A showcase of the best animation films from around the world today.
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
Best Short Film: Wall Unit
Best Visual Design: Striking Gold
Best Direction: The Legend of King Nibbles
Best Story: The Happy Balloon
Best Experimental Film: Self-Shot Film
Best 1 Minute Film: Beautify
Best Action Film: Total Opposites
Best Drama Film: Alyssum
Best Family Film: Beetle Summer
Best Comedy Film: Date Knight
Best Horror Film: Dogs of Bishkek
Best Fantasy Film: Harmonia
Best Romance Film: Right Hand Man
Best Slapstick Film: Jurassic Ward
Best Coming of Age Film: Loud & Proud
Best 3D Animation: Praying For Love
Best Hand Drawn Animation: If I Were a Carpenter
The Happy Balloon, 4min., Iraq
Directed by Ahmed Najm
The film talks about the dreams and ambitions of young people that mix illusion and reality, so the hero discovers the way to reach the truth he wants to achieve his dreams.
https://www.instagram.com/a7med.njm/
Self-Shot Film, 13min., Kazakhstan
Directed by Marat Narimanov
The pre-life, life and after-life of a human, featuring problems that we meet and decisions that we take. A surrealist film told in a non-narrative form: in non-concrete images, emotions and associations. A journey, a meditation, a disturbing experience.
Beautify, 1min,. Russia
Directed by Elizaveta Makarenko
Beautify follows a young woman’s surreal journey to self-acceptance as she confronts society’s beauty standards and embraces her true identity.
https://www.instagram.com/chelikot/
Beetle Summer, 3min,. USA
Directed by Jian Yuan, Anyue Chen
A young girl, Rika, who lives in the countryside of Japan, is raising a rhino beetle for beetle fights in order to gain friends. But before then, she needs to train and nurture it.
Date Knight, 3min., USA
Directed by Amber Schmoyer, Kareena Bhatia
A knight catfishes a dragon on a date in an attempt to slay her.
https://www.instagram.com/dateknight_film/
Dogs of Bishkek, 2min,. USA
Directed by Viktor Niksdorf
Set in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a young boy named Sasha has to evade a ravenous dog on his way home from the market.
https://www.instagram.com/vikniksdorf.art
Harmonia, 3min., USA
Directed by Alex Rodarte, Victoria Sjostedt
In a magical forest, a reckless young knight discovers a music box but unleashes an ancient wrath upon winding it and must run to safety.
Jurassic Ward, 2min., USA
Directed by Max “Amber” Bellomio
A troubled employee for the “Wishes Come True Foundation” needs
to bring a dangerous dinosaur through the hospital to fulfill a child’s only wish.
https://www.instagram.com/Max_Bellomio
Loud & Proud, 2min. USA
Directed by Eliana Anselmo
A young volleyball player tells her story of how it’s not the tough conditions that make volleyball hard… “It’s her mom”, embarrassed by her overbearing mother putting strain on their relationship and her relationship with volleyball.
https://www.instagram.com/anselmo.3d
Praying for Love, 2min., USA
Directed by Sofia Tonin
Female praying mantis struggles with cannibalistic tendencies while
looking for love.
https://www.instagram.com/sofiatonin_art
Right Hand Man, 3min,. USA
Directed by Emma Greenman, Yaumara Carrion
Lucas tries to navigate his first date with Cristine at a fancy
restaurant; however, his conjoined hand puppet brother, Cade, also wants in on the fun.
https://www.instagram.com/egg.animations/
Striking Gold, 2min., USA
Directed by Marin Francis
When gold miners Alonzo and Rufus come across a stuck nugget of
gold, their disagreement on how to get it unstuck leads to chaos.
https://www.instagram.com/mairinart
The Legend of King Nibbles, 3min,. USA
Directed by Alison Chang, Selin Bekiroglu
A hamster king is a victim of his own demise when he refuses to
share his excessive wealth with the rest of his kingdom.
https://www.instagram.com/alisonrchang/
Total Opposites, 2min., USA
Directed by Afek Felix Eyal
Two beings, Dark and Light, fight to impose control of the world in order to achieve peace- only to realize peace can only come through co-existence.
https://www.instagram.com/felixeyal
Wall unit, 10min,. Poland
Directed by Joanna Polak
A ramshackle wall unit is a symbol of the monotonous life of a certain 40-year-old man living in a grey, dirty post-communist block of flats district. Right after his birthday, suffering from the midlife crisis, the man decides to change his dull and routine-based existence. Alas, his wife stands in the way.
Alyssum, 6min,. USA
Directed by Alex King
Alyssum follows Alyson, a young woman who’s struggling with perfectionism as she attempts to craft the perfect bouquet for her wife, Lilith. Overwhelmed by anxiety and self-doubt, she battles her inner critic, represented by corrupting vines. As she spirals deeper into self-doubt, she must decide: will she push forward and embrace imperfection, or will her fears consume her?
https://www.instagram.com/alyssum_film/
If I Were a Carpenter, 3min., Canada
Directed by Elizabeth Lewis
This hand drawn animated film is based on the classic song If I Were a Carpenter and sung by the great Bobby Darin. How can love conquer the social divide? This film is a tender slightly tongue in cheek story of how love can transform us and ultimately bridge our differences.
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