The 21st Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF2019) held its award ceremony Tuesday night. The winners of South Korea’s premiere toon competition included some of the most-awarded films of the year, and reflected the stylistic and storytelling diversity of independent animation created around the world.
The short film jury — comprised of directors Lee Minkyu (Adam and Dog), Céline Devaux (Sunday Lunch) and Anna Budanova (Among the Black Waves) — awarded the Grand Prize to festival circuit favorite Acid Rain by Tomek Popakul. The Jury Prize was awarded to Academy Award-qualified short Mr. Mare by Luca Tóth. Both the Audience Prize and AniB’s Choice Prize were bestowed on Memorable by Bruno Collet, which previously won the Annecy Cristal.
The feature film competition was juried by directors Denis Do (Funan), Itazu Yoshimi (Pigtails) and Yoon Gaeun (The House of Us), who selected Marona’s Fantastic Tale by Anca Damian as the Grand Prize winner — the heartfelt story of a little dog’s shared experiences with a series of owners also scored the Audience Prize. Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec’s Cannes Un Certain Regard premiere The Swallows of Kabul received the feature film Jury Prize and Music Prize for best score
The VR 1st Prize and Jury Prize went to Oscar-nominated film Age of Sail by John Kahrs.
And Czech filmmaker Daria Kashcheeva flew into Bucheon from accepting her Student Academy Award in Los Angeles in time to receive the student film competition 1st Prize, Jury Prize and AniB’s Prize for Daughter.
