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Ainslie Henderson’s ‘Stems’ Wins 2015 McLaren Award

McLaren Award for Best New British Animation presented by acclaimed stop-motion animator Barry Purves at the EIFF Awards Ceremony held on June 28.

Edinburgh, Scotland -- The 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) Awards were announced at the EIFF Awards Ceremony held on Sunday, June 28 at Filmhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Voted for by the audience, The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation, supported by the British Council, went to Stems by director Ainslie Henderson. Named after Scottish-born filmmaker Norman McLaren, the McLaren Award, presented this year by acclaimed stop-motion animator Barry Purves, is the longest running award celebrating creativity among U.K. animation talent.

Kicking off June 17, the festival featured a robust animation program with British and international short films and rarely seen retrospective gems from around the world. In addition to spotlighting Purvis -- who participated in an on-stage interview with animation programmer Iain Gardner -- this year’s program also featured animation master Ralph Bakshi with a series of workshops and panels and a preview of his latest animated short, The Last Days of Coney Island.

While the prize for Best Short Film went to the live-action Scrapbook directed by Mike Hoolboom, a number of shorts from across the animation section were nominated for the award. Along with Henderson’s McLaren Award-winning short, Stems, animation nominees included Ernie Biscuit by Adam Elliot, Pombo Loves You by Steve Warne, Tatuape Mahal Tower by Carolina Markowicz and Fernanda Salloum, Man O Man by Simon Cartwright, Edmond by Nina Gantz, Tooncopalypse by Owen Rixon, Dissonance by Till Nowak, Five Minute Museum by Paul Bush and Tik Tak by Ülo Pikkov.

For the full list of winners at the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival, visit www.edfilmfest.org.uk.

Source: Edinburgh International Film Festival

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.