‘North of Blue,’ ‘Floreana’ Top LA Animation Fest Winners

The LA Animation Festival held its awards evening on Sunday at The Mayflower Club, presenting awards across filmmaking and craft categories including. Louis Morton’s experimental film Floreana was named Best of the Fest, while renowned independent experimental filmmaker Joanna Priestley’s North of Blue took Best Feature, and Best Comedy went to Oscar-winning Canadian duo Alison Snowden and David Fine for Animal Behaviour.

Several of the main categories were sponsored by Toon Boom, the popular animation software. The ceremony evening was also used to raise money and awareness for Women in Animation.

The festival also Honored Evette Vargas, for her “Pioneering Work in VR”, a Sangaria Ramune-sponsored Award for Excellence went to animator-composer Ed Skudder for his music video Tectonic, and a Humanitarian Award in animated documentary was bestowed on Land of the Free?, a group project from Sheila Sofian’s USC Documentary Animation class.

Festival Honoree and Titmouse co-founder Chris Prynoski received his Award for “Pioneering Work in Animation” during the festival’s opening night.

The main category winners are below; a complete list can be found online.

Pioneering Work in Animation – Chris Prynoski (Honoree)
Pioneering Work in VR – Evette Vargas (Honoree)
Best of the Fest – Floreana (USA) Louis Morton
Best Feature – North of Blue (USA) Joanna Priestley
Best Comedy – Animal Behaviour (Canada) Alison Snowden & David Fine
Best Motion Graphics – Equipoise (USA) Simo Liu
Best Short from a Series – Lullaby Theories: A Secret (USA) Jonathan Lacocque
Best Short from a Series 2nd Place – & Black & White (Croatia) Darko Bakliza
Best Documentary – New York City Sketchbook (USA) Willy Hartland
Best Character-Based – Little Bandits (USA) Alex Avagimian
Best Experimental – Floreana (USA) Louis Morton
Best Music Video – “Emulate” Okay Kaya (USA) Daniel Zvereff
Award of Excellence (Presented by Sangaria Ramune) – Tectonic (USA) Ed Skudder
Innovator Award – Evette Vargas
Humanitarian Award – Land of the Free (USA) USC Documentary Animation Production class: Alissa Michelle Brasington, Liam Campbell, Brian Cawley, Lakota DodgingHorse, Ken Egu, C. Leigh Goldsmith, Haley Hudkins, Hannah Kreiswirth, Kaitlyn Leewing, Sequoyah Madison, Molly Murphy, Patrice Pinardo, Chenglin Xie
Best Direction – Animal Behaviour (Canada) Alison Snowden & David Fine
Best Story – The Magical Mystery of Musigny (USA) Emmett Goodman
Best Character Design – Happy Foot vs. Sad Foot (USA) Mike Hollingsworth
Best Art Direction – Unexpected Discoveries (USA) James Mabery
Best Design – Diving in a Sea of Light (USA) Micah Buzan
Best Children’s Animation 1st Place – Mi Abuelita (Guatemala) Giselle Pérez

LAAF festival sponsors are Sangaria Ramune, P4STV, Octopie, Toon Boom, Bang Zoom!; event sponsors are Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Yolo Rum, Leese Fitch Wines, Asombrosa Tequila, Gehricke Wines

Photography by Sean Eric Pavon – XP Photography