combines animated 2D drawings and 3D models, portrays a young woman’s drug-fuelled search for identity through a one-of-a-kind audiovisual trip.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Further prizes in the Grand Competition – Short Film strand went to films by German-speaking auteurs: the Golden Zagreb Award for Creativity and Innovative Artistic Achievement was given to Swiss filmmaker Michael Frei for Kids, a clever and minimalistic film about interactive group dynamics that was realised through the Unity gaming engine. Meanwhile, the Zlatko Grgić Award for the Best First Film made outside an educational institution went to the German drawn animation Flood by Malte Stein, an acerbically funny coming-of-age story set in a dystopian world. Each of the jurors went on to give a Special Mention to a film that particularly spoke to them: for the full list, please scroll down.

Fine arts were one of the topics in focus at this year’s Animafest, and the awards were a nice reflection of this, as the Hungarian title Ruben Brandt, Collector [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Milorad Krstić, a film noir dealing with the heist of 13 paintings, bagged the Grand Prix in the Grand Competition – Feature Film.

Jurors Frank Gladstone, Dine Goder and Dalibor Barić also decided to give a Special Mention to the French-Belgian-Luxembourgish-Cambodian co-production Funan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Do
film profile
]
by Denis Do, a 2D computer-animated, personal film about family ties during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror in Cambodia. The cinemagoers were clearly also moved, and the film therefore also received the Audience Award.

The joint jury of the Student and Croatian Film Competition, consisting of Nikita Diakur, Vasco Sá and Bruno Razum, gave the Dušan Vukotić Award for Best Student Film, worth €1,000, to the Czech stop-motion short After by Matouš Valchář.

In the Croatian Film Competition, the main prize, which comes with €1,000 in cash, sponsored by the Croatian Directors’ Association, went to the Estonian-Croatian co-production A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts by Morten Tšinakov and Lucija Mrzljak.

This year, for the first time ever, Animafest Zagreb recognised efforts in VR filmmaking, and jurors David Doutel, Marc Betrand and Milan Gostimir crowned the French piece Accused #2 Walter Sisulu by Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte as the winner in this section. The experience allows users to explore the overtly racist Rivonia Trial of Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela’s mentor.

During the six days of Animafest Zagreb, 400 films were screened, and several exhibitions and performances took place, in addition to the annual Scanner symposium.

Here is the full list of award winners: 

Grand Competition - Short Film

Grand Prix
Acid Rain - Tomek Popakul (Poland)

Golden Zagreb Award for Creativity and Artistic Achievement
Kids - Michael Frei (Switzerland)

Zlatko Grgić Award for Best First Film
Flood - Malte Stein (Germany)

Special Mention from Boris Labbé
No Objects - Moïa Jobin-Paré (Canada)

Special Mention from Ruth Lingford
Five Minutes to Sea - Natalia Mirzoyan (Russia)

Special Mention from Michaela Müller
Roughhouse - Jonathan Hodgson (UK/France)

Special Mention from Tünde Vollenbroek
Si So Mi - Xu-Zhan Zhang (Taiwan)

Special Mention from Chen Xi
Imbued Life - Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson (Croatia)

Audience Award
Acid Rain - Tomek Popakul

Grand Competition - Feature Film

Grand Prix
Ruben Brandt, Collector [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Milorad Krstić (Hungary)

Special Mention
Funan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Do
film profile
]
- Denis Do (France/Belgium/Luxembourg/Cambodia)

Audience Award
Funan – Denis Do

Student Film Competition

Dušan Vukotić Award for Best Student Film
After - Matouš Valchář (Ladislav Sutnar University of Design and Art of Western Bohemia, Czech Republic)

Special Mentions
Happy Ending - EunJu Ara Choi (Royal College of Art, UK)
Love at the Crossroads - Hee-seung Choi (Korea National University of Arts, South Korea)

Croatian Film Competition

Best Croatian Film
A Demonstration of Brilliance in Four Acts - Morten Tšinakov and Lucija Mrzljak (Estonia/Croatia)

Special Mention
Imbued Life - Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson

Best Croatian Minority Co-production
The Fall of Rome - Balász Turai (Hungary/Croatia)

Children’s Film Competition

Best Film
Big Wolf, Little Wolf - Rémi Durin (France/Belgium)

Special Mention
Sweet Night - Lia Bertels (Belgium)

VR Competition

Best VR Project
Accused #2: Walter Sisulu - Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte (France)

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy