International jury members for the 2015 Ottawa International Animation Festival are Chris Dainty, Kaspar Jancis, Maral Mohammadian, Leah Shore, Yiorgos Tsangaris and Saschka Unseld.
With the deadline for submissions rapidly approaching (May 15 for entry forms, and May 29 for DVDs and submission URLs), the Ottawa International Animation Festival has unveiled a new poster and international jury members for the 2015 edition of the festival.
Running September 16-20, OIAF is the stage for some of the world's most cutting-edge, thoughtful, funny and provocative animation films. The Oscar-qualifying festival is attended by many of animation's most celebrated stars, studios and characters.
The new Official Festival Poster is designed by the Hut animation collective, which includes Caleb Wood, Derick Wycherly, Ted Wiggin, Africanus Okokon and Dylan Hayes.
2015 jury members include Ottawa-based animator, director, and ice carver Chris Dainty, animation director and musician, composer, writer, lyricist and bike designer Kaspar Jancis, NFB producer Maral Mohammadian, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Leah Shore, Countryside Animafest Cyprus artistic director Yiorgos Tsangaris, and Pixar Animation director Saschka Unseld.
Chris Dainty is an animator, director, and ice carver from Ottawa. Chris co-founded Dainty Productions, Inc. in 2006 which focuses on creating 2D animation. From animating Cookie Monster and the Sesame Street gang for 2 Nintendo Wii games, to producing animation for Dino Dan and Odd Squad for TV, to producing content for Leap Frog’s Leap Pad as well as PS3, iOS and Android, Chris and his company have animated for screens of all sizes. For the past 7 years, Chris has animated the sponsorship reel for OIAF. His hobbies include ice carving, drone flying, and talking in third person.
Kaspar Jancis (1975) is a director of animated films, musician, composer, writer, lyricist and bike designer. He became interested in comics and writing as a child, and has been a creative member of many rock bands. He studied filmmaking at Tallinn University and Turku Arts and Media School (Finland), and his films (Weitzenberg Street, Marathon, Crocodile and Villa Antropoff – co-directed with Vladimir Lechiov) have received many international awards. Kaspar is currently working on a stop-motion feature, Morten on The Ship of Fools. This Estonian, Irish and Canadian co production will be released in 2016.
Maral Mohammadian is a Producer at the National Film Board of Canada’s English Program Animation Studio. She was recruited by the NFB in 2006 as the first associate producer of Hothouse, the celebrated apprenticeship program for emerging animation filmmakers. Her most recent film is the innovative animation/live action hybrid, The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer winner of Best Canadian Short Film at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Prior to moving to Montreal, Maral was director of the Television Animation Conference (now called The Animation Conference) at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Yiorgos Tsangaris is the founder and artistic director of Countryside Animafest Cyprus – Views of the World. His fields of expertise are graphic arts, printmaking and animation. As an independent artist, film curator and lecturer he has worked extensively with academic departments, theatre companies, film festivals, museums and publishing houses, contributing to the development of several cultural institutions. His work has been exhibited at a number of international fora such us Biennales, festivals and Graphic arts exhibitions. He is the president of Hambis Printmaking Museum in Cyprus and a member of the ASIFA board.
Saschka Unseld directed & produced numerous award-winning shorts and commercials at Studio Soi before joining Pixar Animation Studios in 2008. During his six years at Pixar, he worked on Toy Story 3, Cars 2 and Brave and wrote and directed Pixar's The Blue Umbrella. Recently, Saschka became Creative Director at Passion Pictures for Commercials and Oculus Story Studio where he helps explore the future of VR filmmaking.
Each year the OIAF receives more than 2,000 entries from all over the world. Each submission is carefully reviewed by the Festival’s in-house selection committee. Approximately 150 films will be chosen for Official Competition and Out-of-Competition Showcase screenings, with prizes awarded to the top films in each category.
Source: Ottawa International Animation Festival
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.
