The Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology, which wrapped last month, featured 160+ films in competition, including 90 animated shorts and features; animated films ‘Fulgores’ by Andrés Palma and ‘LUKi and the Lights’ each garnered wins in 2 categories.
The Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology (PFCAT) recently wrapped its 2024 event, held at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) August 21-25. This year, the festival featured over 160 films in competition including 90 animated shorts and features. PFCAT’s Dome Film and Virtual Reality screening blocks also featured animated shorts.
The 2024 jury featured included entertainment and animation industry veterans Jonathon E. Stewart (Angry Birds 2, Smallfoot, Pixar/ Disney’s Cars 3); Eric Adkins (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Shape Island, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Boxtrolls, Wendell & Wild); Michael Cordova (Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link, ParaNorman, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dad Man’s Chest); Rick Mischel (Hotel Transylvania, Smurfs, Into the Spiderverse, Rick and Morty); and Joanna Priestley, creator of 32 award-winning animated films.
“It was another amazing year for PFCAT and the competition was the most intense yet,” said festival co-director and co-founder Peter Issac Alexander. “It was a great year and all of this year’s participants should feel proud of what they achieved.”
PFCAT 2024 Animation Winners Include:
Best Animated Feature Winner:
- The Concierge directed by Yoshimi Itazu (Japan)
Best Animated Feature Audience Choice Winner:
- Slide directed by Bill Plympton
Best Documentary Feature
- History, Mystery & Odyssey: Six Portland Animators directed by Martin Cooper (U.K.)
Best 2D Animated Short Winner:
- Fiego and the Magic Fish directed by Joe Murray (Belgium)
Best 3D Animated Short Winner:
- Bridge-My Little Friends directed by Kazuyuki Ishihara (Japan)
Best Stop-Motion Short
- Tennis, Oranges by Sean Pecknold (U.S.)
Best Stop-Motion Short Short
- Le Charade directed by Erika Totoro (U.S.)
Best Environmental Film
- Las Nogas directed by Catya Plate (U.S.)
Best Animated Short for Children Winner:
- LUKi and the Lights directed by Toby Cochran (U.S.)
Best Use of Unreal Engine Winner:
- LUKi and the Lights directed by Toby Cochran (U.S.)
Best Score in an Animated Film Winner:
- A Bear Named Wojtek directed by Iain Gardner, music by Normand Roger (U.K.)
Breakthrough Animation Winner:
- Fulgores (Shimmer) directed by Andrés Palma (Mexico)
Best Worldbuilding in an Animation Winner:
- Fulgores (Shimmer) directed by Andrés Palma (Mexico)
Best Student Film Winner:
- Testimony directed by Su Min Ha (US)
Best Animated Series Winner
- Ada Episode 4: “Biblionamis Maximus” directed by Elizabeth Cox (US)
The full list of animation winners and nominees is available here.
PFCAT 2024 program also featured a range of panel discussions including “The Future of Stop-Motion Animation,” with panelists Melanie Coombs (Harvie Krumpet, Mary and Max, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, In the Know, Earths to Come), Paul Harrod (The PJs, Isle of Dogs, Wendell and Wild, Shape Island, Insectario), Sean Pecknold (White Winter Hymnal, The Shrine/An Argument), and Catya Plate (The Reading, Handing By A Thread, Meeting MacGuffin, Las Nogas); “Breaking Into Animation” hosted by WIA Portland and sponsored by Portland Events and Film Office and Prosper Portland; and “How to Supercharge Your Creativity in Filmmaking and Animation,” with panelists Marko Bosanac (New Idea) Gina Crow (No Silence, Dark in Berlin); Ezra Edmond (Blewish, Key & Peele, The Good Wife, Outlander), and George Maestri (Rocko’s Modern Life, South Park).
Source: Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
