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Official Selections for OIAF 2019 Announced

Diverse group of films from 36 countries set to compete at upcoming Ottawa International Animation Festival, which runs September 25-29.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), North America’s leading animation film festival, has announced the official selections for OIAF 2019. The 2019 Festival features a diverse collection of films from 36 countries and nearly every continent. Selections range from experimental shorts to highly anticipated feature films, from Festival favorites to first-time competitors. This year, the festival received a total of 2424 entries from 93 different countries. Of those, 89 short films, including VR and Animated Series, and 6 feature films were chosen for competition. In addition, 21 films were selected in the Canadian Student Competition and 66 panorama films were chosen to represent the efforts of the Canadian, international, and student communities.

Click here for the complete list of selected films.

“The diversity, range and levels of innovation and experimentation of this year’s Competition films is quite impressive,” Chris Robinson, OIAF artistic director remarked. “Not surprisingly, there is an underlying tension and anxiety to many of the films. Animation artists are pondering the chaos of our time and where we fit into it all. I get this real sense of people being a bit lost and in exile from their lives as they struggle with personal identity, social media and the increasingly scary political slants around the planet. But it’s not all dark – you also see a lot of silly films about cats, masturbation, bondage, babies and twits. Artists continue to push themselves in terms of concept and technique.”

Festival favorites from across the globe are back for OIAF 2019. BAFTA-nominated Elizabeth Hobbs is a jury member and creator of this year’s signal film. Her short film The Flounder, an experimental interpretation of “A Fisherman and His Wife” by the Brothers Grimm, will premiere this year at the festival.

The notorious Polish director Piotr Dumala is back with the world premiere of his new short film, Ostatnia Wieczerza (Last Supper). Another winner from the OIAF’s past, Koji Yamamura, returns with WildAid ‘Hankograph’ (Japan), a unique commissioned animation that tells a devastating story by animating the medium it is condemning. Austria’s Thomas Renolder and Estonia’s Priit Tender, among others, have chosen this year’s Festival for the Canadian premiere of their newest works.

Up-and-coming animators are poised to test audience expectations, and the medium’s boundaries, at OIAF 2019. Sophie Gate’s Slug Life (UK) and Sawako Kabuko’s Takoyaki Story (Japan) will play with your idea of what’s pleasurable, and the success of Tomek Popakul’s Acid Rain (Poland) and Bruno Collet’s Mémorable (France) at festivals like Annecy, Zagreb, and GLAS, all make for a festival that’s sure to be unforgettable.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival runs from September 25 – 29 and screens at various venues in Ottawa. Admission starts at $14 for the general public or $10 for children, seniors, and members of the Canadian Film Institute. Tickets and Festival Passes are available online at https://AnimationFestival.ca.

Source: OIAF