17/06/2024 - The film by Australia’s Adam Elliot claimed the Crystal for Best Feature Film, while Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow walked away with three trophies

At the close of another edition to have achieved record attendance figures (17,400 attendees hailing from 103 countries), the 43rd Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled its list of champions, dominated by Memoir of a Snail by Australian director Adam Elliot, which won the 2024 Crystal Award for Best Feature Film, courtesy of a jury composed of Adriana García Galán, Leonor Silveira and Ilan Uroz.

The Jury Prize went to Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
film profile] by Gints Zilbalodis, which was unveiled in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and which is the Latvian filmmaker’s second feature-length movie after Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
film profile] (which triumphed in Annecy’s Contrechamp competition in 2019). Flow also scooped the Audience Award as well as the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution (destined for UFO Distribution). The film is sold worldwide by Charades.

Also worth a mention in the main competition is the Paul Grimault Prize nabbed by Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, by Japan’s Shinnosuke Yakuwa.

As for the victorious feature films gracing the competitive Contrechamp line-up, the jury (Alexandre Gavras, José Miguel Ribeiro and Inna Sahakyan) handed its Grand Prize to Sultana’s Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Herguera
film profile] by Spain’s Isabel Herguera (which world premiered in San Sebastián’s Golden Shell competition and which is sold worldwide by Square Eyes), while the Jury Prize was bestowed upon Living Large [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Dufková
film profile] by Czech director Kristina Dufková (sold worldwide by Gebeka).

Last but not least, the Crystal for Best Short Film went to Percebes, a co-production between Portugal and France, directed by the duo comprising Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves.

The country set to be celebrated in next year’s 44th Annecy International Animation Film Festival (running 8 – 14 June 2025) is Hungary.

The list of winners is as follows:  

Feature Films

Official Competition

Crystal for Best Feature Film
Memoir of a Snail - Adam Elliot (Australia)

Jury Prize
Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
film profile] - Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia/Belgium/France)

Paul Grimault Prize
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window - Shinnosuke Yakuwa (Japan)

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution
Flow - Gints Zilbalodis

Audience Award
Flow - Gints Zilbalodis

Contrechamp Competition

Grand Prize
Sultana’s Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Herguera
film profile] - Isabel Herguera (Spain/Germany)

Jury Prize
Living Large [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Dufková
film profile] - Kristina Dufková (Czech Republic/Slovakia/France)

Short Films

Official Competition

Crystal for Best Short Film
Percebes - Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves (Portugal/France)

Jury Prize
The Car That Came Back from the Sea - Jadwiga Kowalska (Switzerland)

Alexeïeff-Parker Prize
Beautiful Men - Nicolas Keppens (Belgium/France/Netherlands)

Jean-Luc Xiberras Prize for Best First Work
[S] - Mario Radev (UK)

Audience Award
Hurikán - Jan Saska (Czech Republic/France/Slovakia/Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Off-Limits Short Films

Off-Limits Award for Best Film
Glass House - Boris Labbé (France)

TV Films

Crystal for Best TV Production
The Drifting Guitar – Sophie Roze (France/Switzerland)

Jury Prize for Best TV Series
La vie de château “Le fantôme de Versailles” - Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, Nathaniel H’Limi (France/Luxembourg)

Jury Prize for Best TV Special
Lola et le piano à bruits - Augusto Zanovello (France/Poland/Switzerland)

Audience Award
The Drifting Guitar – Sophie Roze

Commissioned Films

Crystal for Best Commissioned Film
Pictoplasma "Opener 2023" – Will Anderson (UK)

Jury Prize
TED-Ed "How Did South African Apartheid Happen, and How Did It Finally End?" – Aya Marzouk (USA/South Africa/Egypt)

Graduate Films

Crystal for Best Graduate Film
Carrotica - Daniel Sterlin-Altman (Germany - Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf)

Jury Prize
Pubert Jimbob - Quirijn Dees (Belgium - Kask & Conservatorium/School of Arts Gent)

Lotte Reiniger Prize
Maatitel - Govinda Sao (India - National Institute of Design, Goa)

VR Works

Crystal for Best VR Work
Gargoyle Doyle - Ethan Shaftel (USA/Austria/Argentina)

Other awards

City of Annecy Prize
The Meatseller - Margherita Guisti (Italy) (short film)

France TV Prize for Best Short
The Car That Came Back from the Sea - Jadwiga Kowalska (Switzerland)

André-Martin Prize for Best French Short
Butterfly - Florence Miailhe (France)

Best Original Score in a Feature Film
Rihards Zalupe and Gints Zilbalodis - Flow

Best Original Score in a Short Film
Aliaksandr Yasinski - Joko (Poland/Germany/Czech Republic)

Young Audience Award
Hello Summer - Martin Smatana and Veronika Zacharová (Slovakia/Czech Republic) (short film)

Canal+ Junior Jury Award
Noodles au Naturel - Matteo Salanave Piazza (France) (short film)

Connexion Festivals Prize
Beautiful Men - Nicolas Keppens (Belgium/France/Netherlands) (short film)

Connexion Festivals VR Prize
Emperor - Marion Burger and Ilan Cohen (France/Germany) (short film)

(Translated from French)