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SPARK 2020 Winners: ‘Torture Letters’ Named Best in Show

The 2020 edition of Vancouver’s SPARK Animation Film Festival (sparkcg.org) has announced its award-winning films from around the world. This year’s competition featured special spotlights on student filmmakers exploring the divergent genres of comedy and important social messages, and the event hosted the WIA Diversity Awards for the fourth year in partnership with Women in Animation.

In addition to winning the 2020 WIA Diversity Award for Individual Achievemet, as previously announced, American filmmaker and Princeton University Professor of Anthropology Laurence Ralph was awarded the Best in Show honors for his animated documentary short, The Torture Letters. Fuelled by his own personal history of harassment by the Chicago Police, Ralph’s well-researched short connects the drug trade, police abuse and mass incarceration to the disease, disability and premature death impacting urban residents of color.

The Torture Letters uses the medium of animation in the best way possible by telling a story that not often heard but is critical for the advancement of humanity,” said WIA President Marge Dean.

Spark Animation 2020
Spark Animation 2020

Also from the United States, Brian Horn received the festival’s Cinematic Award for his commissioned work Hearthstone: Win or Lose. The Director’s Prize went to Canada’s Roy Stein for his short film Too Late.

The winner in the Regular Shorts category was Anton Dyakov from the Russian Federation for his film BoxBallet. Winner of the Music Video category was Kim Kyoung-bae from the Republic of Korea for Seoulsori, set to a song by Peejay. The Student Shorts award went to the French team of Grégoire de Bernouis, Jawed Boudaoud, Simon Cadilhac and Hélène Ledevin for My friend who shines in the night.

The awards presentation ceremony is available to view online during the 12th Annual SPARK Animation Film Festival from October 29 to November 8. The awards program is available as part of the $25 Festival Pass.

BoxBallet
BoxBallet

Spark Animation Festival 2020 award winners:

Best in Show: The Torture Letters | Laurence Ralph | United States

Regular Shorts Winner: BoxBallet | Anton Dyakov | Russian Federation

Regular Shorts Runner-Up: Gon, The Little Fox | Takeshi Yashiro | Japan

Special Mention: The Passerby | Pieter Coudyzer | Belgium

My friend who shines in the night
My friend who shines in the night

Student Shorts Winner: My friend who shines in the night | Grégoire de Bernouis, Jawed Boudaoud, Simon Cadilhac,Hélène Ledevin | Gobelins | France

Student Shorts Runner-Up: Coffin | Yuanqing Cai, Nathan Crabot, Houzhi Huang, Mikolaj Janiw, Mandimby Lebon, Théo Tran Ngoc | Gobelins | France

Student Shorts Runner-Up: A Tiny Tale | Sylvain Cuvillier, Chloé Bourdic, Théophile Coursimault, Noémie Halberstam, Maŷlis Mosny, Zijing Ye | Rubika | France

Migrants
Migrants

Student Shorts Special Mention, Social Message: Migrants | Hugo Caby, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, Lucas Lermytte, Zoé Devise France Special Mention, Cha Gagandeep Kalirai | United Kingdom

Student Shorts Special Mention, Social Message: Tent 113, Idomèni | Henri Marbacher | Switzerland

Student Shorts Special Mention, Social Message: Les Chaussures de Louis | Théo Jamin, Kayu Leung, Marion Philippe, Jean-Géraud Blanc | France

Happy Easter
Happy Easter

Student Shorts Special Mention, Comedy: Happy Easter | Juliette Audureau, Maho Claquin, Titouan Cocault, Yann Coutard, Franklin Gervais, Sophie Terriere, Xinlei Ye | France

Student Shorts Special Mention, Comedy: Treasure | Alexandre Manzanares, Philipp Merten, Silvan Moutte-Roulet, Guillaume Cosenza | France

Student Shorts Special Mention, Comedy: Quand les Poules auront des Dents | Raphaël Bandet, Adrien Chauvet, Julien Gohard, Eugenia Maggi, Milena Mouries, Eléonore Rolewski, Franck Valero | France

Student Shorts Special Mention, Comedy: Carried Away | Etienne Fagnère, Manon Carrier, Johan Cayrol, Alo Trusz, Jean-Baptiste Escary | France

Seoulsori
Seoulsori

Music Video Winner: Seoulsori | Kim Kyoung-bae | Republic of Korea

Music Video Runner-Up: Moby, “My Only Love” | Paulo Garcia | Brazil

Commercial, PSA & Self-Promotion Winner: Poulehouse “Les Poules Solidaires” | Akama | France

Commercial, PSA & Self-Promotion Runner-Up: Lucky Owl with Shimako | Nobuhiro Yamashita, Yoko Kuno | Japan

VFX Special Mention: Human? | Chiara Feriani | Italy

Cinematic Winner: Hearthstone: Win Or Lose | Brian Horn | United States

Cinematic Runner-Up: Overwatch 2: Zero Hour | Ben Dai | United States

Too Late
Too Late

Director’s Prize: Too Late | Roy Stein |Canada

WIA Diversity Award for Short Film: Where Were You? | María Trénor | Spain

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