The entire National Film Board of Canada's digitally restored body of Norman McLaren's work, along with the excellent documentary, Creative Process: Norman McLaren, were screened at Anima. © National Film Board of Canada. All rights reser

This year, the festival staff moved into its new home at the Flagey on the Wednesday before the festival started, but you would never have guessed it from the seamless efficiency and the warm and gracious reception that the entire festival staff, from festival co-directors Doris Cleven and Philippe Moins, press liaison Francoise Cathala, to the large army of volunteers, extended to everyone. The Flagey, a classic 1930s art deco building, and the former studio for the two French- and Flemish-speaking broadcasting companies, has a large screening room, a small, more intimate theatre, numerous conference and office rooms and three bars, making it a perfect setting for the festival.

There were so many other opportunities to see exceptional programs, such as programs of shorts in competition, The Animated Night (hours of animation running from 10:00 pm into the wee hours of the morning), and the Dutch Animated Poetry Project, that I cannot possibly write about them all. A visit to the website will give you a sense of the vast scope of the Anima Animation Festival. Next year's festival will take place Feb. 1-10, 2008

The Complete List Of Prizewinners From The International Competition
Jury Prizes
Anima 2007 Best Short Film (professional category, 3,000 euros, offered by the Région de Bruxelles Capitale): Tyger by Guilherme Marcondes (Brazil)

Anima 2007 Best Student Film (2,500 euros, offered by IVG Immobilien): Adjustment, by Ian Mackinnon (Great-Britain)
Special mention in this category: Horn OK Please, by Joel Simon (Great Britain)

Audience Prizes
Anima 2007 Audience Prize (1,000 euros, offered by the Commune of Ixelles): Never Like The First Time by Jonas Odell (Sweden)

Anima 2007 Audience Prize, Best Feature Film for Children: U, by Grégoire Solotareff and Serge Elissalde (France)

Anima 2007 Audience Prize, Best Feature Film for Adults: Paprika by Satoshi Kon (Japan)

Prizes awarded by Festival Partners

Best TV Prize, Feature Film: Paprika, by Satoshi Kon (Japan)

The Complete List of Prizewinners from the National Competition
Jury Prizes
The Grand Prix de la Communauté française for a film from the French community (2,500 euros): A l'ombre du voile by Arnaud Demuynck

The SACD Prize (2,000 euros): Tempus Fluit by Thies Baert

The Sabam Prize/Promotion artistique belge (P.A.B.) (2,000 euros): Administrators by Roman Klochkov

Special Mention to the music videos The Residents: La la and The Residents: Nice Old Man by Geert Vandenbroele

Audience Prize
Anima 2007 Audience Prize for Best Belgian Short Film: Recto Verso by Gabriel Jacquel

Prizes awarded by festival partners:
Be TV Prize (1,500 euros including broadcast rights): Administrators by Roman Klochkov

RTBF Prize/ Broadcast Acquisition: Recto Verso by Gabriel Jacquel

Cinergie Prize Electronic Press: Death's Job by Johan Pollefoort

The Cartoon d'Or
Anima's nominations for the Cartoon d'Or 2007, which will be awarded in Sept. 2007 are:

A l'ombre du voile by Arnaud Demuynck

Adjustment by Ian Mackinnon (Great Britain)

Never Like The First Time by Jonas Odell (Sweden)

Nancy Denney-Phelps has produced music for animation for the past 15 years. She has written about animation and animation festivals for such publications as Animatoons, Film/Tape World, Reel World and the ASIFA /San Francisco news magazine and is a member of the ASIFA International Board. In April, Nancy, her composer/musician husband Nik Phelps and their two dogs moved from San Francisco to Gent, Belgium, where they now have their home.