Matthew Hood's Hourglass -- a sand animation of the life cycle of a woman confined in glass. © National Film and Television School.

An international nine member jury, composed of directors, students and lecturers -- none of which involved in animation -- selected three films as prize nominees:

• Matthew Hood's Hourglass. Made at the NFTS, in Beaconsfield, U.K., this 5 minute film tells the life cycle of a "sand woman" confined in glass, who is running out of time while having a sandy offspring. The film is an impressive display of computer 3D and 2D animation combined with drawings.
• Gil Kenan's Shoot the Moon. From UCLA in the USA, this 5 minute monologue is of a child telling the disastrous history of his community, a kingdom forced to build a giant gun in order to shoot the moon. The film is black and white, limited animation created with cut-outs.
• Aurel Klimt's The Magic Bell from Praha's FAMU in the Czech Republic is a 15 minute fun musical with intentionally sloppy cut-out animation. The film tells the rather wild story of a village made happy by a special bell. When an evil army steals the bell and molds it into a canon, a rescue mission by a little girl and a lost circus elephant succeeds in bringing a happy end. The film was awarded the prize for best animated film.

* Animated films selected by schools for the competition:
Like Drowning, Cath Murphy, 8 minutes. VCA, Melbourne, Australia.
Extra Terrestrial, Ivan Russev, 3 minutes. NATFIZ, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Man on the Moon, Chris Stenner, 7 minutes. FABW, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
Silent Saviour, Ekuba Kyiamah, 5 minutes. NAFTI, Akra, Ghana.
It's Your Turn, Alessia Milo, 6 minutes. SNC, Roma, Italy.
The Telephone, Ekaterina Visnapou, 6 minutes. VGIK, Moscow, Russia.
Spirit of Flight, Soh Wee Lian, 3 minutes. Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.
Hourglass, Matthew Hood, 5 minutes. NFTS, Beaconsfield, UK.
Last Waltz In N.Y., Avi Katz, 6 minutes. SVA, N.Y., USA.
Shoot the Moon, Gil Kenan, 5 minutes. UCLA, L.A., USA.
3 films from FAMU, Praha, Czech Republic: F.I.S.H. 073, Vaclav Svankmajer, 7 minutes; The Magic Bell, Aurel Klimt, 15 minutes; Mumps, Maria Prochazkova, 7 minutes.
2 films from Camera Obscura, Tel Aviv: Scenario, Omer Makover, 7 minutes; These Things Never Happened But Are Always, Linor Fonseca, 7 minutes.
2 from VSMU, Bratislava, Slovak Rep.: In the Box, Vladislav Stuhar, 6 minutes; Doble Voice Invention A-Minor, Vlado Kral, 2 minutes.
Plus, 5 films from Bezalel Academy of Art & Design participated in a separate competition for Israeli student films.

Tsvika Oren is a veteran animator, film critic, lecturer and animation missionary. He is also Director of The Animation Center in Tel Aviv and the International Creative Filmmaking festival.