Out of  35 films from 22 countries were accepted into the competition (9 student works and 26 professional works) the first  Rising of  Lusitania -AnimaDoc Film Festival (1-3/2/2019, Liverpool) gave out its inaugural awards. 

Even though, as jury member Kim Noce (UK) said, a jury is a snapshot of 3 minds coming together for a brief moment in time, and one can’t help subjectivity and chance, all jury members (Juliette Marchand, Aaron Wood, and Kim Noce) agreed on the films' fine quality.

The Grand Prix “Lusitania Award” for the Best AnimaDoc went to Randall Christopher and his film The Driver Is Red (USA 2017, 14’37”). Also part of the 2018 Sundance Festival, the film tells a true crime story in 1960s Argentina of how secret agent Zvi Aharoni hunts down one of the highest-ranking Nazi war criminals on the run, and features an equally strong directors statement against bigotry, Holocaust denial and extreme nationalism.

Jury Statement: The Jury thought that this film did an excellent job of portraying a historic event in an engaging fashion, through its narrative and visual style. Its framing of factual information and use of 'true crime documentary' technique kept a level of high suspense throughout, right to the capture of one of the highest ranking Nazi war criminals on the run.

Martina Scarpelli's Egg (France/Denmark 2018, 12’07”), which started its career at Annecy festival, and features an experimental and still empathetic story of fighting with anorexia, took home the Special Lusitania Jury Awards.

Jury Statement: In this case for the Jury Award this might be the perfect example of cinema and animation through visual metaphor. A film that pushes a little further the boundaries of what can and cannot be represented in a documentary. Egg seems to follow the narrative developed by James Joyce and Samuel Beckett through the inner voice both in term of content and visually using animation for something that otherwise could be hard to grasp in a short format and difficult to represent without being very direct: the fear of death and life in the denial of what nourishes us. And within that the sense of one's own space and body awareness, the sensations of what it feels like to exist to taste life through visualization. A remarkably intelligent film that hopefully will nourish filmmakers to look beyond what the representation of reality in animation documentaries is.

Best Student Film was awarded to the French film The Children Of Concrete by Jonathan Phanhsay-Chamson.

Jury Statement: We appreciate the freedom used with animation. Choice of the technique that serves the idea very well in a simple, graceful, minimal, and smart way. We would also congratulate the efficiency and sharpness of the voice, soundtrack, and rhythm between sound and image. Then, finally, the topic is great, changing a lot from what we keep hearing about it. You bring something to the point. Well done!

In the AnimaMockumentary category, Bryan Arfiandi and Jason Kiantoro won for their Life of Death, in which death literally talks about mortal beings. The film also won the festival audience award.

Jury statement: This film was a perfect example of a Mockumentary animated film; it's a parody of the reality TV documentary genre, being a perfect vehicle for a humorous take on death. From a well-crafted script peppered with both laugh-out-loud moments and an emotional finale, to the simple but highly effective visual design and animation, we felt this was a very worthy winner for the "Make Believe Award".

A Special mention was reserved for the German film Carlotta's Face by Valentin Riedl, a portrait of a woman with prosopagnosia.

It took 4 years for festival director and O!PLA organizer Piotr Kardas to fight to establish the festival in Liverpool, the place where Winsor McKay's The Sinking of Lusitania was commemorated. Kardas tells Zippy Frames he envisions the Rising of Lusitania festival becoming an international bridge between animation and documentary, and a fascinating space to discover the unlimited possibilities of animation and issues and topics to talk and think about.

The Full List of Rising of Lusitania - Animadoc Winners:

• Grand Prix “Lusitania Award” for the Best AnimaDoc -The Driver Is Red (USA 2017, 14’37”), Randall Christopher / DOCUMENTARY / professional
• Special Lusitania Jury Award - Egg Martina Scarpelli (France/Denmark 2018, 12’07”),/ DOCUMENTARY / professional
• “Rising Award” for the Best Student Movie - The Children Of Concrete (France 2017, 06’42”), Jonathan Phanhsay-Chamson / DOCUMENTARY / school
• “Make-Believe Award” for the Best AnimaMockumentary - Life of Death (Indonesia 2018, 5’22”), Bryan Arfiandy and Jason Kiantoro / MOCKUMENTARY /school
• Special Mentions for the Best Portrait - Carlotta's Face (Germany 2018, 5’), Valentin Riedl / DOCUMENTARY / professional
• Special Mentions for the Current Event - The Children Of Concrete (France 2017, 06’42”), Jonathan Phanhsay-Chamson / DOCUMENTARY / school
• Lusitania Audience Award - Life of Death (Indonesia 2018, 5’22”), Bryan Arfiandy and Jason Kiantoro / MOCKUMENTARY / school

Rising of Lusitania  -AnimaDoc Film Festival was held on Liverpool (UK), 1-3 February 2019 . Venue: Merseyside Polonia. The organizer of  the Rising  of  Lusitania-AnimaDoc  Film Festival is Animation Across Borders, in collaboration with Big Adventure Cinema. Media partner: Zippy Frames

Want to read more free articles like this?

Keep this professional animation journalism effort relevant and updated. Become our patron