From October 20th to 24th, the nation's capital will once again become the center of the animation universe. The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is the largest event of its kind in North America, a major film event attracting attendees from around the world. Film buffs, art lovers and cartoon fans won't want to miss this year's great line up of screenings taking place at ByTowne Cinema, National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Empire Theatres Rideau Centre and Arts Court Theatre.
Du 20 au 24 octobre, la capitale du pays deviendra le centre del’univers de l’animation. Le Festival International de l’Animation d’Ottawa est un évènement prestigieux qui attire des spectateurs de partout dans le monde. Mordus de films, amateurs d’art et adeptes de dessins animés ne voudront surtout pas manquer la superbe programmation de cette année. Les projections auront lieu au Musée canadien des civilisations, au Cinéma Bytowne, au Musée des beaux-arts, la Cour des Arts et Empire Theatres – Centre Rideau.
Juries
INTERNATIONAL JURY FOR SHORT PROGRAM, STUDENT, AND COMMISSIONED ANIMATION
Munro Ferguson Born
in New York City in 1960, Ferguson took a very early interest in
cartooning and made his first film, When I Get Older, at age 7. He
studied painting and drawing at the Banff Centre and received a BA in
philosophy from the University of Toronto. He continued to make films,
becoming a core member of the Funnel Film Group in 1980. His science
comic strip Eureka was syndicated in over 30 newspapers around the
world. In 1994, he joined the NFB English Program's Animation Studio,
where he wrote, directed and animated How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly
(1995). In 1995, he began working for the legendary Roman Kroitor at
IMAX Corporation, writing, animating and advising on the development of
SANDDETM, a 3D stereoscopic animation technique. He returned to the NFB
in 1998, and since then has been training other NFB animators in this
innovative system. Ferguson has created two stereoscopic animations
with SANDDETM: Falling in Love Again, winner of the 2004 Genie Award
for Best Animated Short, and June, an elegy for his friend and mentor,
artist Joyce June Wieland. In 2008 he was Animation Director for
Facing Champlain a NFB production for the 400th anniversary of Quebec
City. Currently, he is developing Neuropolis, a 3D film about the brain
produced in collaboration with the Montreal Neurological Institute and
the NFB.
Maya Yonesho Born
in Hyogo, Japan 1965. Yonesho studied Visual Design and Animation at
Kyoto Saga University of Arts, which led her to work as an art teacher
at a junior high school for 6 years. She returned to college to study
Japanese painting and conceptual & media art at Kyoto City
University of Arts, while also working as a clay animator for a
children's TV program. While on exchange at the Royal College of Art,
UK she made her first abstract animated short film, which synchronized
13 international languages under the theme “we can understand each
other without understanding each language”. She received her MA of fine
art in 1998, and began making independent films including believe in it
(1998), which won the Excellence prize from the Agency for Cultural
Affairs of Japan that same year. She worked for the Eesti Joonisfilm
Studio in Estonia from 2002-2003 under the Japanese Government Study
Program for Promising Artists and Art Fellowships. Her films
introspection(1998), believe in it(1998), learn to love(1999),
countdown(2002), Üks Uks(2003), and Winer Wuast (2006) have been shown
at numerous international festivals and museums around the world. She
has also conducted animation workshops in Taiwan, Norway, Croatia,
Israel and Poland, and has lectured at Kyoto Seika University since
2000.
Frances Leeming Born
in Toronto in 1951. Leeming’s work as a media artist uses film to
re-animate the image archives of 20th century popular culture. Her work
has been presented across Canada, the U.S., Britain, Poland and Italy.
Her collage animation, The Orientation Express (1987) has been screened
internationally, including: Festival de Cine y Vídeo joven de La
Habana, Cuba; Seattle Women’s Film Festival; ASIFA Animation Festival;
San Francisco International Animation Festival; and Women in the
Director’s Chair, Chicago. Her most recent collage animation Genetic
Admiration (2005) won the Grand Prize at Images Festival, Toronto, and
was nominated for Best Animation at the Syracuse International Film and
Video Festival. The film was also recently featured in the symposium
Animation/Automation, part of Screen Magazine’s 50th Anniversary
Celebration, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester UK. Genetic Admiration
(chapter) appears in Jackie Stacey’s The Cinematic Life of the Gene,
(Duke University Press, 2010) and Jennifer Fisher’s Technologies of
Intuition, (YYZ/MAWA/DISPLAY CULT, 2006). Leeming’s work has been
purchased by The National Gallery of Canada, PBS, Channel Four UK, SBS
Australia, The Women’s Television Network and for numerous university
archives throughout Canada and the U.S., and her contributions as a
performance artist appear in Johanna Householder and Tanya Mars’ book,
Caught in the Act- An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women
(YYZ Books, 2004). She currently teaches experimental animation and
media studies in the Department of Film and Media, Queen’s University,
Kingston, Ontario.
INTERNATIONAL JURY FOR ANIMATED FEATURE FILMS
Atsushi Wada Atsushi Wada was born in 1980 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He attended Osaka Kyoiku University, Liberal Arts School, where he began his study in animation. He graduated in 2004, and continued as a graduate student at the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image (Tokyo) in 2005. His animated films have won awards and been seen at festivals all over the world: worm dance hand (2003) won the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Film Festival (2004); Day of Nose (2005) won the competition of the 52nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (Germany) and won for best short film at the Norwich International Animation Festival, Part 3 (UK); Well, That’s Glasses took the 2007 best of festival award at the Ubusara 26th International Short Film Festival (Sweden), won the Jury Award for Best Young Animation at the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival (Brazil), and won the competition at the International Short Film Festival Winterthur International Short Film Festival Winterthur (Switzerland) in 2008. In addition to his work in film, Wada’s work for television has been broadcast since 2003. He continues to create animated works thanks to what he calls the power of inherent patience, which he credits to the love between the imagination and the bold will to achieve. Wada now works in the Animation Department of the Graduate School, Tokyo University of Arts.
Torill Kove A Montréal animator and illustrator, Kove grew up in Norway and also spent some of her childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. She moved to Montréal in 1982 where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts at Concordia University and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning at McGill University. She has also studied architecture at Universitè De Montréal and animation at Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Torill began her animation career at the National Film Board working as an assistant on various animation and documentary projects. She has written and directed two animated shorts and written scripts for the TV series Dragon and for the animated short film Snails (), by Pjotr Sapegin. Torill’s films have received numerous international awards. Her first film My Grandmother Ironed The Kings Shirts (1999) was nominated for an Academy Award, and her second film, The Danish Poet (2006), received a Genie and an Oscar in 2007. Torill has illustrated 6 picture books, two of which she also wrote, and she periodically teaches part-time at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.
Michaela Pavlatova Michaela Pavlátová graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1987. Her short animation films have won numerous awards all over the world. She came to international prominence in 1991 when her short animation film "Words, Words, Words" was nominated for a U.S. Academy Award. In 1995, her animation short film "Repete" won a Golden Bear at the Berlinale. Since 1995, she has been blending live-action with her animation. From 1998 to 2001, she divided her time between Prague and San Francisco, where she worked as art director for the Wildbrain, Inc. In 2003 she directed her first all live-action film, the feature "Faithless Games", winner of a Special Jury Mention in the New Director's Prize competition at San Sebastian IFF. In 2008 she directed another feature Deti noci / Night Owls which was awarded a Best Actor and a Best Actress at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Poster
Each year, the Ottawa International Animation Festival commissions an
artist to create original artwork for celebration and promotion on an
international scale.
The 2010 Festival Poster was designed by Ottawa-based artist Andrea Stokes (http://pinkwagon.com/)
.
Andrea received her BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design,
and now divides time between textile designing, painting, and parenting
her two
young girls, and is always exploring pattern, image and surface design.
The poster will be available to purchase at the Animarket at this
year's Festival.
Festival Facts
Last year's event had a total attendance of over 27,000.
Over 1800 delegates from the animation community attended last year including animators, production executives, educators, students and fans.
During the week of the Festival, there are 92 screenings and 46 professional development events at six venues across downtown Ottawa.
You don't have to work in animation to attend! Tickets for screenings are $12 and can be purchased at the door. It's as easy as going to a movie. If you want to attend everything - there are day, weekend and full passes available. We also have a ticket six-pack.
In addition to the main Festival - the OIAF runs a number of outreach events and activities such as our:
Toon Apprentice high school lecture series
Animation Celebration (a free screening for elementary classes)
Animation School Fair
free NFB workshops for families and teens
the Adobe Toon Apprentice Pass
and our Toon Apprentice website.
We also work to help the Canadian animation industry with the Canadian Animation Directory .
Our industry side event TAC generated over 7 million dollars worth of production deals in 2009.
The Festival has been running since 1976. Read about its history here .
Board of Directors
The Animation Festival is run by the Canadian Film Institute, a charitable organization.
The CFI Board of Directors
Tom McSorley (ex officio)
Executive Director of the Canadian Film Institute and Director of
Programming.
Jack Horwitz (Joined
2007)Communications
Freelancer Jack has had a
long career working in communications for the NFB and other government
agencies.He most recently
finished a contract with the United Way.
Patricia Burns(Joined 2007) Patricia had a long and successful career
running the studio of Canada's largest animation studio Nelvana.She is now a freelance producer
currently working on the new Bob and Doug MacKenzie show.
Dan Sokolowski(Joined 2007)
An independent filmmaker and animator working and teaching in Ottawa
and the Yukon.
Deborah fallows
(Joined 2009)
Deborah is Vice President of Human Resources for Cookie Jar
Entertainment Inc., a leading independent producer of children’s
entertainment, consumer products and educational materials.
Sandra Macdonald (Joined
2009)
Past head of the
Canadian Television Fund, the AV Trust and Film Commissioner at the National
Film Board.
Jacques Menard
(Joined 2009)
Producer and director of documentary films
and television programs in the private sector for many years, Jacques Ménard
was also a producer and Deputy Head of French Program (Documentary) at the National Film Board of
Canada (1995-2002)
Russ Mills (Joined
2009)
He rose to become publisher of the Citizen in 1986, and was soon
promoted to president of the Southam Newspaper Group in 1989.Mills now serves as the Dean of the
School of Media and Design at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario.
Tim PLUMPTRE (Joined
2009)
The founder and president of the Institute on Governance, a nonprofit
Ottawa-based think-tank.
SUSAN SCOTTI (JOINED 2009)
Former Assistant Deputy Minister, Social Development Sectors Branch, Social Development Canada (SDC). Noted social policy expert.
Born
in New York City in 1960, Ferguson took a very early interest in
cartooning and made his first film, When I Get Older, at age 7. He
studied painting and drawing at the Banff Centre and received a BA in
philosophy from the University of Toronto. He continued to make films,
becoming a core member of the Funnel Film Group in 1980. His science
comic strip Eureka was syndicated in over 30 newspapers around the
world. In 1994, he joined the NFB English Program's Animation Studio,
where he wrote, directed and animated How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly
(1995). In 1995, he began working for the legendary Roman Kroitor at
IMAX Corporation, writing, animating and advising on the development of
SANDDETM, a 3D stereoscopic animation technique. He returned to the NFB
in 1998, and since then has been training other NFB animators in this
innovative system. Ferguson has created two stereoscopic animations
with SANDDETM: Falling in Love Again, winner of the 2004 Genie Award
for Best Animated Short, and June, an elegy for his friend and mentor,
artist Joyce June Wieland. In 2008 he was Animation Director for
Facing Champlain a NFB production for the 400th anniversary of Quebec
City. Currently, he is developing Neuropolis, a 3D film about the brain
produced in collaboration with the Montreal Neurological Institute and
the NFB.
Born
in Hyogo, Japan 1965. Yonesho studied Visual Design and Animation at
Kyoto Saga University of Arts, which led her to work as an art teacher
at a junior high school for 6 years. She returned to college to study
Japanese painting and conceptual & media art at Kyoto City
University of Arts, while also working as a clay animator for a
children's TV program. While on exchange at the Royal College of Art,
UK she made her first abstract animated short film, which synchronized
13 international languages under the theme “we can understand each
other without understanding each language”. She received her MA of fine
art in 1998, and began making independent films including believe in it
(1998), which won the Excellence prize from the Agency for Cultural
Affairs of Japan that same year. She worked for the Eesti Joonisfilm
Studio in Estonia from 2002-2003 under the Japanese Government Study
Program for Promising Artists and Art Fellowships. Her films
introspection(1998), believe in it(1998), learn to love(1999),
countdown(2002), Üks Uks(2003), and Winer Wuast (2006) have been shown
at numerous international festivals and museums around the world. She
has also conducted animation workshops in Taiwan, Norway, Croatia,
Israel and Poland, and has lectured at Kyoto Seika University since
2000.
Born
in Toronto in 1951. Leeming’s work as a media artist uses film to
re-animate the image archives of 20th century popular culture. Her work
has been presented across Canada, the U.S., Britain, Poland and Italy.
Her collage animation, The Orientation Express (1987) has been screened
internationally, including: Festival de Cine y Vídeo joven de La
Habana, Cuba; Seattle Women’s Film Festival; ASIFA Animation Festival;
San Francisco International Animation Festival; and Women in the
Director’s Chair, Chicago. Her most recent collage animation Genetic
Admiration (2005) won the Grand Prize at Images Festival, Toronto, and
was nominated for Best Animation at the Syracuse International Film and
Video Festival. The film was also recently featured in the symposium
Animation/Automation, part of Screen Magazine’s 50th Anniversary
Celebration, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester UK. Genetic Admiration
(chapter) appears in Jackie Stacey’s The Cinematic Life of the Gene,
(Duke University Press, 2010) and Jennifer Fisher’s Technologies of
Intuition, (YYZ/MAWA/DISPLAY CULT, 2006). Leeming’s work has been
purchased by The National Gallery of Canada, PBS, Channel Four UK, SBS
Australia, The Women’s Television Network and for numerous university
archives throughout Canada and the U.S., and her contributions as a
performance artist appear in Johanna Householder and Tanya Mars’ book,
Caught in the Act- An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women
(YYZ Books, 2004). She currently teaches experimental animation and
media studies in the Department of Film and Media, Queen’s University,
Kingston, Ontario. 
Atsushi Wada was born in 1980 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He attended Osaka Kyoiku University, Liberal Arts School, where he began his study in animation. He graduated in 2004, and continued as a graduate student at the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image (Tokyo) in 2005. His animated films have won awards and been seen at festivals all over the world: worm dance hand (2003) won the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Film Festival (2004); Day of Nose (2005) won the competition of the 52nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (Germany) and won for best short film at the Norwich International Animation Festival, Part 3 (UK); Well, That’s Glasses took the 2007 best of festival award at the Ubusara 26th International Short Film Festival (Sweden), won the Jury Award for Best Young Animation at the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival (Brazil), and won the competition at the International Short Film Festival Winterthur International Short Film Festival Winterthur (Switzerland) in 2008. In addition to his work in film, Wada’s work for television has been broadcast since 2003. He continues to create animated works thanks to what he calls the power of inherent patience, which he credits to the love between the imagination and the bold will to achieve. Wada now works in the Animation Department of the Graduate School, Tokyo University of Arts.
A Montréal animator and illustrator, Kove grew up in Norway and also spent some of her childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. She moved to Montréal in 1982 where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts at Concordia University and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning at McGill University. She has also studied architecture at Universitè De Montréal and animation at Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Torill began her animation career at the National Film Board working as an assistant on various animation and documentary projects. She has written and directed two animated shorts and written scripts for the TV series Dragon and for the animated short film Snails (), by Pjotr Sapegin. Torill’s films have received numerous international awards. Her first film My Grandmother Ironed The Kings Shirts (1999) was nominated for an Academy Award, and her second film, The Danish Poet (2006), received a Genie and an Oscar in 2007. Torill has illustrated 6 picture books, two of which she also wrote, and she periodically teaches part-time at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.
Michaela Pavlátová graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1987. Her short animation films have won numerous awards all over the world. She came to international prominence in 1991 when her short animation film "Words, Words, Words" was nominated for a U.S. Academy Award. In 1995, her animation short film "Repete" won a Golden Bear at the Berlinale. Since 1995, she has been blending live-action with her animation. From 1998 to 2001, she divided her time between Prague and San Francisco, where she worked as art director for the Wildbrain, Inc. In 2003 she directed her first all live-action film, the feature "Faithless Games", winner of a Special Jury Mention in the New Director's Prize competition at San Sebastian IFF. In 2008 she directed another feature Deti noci / Night Owls which was awarded a Best Actor and a Best Actress at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.