Computer Animation Festival Animation Theater Platinum Pass Full Conference Pass Full Conference One-Day Pass Basic Conference Pass Student One-Day Pass Experience Pass Exhibitor Pass Screening Dates/Times: 17 – 20 Nov 2019, Sun – Wed (9am – 6pm) Venue: Mezzanine Meeting Room M9 (Mezzanine Level, Merivale St) Screening Dates/Times: 18 Nov 2019, Mon (4.15pm – 7pm) 19 Nov 2019, Tues (6.15pm – 8.15pm) 20 Nov 2019, Wed (1pm – 3pm) Venue: Mezzanine Meeting Room M9 (Great Hall 1&2, Foyer Level, Merivale St) Mice, a small story Creator(s): Jade Baillargeault, Nazli Doale, Dimitri James, Quang Daniel La, Morgane Lau, Mélanie Pango et Manon Pringault, Isart Digital Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): SFMD - Miyu Distribution Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: In a dark subway tunnel, a group of mice find a gold ring-pull that seems to have a mysterious effect on one of them. Not so far from them, an owl and his enslaved rats are watching. The owl sends his rats to get hold of this strange object... Manen Creator(s): Thomas ANGLADE, Maxime ANNOUN, Lucie DESSERTINE, Estelle SAINT-JOURS, ArtFX Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Miyu Distribution Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: Sergio, an old and solitary fisherman, takes out the heavy artillery to avenge a pelican. Ikibanchi Creator(s): Eloïse Bouvarel, Nicolas Cevrero, Jonathan Delefosse, Antoine Molénat, Kévin Poveda, ArtFx Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Miyu Distribution Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: The story takes place in a megastructure where Gally, a young cyborg steals a mysterious and powerful artefact, kept by a giant Mecha. Like and Follow Creator(s): Brent, Tobias Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Forrest + Schlage Country(s) of Origin: Japan Synopsis: When a kid starts spending time in the real world, it’s up to his smartphone to bring his attention back to where it belongs. Like and Follow is the first short film created by Brent Forrest and Tobias Schlage. It follows a little boy who cant see anything but the display of his smartphone. Each time he starts to realize the beauty and dangers of the world around him, his smartphone forces his attention back to the screen. The production of the film started in spring 2018 and was finished in April 2019. Stress Creator(s): Simon, Tom, Antoine, Théo, Julien, Carlos Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Je Regarde, Pôle 3D Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: In an oppressing environment, a child plays with a knife. Desire of Rails - Freedom Creator(s): Ihsu Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Giantstep Country(s) of Origin: South Korea Synopsis: "Desire of Rails" is a film to demonstrate a concept of the conceptual art idea and the look of the art pieces in real world. In this movie, I set the pieces of art in the gallery space I designed. The handrails are awakened and have the desire to pass the limitation which is given to them to just existence for practical purpose. Through the AR devices, viewers can experience their childish dreams. First Dream – Roller Coaster Second Dream – Playing inside of a blanket in bedtime Third Dream – Revenge to the steps by jailing them Fourth Dream – Playing underwater Junho Kim added a feeling of dreamy liveliness to this film with his amazing sound work. Produced at Giantstep. Iam Twisq Creator(s): Red, Ray, School of Creative Media Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, Morr Music Country(s) of Origin: Hong Kong Synopsis: Hong Kong is known as a concrete jungle and we seek for a different angle to review Hong Kong’s city landscape from the sight of a bird. The music video of “Iam Twisq” is re-creating an urban playground by animating shapes, forms and colours extracted from the original buildings. Samsara Creator(s): HYUNJOON Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Korea National University of Arts Country(s) of Origin: South Korea Synopsis: There was a boy who took care of a fig tree which did not bear any fruit for a long time. One day, he went to another world through his dream and got the fruit he wanted so much but he feel he could not get enough. //// There was a boy who took care of a fig tree which did not bear any fruit for a long time. One day, he went to another world through his dream and got the fruit he wanted so much but could not get. Before long, however, the boy got tired of the world where everything he wanted was possible. In the end, he came back to the real world and kept on taking care of the fig tree. Purpleboy Creator(s): Alexandre, Rodrigo, Mickaël, Thierry, Serge Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Je Regarde, Bando à Parte Country(s) of Origin: France, Portugal Synopsis: Oscar is a child who sprouts in his parents garden. Nobody knows his biological sex but he claims the masculine gender. One day Oscar lives an extraordinary but painful adventure in an authoritarian and oppressive world. Will he manage to have the identity recognition he desires so much? "Birth of Planet Earth" Fulldome Excerpt: The Collision that Formed the Moon Creator(s): Donna, Robert Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Country(s) of Origin: United States of America Synopsis: This visualization of a scientific simulation shows the giant impact that formed the Moon. 4.5 billion years ago, the early Earth collided with a Mars-sized rock called “Theia”, resulting in a spinning disk of lava and vaporized rock hotter than the surface of the sun. In this sequence, we see the first 24 hours of the 100-year process of our Moon’s formation. This 1.1 million-point smoothed particle hydrodynamics model was 32 gigabytes and featured 492 data snapshots, which were interpolated by a factor of ten to play back smoothly on a 4K fulldome cinema screen. Using Houdini, special sprites used instanced spheres with a procedural falloff shader to face the hemispherical camera lens, to prevent intersection artifacts as particles evolved from solid to liquid to gas, and to avoid camera intersection. Other particles were surfaced as solids and liquids, and dynamic geometry lights allowed the emissive surfaces to illuminate diffuse surfaces. Processing and rendering a million translucent sprites was prohibitive on the AVL’s 30-machine cluster, so the team used their custom Blurend pipeline to process imagery on the Blue Waters supercomputer. The shot was completed in Nuke, adding a Milky Way background and grading the mixing planet-forming material. Bound Creator(s): Lesego VORSTER, Pierre-Yves VAUZELLE, Diego TORRES, Venkatram VISWANATHAN, Kirill BLUMENKRANTS, Moïra Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Miyu Distribution Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: Two young brothers break their relationship out of pride. The Lifeguard Creator(s): Cécile, Milena, Clémentine, Iris, Ming-Yang, Rohan, Charlotte, Philippe Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Je Regarde, Supinfocom Rubika Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: An old man returns to his beach where he spent his childhood, the wind rises, a storm approaches, and submerge him little by little into his memories. O28 Creator(s): Otalia, Geoffroy, Louise, Antoine, Robin, Fabien, Philippe Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Je Regarde, Supinfocom Rubika Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: In Lisbon, a german married couple is about to get aboard the legendary n°28 tramway, but how should you ract when the brakes let go and embark you on a vertiginous race... with a baby on board. The Way Home Creator(s): Kai Lun, Qian Yong, Joshua Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore, 6KU Studios Country(s) of Origin: Singapore Synopsis: The Way Home is the first DigiPen student short film to be done entirely inside Unreal Engine 4. The film seeks to push the boundaries of stylized animation and define the potential of an animation pipeline in a game engine. As the field of animation continues to evolve in it's medium, the game industry has been slowly providing high fidelity and rendering quality that can rival commercial renderers. This only allows a bigger canvas for the animation medium, including new experiences like VR and AR storytelling. By finishing this film, we hope to share the experience of using a game engine as the main driving force in an animation production. Real-time is the future of animation and the possibilities are endless - we think anyone can use it, even students and untrained artists seeking opportunities in the game industry. Wild Eyes Creator(s): Nina, Tobias Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Director Country(s) of Origin: Germany Synopsis: Wild Eyes is a 2D animated, digitally hand-drawn short film about the blind girl Kitana who has to discover, that fulfilling her greatest desire demands a terrible sacrifice. The film uses her unique point of view to show how she perceives her surrounding and other people and how this leads to the decision she takes. As we see with our brains and our eyes are just one way of transmitting information, we visualized what she hears and feels through moving lines. To achieve the same hand-drawn look as in the outside view, without animating the person, that talks to her, by hand, we used the iPhone X with its newest facetracking technology for reference. It is an incredibly accurate way to capture the face of the voice actor without limiting his acting. After the recording we transferred the facial data to a custom mesh and staged the 3d object based on the concept art. Throughout the animation process we used the Facebook AR facedetection to quickly capture missing key poses. This workflow made it easy to place the lines correctly in perspective and motion. One Pair Coat Creator(s): Yi Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Animationsinstitut Country(s) of Origin: Germany Synopsis: Jolanda and Hendrik are a couple. They have very close relationship. Hendrik is her favorite coat to put on. We see a day in their life. 阿公 A Gong Creator(s): Zozo JHEN, Tena GALOVIC, Marine VARGUY, Yen-Chen LIU, Ellis Kayin CHAN, Moïra Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Miyu Distribution Country(s) of Origin: France Synopsis: A journey of a 7-years-old boy's acceptance of his grandpa's death in a traditional Taiwanese funeral. The Little Ship [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (New Face Award) This is a story about a girl and her friend - an elephant. They spend together all the time, but childhood ends sooner or later. Penguin Highway (trailer) [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Excellence Award) Aoyama-kun, a fourth-grader, has a crush on One-e-san who works as a dental assistant at a dental clinic. One day, he witnesses One-e-san throwing a Coke can that transforms into a penguin. Can Aoyama-kun find out how this penguin is related to One-e-san? This is a story of a mysterious, unforgettable summer. OKKO’S Inn (trailer) [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Excellence Award) Okko is a 6th grade girl who spends her time learning to become the innkeeper of her grandmother’s inn, “Haru no Ya”. With the help of the ghost Uribo and her other peculiar friends, she slowly learns to fill the shoes of her new role. This is the story of Okko and her family that couldn’t be told via a television series or the original childrens’ novels. DORAGON PILOT - Hisone＆Masotan - [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Excellence Award) “I will fly with you through the sky.” Hisone Amakasu is a rookie stationed at the Air Self-Defense Force's Gifu base. Throughout her life, Hisone felt as if her honest personality continually led her to hurt the feelings of the people around her. Discrete Figures (a part of work) [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Excellence Award) Dance performance generating bodily expression through mathematical / collective intelligence-based methodology. With AI and machine learning offering new insights into the body schema and movement, numeric data and analytical results derived from it inform the choreography. The Girl Without Hands (Trailer) [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Excellence Award) The Girl Without Hands is a feature-length animated film that breathes new life into the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same title published in the very first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, which the Grimm Brothers compiled in the beginning of the 19th century. Datum (a part of work) [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Excellence Award) Pioneering video work utilizing symmetric handling of space, color and time integrated in high-dimensional space. Am I a Wolf? [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (New Face Award) The students are performing a theater called “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats”. Everybody has a role. They are totally taken in by their roles in a way that the boundary between reality and acting rarely can be distinguished. Invisible [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (New Face Award) Depicting waning presence and invisibility: A nameless, forgotten man has turned invisible and is fading from existence. Can the effervescence of life be restored to this invisible man in a single animated short film? Those around him take no notice of him... No longer able to bear the fragility of presence, his body rises to flutter into the sky, with even gravity letting go... soon he will vanish entirely. La Chute [Japan Media Arts Festival 2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Grand Prize) A short animated film inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Inferno. As the celestial beings descend to the Earth and begin destroying the activities there, disturbing the world’s order and creating chaos. Initiated by these terms, a tragic fall leads to the parturition of the crucial opposites: Hell and Heaven’s circles. The film depicts the grand theme of loops, metamorphoses, and degeneration and regeneration. WAAAH [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: I synchronized the sounds of babies crying and the frustration I've experienced throughout the years. Everyone was born crying and grew up crying. I want to go back to being a baby again. Rayons ft. Predawn - Waxing Moon [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: I directed and produced the music video for "Waxing Moon", by Rayons ft. Predawn. The video was inspired by the word "Rayons," which means "ray of light" in French, and the song title, "Waxing Moon". Light is the central theme of the video and it portrays the world at dusk. Echo Chamber [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: Cy Twombly and Roland Barthes, what are they doing? This is a journal about the seductions and sufferings of the text. Veil [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: A Kyogen stage. An eye doctor's examination room. A sushi counter. Distance, feeling, and desire drift about between two beings that come into contact in different spaces. In the form of animation, Veil rekindles and scrutinizes our familiar sensations, perhaps felt somewhere, sometime. Rabbit's Blood [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: Rabbit’s Blood is a story about a society of two rival groups; sinister cloaked men and neutralist rabbits who have human-looking bodies and live underground. Layers Act [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: This video was created by layering two transparent films drawn with simple patterns to give a multifaceted visual effect. Developing the video involved research on special effect animation methods used before the advent of computer graphics. It was shot by moving the film manually to the AUDIO ARCHITECTURE soundtrack and the video was edited to optimize physiological comfort. L’Œil du Cyclone [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: A mind and body attempt to transform. Yet, unable to escape from itself, it returns to its original existence. Self-love is the theme of this metamorphic animation. Unfamiliar Ones [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: An ordinary story unwinding in a peculiar world. Baloney Speaker (Sasanomaly) [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: Using match boxes as a motif, "Baloney Speaker" depicts the troubled heart of a young man who, in order to protect himself, cuts ties with others and locks himself up in his inner world. This film exhibits a fusion of numerous tiny worlds made up of 60 match boxes, which were designed and produced by the director himself. Many of the designs are deliberately irrelevant to the song's lyrics; however, Atsushi Makino effectively creates extraordinary moments by linking them to key lyrics throughout. Stop motion, rotoscoping, hand-drawn animation, and computer graphics techniques were used. Ladybirds'Requiem [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: The terrifying pages of the storybook I couldn't help opening. The recurring nightmares. The pain I felt from seeing that yellow fluid oozing from the ladybug's legs. The scary things from my childhood are now beautiful and nostalgic memories. Whether they took place in dreams or reality, they all remain in my memory as precious nightmares. Ladybug's Requiem is an animation that lets you take another peek into those recurring childhood nightmares. ROCK'N ROLL MARCH / Eiichi Otaki [New Motion Short Films] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: Created based on a project wherein contemporary filmmakers create music videos for 1970s pop music. Singer/songwriter Eiichi Otaki returns from the grave and marches with musical spirits while singing. He imitates Elvis Presley and finally makes his way out into the light. The song incorporates the rhythm Second Line, which is used for funeral marches in New Orleans. Traces [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Grand Prize) 36,000 years ago, in the Ardèche river gorge, when an animal was painted, it was hunted. When it is again time to go Hunting and Painting, Gwel is appointed head of the group of hunters while Karou the Painter and his apprentice Lani set off to paint the walls of the great cavern. But they hadn't counted on meeting a cave lion. An Ant [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Best Korean Film Award) A god lives alone on a lonely star. He meets an ant that is hit by the tears he has shed. In the god's lonely world, the ant means everything to him, and they have a happy moment together. But by the time the god forgets his loneliness, the ant leaves his world. Big Wolf & Little Wolf [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (SICAF Choice Award) Big Wolf lives quite contentedly alone under his tree. One day he sees a Little Wolf approaching him who seems determined to keep him company. But Big Wolf has no need for his company. He likes the quiet life and his routine. At least, that’s what he thought… Based on the kid’s book by Nadine Brun-Cosme and Olivier Tallec, published by Flammarion jeunesse. Reneepoptosis [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Jury’s Special Award) Three Renees go on a quest to find God, who is also Renee. As they traverse the mountains and valleys of Renee, they discover all the great joys, mysteries, and tragedies of being Renee. Apart [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Jury’s Special Award: Student Film) This short film about life after the loss of a loved one deals with a difficult topic, using techniques of both live-action and animated film. Real experiences of the narrators are combined with animated sequences reconstructing painful situations, looking into the thoughts of three young people untimely exposed to death. DAD [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Special Distinction Award : SICAF KID) Tommy‘s having a hard time sleeping, instead he looks at the moon, and fantasizes about where his dad might be, and what kind of man he is. My Generation [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Special Distinction Award) What if we put down our smartphones and opened our eyes wide shut? This is what suggests the short film “My Generation”: An 8 minute travelling shot where we go through different worlds; contemporary art, GAFA, sports, religions, pornography, politics, finance, sacred cows, generalized surveillance, all opiums of the people. It’s Jérôme Bosch teleported to the post Warhol era. If modern alienation is depicted, there is no moral judgement but a clinical detachment as with Stanley Kubrick: the facts, only the facts. Son of the Sea [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (SICAF Asia Award) A man live in a house with his wife and the illusion of their son on the wall! This hallucination gradually creates some complications in their life. A Gong [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Special Distinction Award: Student Film) A journey of a 7 year-old boy's acceptance of his grandpa's death in a traditional Taiwanese funeral. Hors Piste [SICAF2019 Award-Winning Program] Creator(s): Studio/Organization Affiliation(s): Country(s) of Origin: Synopsis: (Grand Prize: Student Film)The two best rescue workers of the region are ready for their new mission. Despite their professionalism and their determination, it will not go as planned...
