The Oscar winner for best short animated film, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, has won the coveted grand prize at the International Festival of Animated Film at Annecy. In a lively ceremony held on Saturday, June 10, 2000, the awards were handed out by the festivals artistic director, Serge Bromberg. The short and feature film jury, comprised of Meral Erez (Turkey), Aida Ndiaye (Senegal), Georges Schwizgebel (Switzerland), John Lasseter (U.S.A.) and Jimmy T. Murakami (Ireland), bestowed the top honor to the adaptation of Ernest Hemmingways novella. The award was presented to director Alexander Petrov, who was truly moved, giving a lengthy acceptance speech where he also recognized his producers Pascal Blais Productions. The paint-on-glass Imax short also won the audience prize. This years jury decided not to award a prize for feature films. The television jury awarded the Fox Family hit series ANGELA ANACONDA with the grand prix for best TV programme for the "Ice Breakers" episode. This years TV jury included Eve Baron (France), Alfio Bastiancich (Italy) and Phil Roman (U.S.A.). The student jury made up of Natalya Loukinykh (Russia), Bruce Bickford (U.S.A.) and Jiri Kubicek (Czech Republic) gave the top honors to THE MOMENT by Thomas Voigt. Honorary president of the festival, Roy Disney presented the UNICEF award to the anti-drug short RUN OF THE MILL from Denmark. Disney led into the award with a wonderful speech on his experience at this years Annecy festival and UNICEFs worthwhile work, which has been supported by the Walt Disney Company for several decades. The festival also recognized the famed Richard Williams with the humorous Rabbit award for his career as an animator and animation instructor. Accompanied by Bromberg on the piano, Williams graced the attendees by playing "When You Wish Upon A Star" on his trumpet. The evening capped off the festival, which featured many surprises, like a special preview of CHICKEN RUN and the world premiere of Pixars new short, FOR THE BIRDS. Below is the complete list of winners.
Grand Prix Short Film
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Alexander Petrov
Special Jury Prize
VILLAGE OF IDIOTS by Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove
Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for Best First Film
CAGED BIRDS CANNOT FLY by Luis Briceno
Special Distinction Award for Humor and Sensitivity
BROTHER by Adam Benjamin Elliot
Special Distinction for the Freedom of Line and the Intense Message
THE MAN WITH THE BEAUTIFUL EYES by Jonathan Hodgson
Grand Prix TV Programme
ANGELA ANACONDA "Ice Breakers" by Sue Rose and Joanna Ferrone
Special Award for a TV Series
LES SHADOKS ET LE BIG BLANK "Le Trou À Gégène" by Jacques Rouxel
Special Award for a TV Series (Episode of More Than 13 Minutes)
MTV DOWNTOWN by Tony Kluck
Award for Special TV
ROBBIE THE REINDEER: HOOVES OF FIRE by Richard Goleszowski
Award for A Pilot Series or TV Special
INVADER ZIM by Jordan Reichek
Award for Educational, Scientific or Industrial Film
SUPERWHY by Dave Thomas
Award for Advertising Film
NOT SO CLEVER TREVOR AT THE CARNIVAL by Dave Thomas
Award for the Best Animated Sequence
MICROFILME 6 by Santiago Sequeiros
Award for Best Animated Student Film
THE MOMENT by Thomas Voigt
Student Special Distinction
RIEN by Kunyi Chen
The Childrens Jury Award for Short Fiction Film
THE PERIWIG-MAKER by Steffen Schaeffler
The Childrens Jury Award for Student or Graduation Film
STARSHEEPS by Antoine Deschamps, Jovann Leblanc and Alban Vandekerkove
The UNICEF Award
RUN OF THE MILL by Börge Ring
Audience Award
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Alexander Petrov
FIPRESCI Award
MÉDIA by Pavel Koutsky
FIPRESCI Special Distinction
LE CHAPEAU by Michèle Cournoyer
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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