After receiving 76 submissions for this year’s Features Competition, the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) selected seven animated works representing diverse voices in animation. OIAF 2022’s Features Competition includes:

- Barber Westchester (dir. Jonni Philips; United States)
- Dozens of Norths (dir. Koji Yamamura; Japan)
- Khamsa – The Well of Oblivion (dir. Vynom Vynom; Algeria)
- Perlimps (dir. Alê Abreu; Brazil)
- Silver Bird and Rainbow Fish (dir. Lei Lei; China, United States, Netherlands)
- The Island (dir. Anca Damian; Romania, France, Belgium)
- Unicorn Wars (dir. Alberto Váquez; Spain, France)

“This year’s feature finalists are stylistically, technically, thematically diverse and oh so timely,” says OIAF Artistic Director Chris Robinson. “We’ve got a musical film about refugees; a decidedly adult anti-war film featuring teddy bears and unicorns; a touching and comic memoir about a family’s experience living under repressive regimes in China; an utterly hypnotic and mystifying beauty from past OIAF Grand Prize winner, Koji Yamamura; a lo-fi indie comedy from cult sensation and OIAF special guest, Jonni Philips; and, a surprising work from Algeria about a boy with amnesia who embarks on a journey to restore his memory.”

A story of fragmented memory, Dozens of Norths won the Excellence Award at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival and Best Feature Animated Film Award at the 13th International Animation Film Festival – Golden Kuker Sofia.

The Island, a creative take on Robinson Crusoe, and the thematically timely Unicorn Wars are no strangers to the festival circuit, both having received acclaim earlier this year at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

This year’s competition welcomes Barber Westchester, the debut feature of indie animator Phillips, whose cohort of characters take on the existentialism of the everyday.

This year’s Features category films will compete for the Grand Prize for Feature Animation, which is decided by the expertise of OIAF 2022 Features Jury members Pilar Newton-Katz, Marc Bertrand, and Hugo Covarrubias.

OIAF 2022 runs from September 21-25 at local venues throughout the Ottawa downtown core. Passes are available for purchase through the OIAF Box Office, individual tickets will be available closer to the Festival dates.