WFAF 2023

GRAND PRIX

‘FAMILY PORTRAIT‘, Lea Vidakovic

– Croatia, 2023, 14’30’’, stop-motion

As Austro-Hungary teeters on collapse, Andras and his daughter are taken aback by the visit from Andras’ brother, Zoltan, who comes accompanied by his large family.

SPECIAL MENTION / SHORT FILMS

‘BEAUTIFUL FIGURES‘, Soetkin Verstegen

– Belgium, 2022, 4’, mixed media

Thoughts ripple over the pages of a personal notebook, kept during a stay at different science labs in Zürich. They float from one to another, like a mind map of unfinished ideas on memory, medical imaging, cells, and aging.

BEST STUDENT FILM

‘THE EASTERN RAIN‘, Milly Yencken

– Estonia, 2023, 9’07’’, hand-drawn animation

If the rain were to fall indoors, but never outdoors… where do we begin to look for shelter?

SPECIAL MENTION / STUDENT FILMS

‘HALF EMPTY‘, Katarzyna Orłowska

– Poland, 2022, 4’52’’, mixed media

With hope to break a creative impasse, the woman pores over a blank piece of paper, drinking a half-empty glass of wine. The fear of failure haunts her at every step, taking the form of wine red. The animation created in ink is a metaphorical image of the heroine’s inner experiences and her struggles with the lack of faith in her own abilities and achievements.

SPECIAL MENTION / STUDENT FILMS

‘FURRIE‘, Lucie Grannec

– France, 2022, 8’36’’, 2D animation

A dolphin in a free relationship with fifteen inflatable animals, a fox crazy in love with a cereal mascot, a band of animals adept at firearms… Different portraits, existing, of members of the Furry community, lovers and enthusiasts of anthropomorphic animals.

BEST CHILDREN’S FILM

‘NOT A FAIRY TALE‘, Malgorzata Rybak

– Poland, 2023, 2’53’’, digital cut-out

Extraordinary skills of a street lamp initiated by some unexpected non-human visitors.

SPECIAL MENTION / CHILDREN’S FILMS

‘WILD TALE‘, Aline Quertain

– Belgium, 2023, 15’52’’, digital cut out

In the middle of a boreal forest, a lonely feline meets a small bird. These two beings that nature opposes surprise and attract each other. A relationship of friendship tinged with suspicion arises between them.

BEST FEATURE FILM

‘OS DEMONIOS DO MEU AVO‘, Nuno Beato

– Portugal, 2022, 90’, 2D/stop motion

Rosa returns to the Sarronco Valley, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, when she learns that her grandfather, with whom she hadn’t spent much time in recent years, has died. She discovers, there, abandoned lands that were left to her, as well as the house where she grew up falling down from rottenness. She decides, then, to dedicate herself to recovering all that, with the help of clay demons that her grandfather had modeled, which come to life and talk to her.

SPECIAL MENTION / FEATURE FILMS

‘A GIANT ADVENTURE‘, Eduard Schuldt

– Peru, 2023, 80’, 3D animation

Sophia’s family runs a small company that charters planes to take tourists on flights for birds-eye views of the famous Nazca lines, located in Peru. A mysterious storm takes Sophia and her friend Sebastian to Hanan Pacha, the land of the gods and this is the first secret that they uncover, along with the real reason why they are there: to save the earth from the terrible demon Supay, who is disappointed by the human race.

BEST EROTIC FILM

‘Y‘, Matea Kovač

– Croatia, 2023, 6’33‘‘, drawing on paper

An empty paper depicts a struggle between artistic composition and decomposition as the voice of the narrator-protagonist reminisces about her tumultuous relationship with a former girlfriend.

SPECIAL MENTION / EROTIC FILMS

‘NOCTURNAL IN CHAPINERO‘, Camilo Cogua

– Colombia, 2023, 4’48‘‘, mixed media

Don’t leave us. Walk among us; it will never dawn in Chapinero. Bogota embraces you with its sidewalk, your shoes have been stained with colors, and the tense calm of the street caresses you with an unexpected and familiar desire. The hubbub becomes a party of pleasure and pain. Do not leave us.

BEST HORROR FILM

‘THE CACTUS‘, Ricardo Kump

– Brazil, 2022, 10’25’’, collage animation

A man, troubled by a severe nervous system disease, finds himself paralyzed in a remote and hostile environment after an accident. His situation takes new directions as he surrenders and accepts his new reality. An horror film inspired by Santiago Dabove (1889 – 1951) short story “Ser polvo”.

BEST BULGARIAN FILM

‘DEPERSONALIZATION‘, Spartak Yordanov

– Bulgaria, 2023, 7’07’’, hand-drawn animation

The film interprets the theme of the loss of personality, the so-called “depersonalization” – a state in which the individual loses the ability to feel the image of himself, his emotions, even his body. The world of the film is created through the movement of pigment, paint, fluid by the use of “painting under the camera” technique. The events flow into each other, degenerate in the logic of some irreversible and unnatural randomness. Their metamorphosis collides the evolutionary course with its opposite – the tree grows and buries his crown back into the earth, the world returns to primal matter, the consumer is consumed.

AWARD FOR DEBUT IN MEMORY OF NIKOLAY TODOROV ESTABLISHED BY HIS WIFE

‘DEPERSONALIZATION‘, Spartak Yordanov

– Bulgaria, 2023, 7’07’’, hand-drawn animation

The film interprets the theme of the loss of personality, the so-called “depersonalization” – a state in which the individual loses the ability to feel the image of himself, his emotions, even his body. The world of the film is created through the movement of pigment, paint, fluid by the use of “painting under the camera” technique. The events flow into each other, degenerate in the logic of some irreversible and unnatural randomness. Their metamorphosis collides the evolutionary course with its opposite – the tree grows and buries his crown back into the earth, the world returns to primal matter, the consumer is consumed.

AWARD OF THE UBF

‘DEPERSONALIZATION‘, Spartak Yordanov

– Bulgaria, 2023, 7’07’’, hand-drawn animation

The film interprets the theme of the loss of personality, the so-called “depersonalization” – a state in which the individual loses the ability to feel the image of himself, his emotions, even his body. The world of the film is created through the movement of pigment, paint, fluid by the use of “painting under the camera” technique. The events flow into each other, degenerate in the logic of some irreversible and unnatural randomness. Their metamorphosis collides the evolutionary course with its opposite – the tree grows and buries his crown back into the earth, the world returns to primal matter, the consumer is consumed.

AWARD OF THE UNION OF BULGARIAN ARTISTS

‘A BOAT IN THE RAIN‘, Yoana Atanasova

– Bulgaria, 2023, 9’57’’, hand-drawn animation

A Woman and a Man are going through a breakup. Left alone, he remembers their dance of love. A storm comes and only the tiny folded boat may save them. However, the rough sea is full of dangers.

XPPEN AWARD FOR YOUNG ARTIST

‘FRIENDLY FIRE‘, Tom Koryto Blumen

– Israel, 2022, 6’14’’

A friendly soccer game between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian boy that takes place on the West Bank barrier starts to escalate into an uneven battle. The film was painted frame by frame on the wall and became part of the ongoing conflict by staining the wall with over a hundred liters of paint.