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By Emma Thom on

And the winners of Bradford Animation Festival 2012 are…

As Bradford Animation Festival draws to a close, the only thing left to do is say our goodbyes—and announce our winners.

Thanks to Barry Purves for doing another sterling job on stage tonight, and of course to our Jury Panels; not forgetting you, the audience, for selecting your festival favourite for our Audience Award. Oh, there are so many people to thank, but this post is about our congratulations so on with the show…


Best Professional Film: Oh Willy by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels (Belgium)

Jury: We chose this visually rich film for its innovative use of a classic medium, its well-directed unpredictable story and for its striking mix of darkness and humour.

Jury: A special mention for Moxie by Stephen Irwin (UK), for its gentle and perceptive story telling set in a dark universe, and its original visual style. It was beautiful to watch this strange, sad, funny story unfold.


Best Student Film: Bite of the Tail by Song E Kim (USA)

Jury: Compelling, with many layers of meaning, this quietly original and well-animated piece revealed a disturbing symbolic undercurrent beneath everyday reality.

Jury: A special mention for Swarming by Joni Männistö (Finland) which took a striking and unusual idea and executed it with vivid imagination and sure-footed confidence.


Best Short: Una Furtiva Lagrima by Carlo Vogele (Spain)

Jury: Creepy, quirky, funny and poignant. We chose this operatic parody for its fresh approach to stop motion.

Jury: A special mention for Bob on Sport by Darren Walsh (UK) for its sharply observed caricature that got straight to the punch line in 49 seconds.


Best Music Video: The Living Things by Phil Davis (USA)

Jury: We chose this film for its wit and perfect synchronisation, the unpredictable nature of its appealing characters and its simple but effective production values.


Best Commercial: Herdy Heads for the Hills by David Browne (UK)

Jury: We chose this film for its charm, its element of surprise seeing these simple objects in an epic setting, and precisely because it was not too slick.


Best Film for Children: The Gruffalo’s Child by Johannes Weiland and Uwe Heidschötter (UK)

Jury: This film beautifully recreates the magical atmosphere of the original story. It is flawlessly executed, which succeeded in bringing an unusual organic quality to CG animation.

Jury: A special mention for The Little Bird and the Leaf by Lena von Döhren (Switzerland). This startlingly simple tale had great timing and characterisation. Eschewing dialogue, it was a film of poetic and universal appeal.


Best Film by Young Animators: Warp Cops by Michael Bicarregui and Ollie Sayeed (UK)

Jury: An excellent and affectionate parody of blockbuster film-making with a very clever and funny script that showed real maturity, invention and awareness.

Jury: Special mentions go to The Flood by Vasiliy Koretskiy (Russia/Ukraine/Cyprus) which exhibited some fantastic technical craftsmanship that was a real achievement, and The Red Wire by Kidscam (Belgium) which paired sound and image with originality and quirky characterisation.


Audience Award: Buy Buy Baby by Gervais Merryweather (UK)

Jury: Well, that’s you, so you tell us… Did you vote for your favourite film of BAF 2012? What did you think of Buy Buy Baby?

Congratulations, Gervais, and to all of our award winners. We’ll be looking out for you at Bradford Animation Festival 2013.

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