Ottawa Reveals 72 Animated Short Film Finalists Amid Record 2,850 Submissions

OTTAWA, ON — The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) announces the 72 animated short films selected to compete in the Commissioned Animation, Narrative Short Animation, Non-Narrative Short Animation, Student Animation, and Canadian Student Animation categories at this year’s event, following a record-breaking 2,850 entries from around the world. All winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on September 27 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

“International animation continues to surprise,” says Chris Robinson, Artistic Director of the OIAF. “Even as the world spins through chaos, fear, and conflict, our community has turned to humour as a vibrant counterpoint. A few years ago, we introduced the Hélène Tanguay Award for Humour to shine a spotlight on the funnier side of animation—and this year’s selections deliver every flavour you could hope for: sharp satire, whimsical absurdity, delightfully dark twists, and good old-fashioned slapstick.”

The Official Selections list for the OIAF 2025 Short Animation Film Competition includes:

Commissioned Animation Competition
18th ZubrOFFka International Short Film Festival ‘Signal Film’ (dir. Sander Joon, Estonia/Poland)

• 37 Filmfest Dresden 2025 Trailer (dir. Petra Stipetić, Germany)
• Across My Jaw (dirs. Isabelle Aspin and Brian Smee, United States)
• Allied ABLE (dirs. Christopher Rutledge and Dan Hanafin, United States)
• Avec pas d’casque ‘Cardinal’ (dir. Joël Vaudreuil, Canada)
• Camel Power Club ‘Dont Make It a Song’ (dir. Stefano Bertelli, Italy)
• CNESST ‘Qu’à un fil’ (CNESST ‘Hanging By A Thread’) (dir. Dale Hayward, Canada)
• Daftar Yaddasht (Notebook) (dirs. Aghil Hosseinian and Sogol Sanago, Iran)
• Desi Oon (dir. Suresh Eriyat, India)
• Join (dir. Brennan Bova, Canada)
• Naive New Beaters ft. Star Feminine Band ‘Ye Kou Si Kuo’ (dir. Lola Lefèvre, France)
• Nap Eyes ‘Dark Mystery Enigma Bird’ (dir. Jordan Minkoff, Canada)
• Natlan Impressions Trailer ‘Blaze to Natlan’ (dirs. Thomas Schmid and Junyi Xiao, United States)

Narrative Short Animation
Basketball Explorer Presents: The Shot Doctor (dir. Keith Pakiz, United States)

• Bread Will Walk (dir. Alex Boya, Canada)
• Dark Globe (dir. Donato Sansone, Italy/France)
• Dollhouse Elephant (dir. Jenny Jokela, Finland)
• Existential Greg (dir. Will Anderson, United Kingdom)
• I Beg Your Pardon (dir. John W. Lustig, United States)
• ICan’t (dir. Renato Klieger Gennari, Brazil)
• Il burattino e la balena (dir. Roberto Catani, France/Italy)
• Kiievi Tort (Kyiv Cake) (dir. Mykyta Lyskov, Estonia/Ukraine)
• La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles (The Girl Who Cried Pearls) (dirs. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, Canada)
• La vie avec un idiot (Life With an Idiot) (dir. Theodore Ushev, France)
• Luna Rossa (dirs. Priit Pärn and Olga Pärn, Estonia/France)
• Off-Time (dir. Nata Metlukh, United States/Japan/Ukraine)
• Paradaïz (dir. Matea Radic, Canada)
• Paul Y Sus Amigos (Paul and His Friends) (dir. Rafael Esteban Trujillo, Spain/United States)
• Pobre Marciano (Poor Marciano) (dir. Alex Rey, Spain)
• Quota (dirs. Job, Joris & Marieke, Netherlands)
• Rakugaki (The Graffiti) (dir. Ryo Orikasa, Japan)
• S The Wolf (dir. Sameh Alaa, France)
• Shadows (dir. Rand Beiruty, France/Jordan)
• Soixante-sept millisecondes (Sixty-Seven Milliseconds) (dir. fleuryfontaine, France)
• 啤酒的滋味 (A Taste of Beer) (dir. Li Xie, China)

Non-Narrative Animation Competition

• Body Burden (dir. Ben Fox, United Kingdom)
• Dédé (Ancestor) (dir. Yasmine Djedje-Fisher-Azoume, United Kingdom)
• Evacuations (dir. Lilli Carré, United States)
• Fusion (dir. Richard Reeves, Canada)
• Green Lung (dir. Simon Hamlyn, United Kingdom)
• How (dir. Marko Mestrovic, Croatia)
• States of Matter (dir. Marvin Hauck, Netherlands)
• The Weaver (dir. Yiorgos Tsangaris, Cyprus)
• Долго доаѓање на огнот (The Long Coming of the Fire) (dir. Zharko Ivanov, North Macedonia)
• 普通の生活 (Ordinary Life) (dir. Yoriko Mizushiri, France/Japan)

Student Animation Competition

• Anklebones (dir. Nicole Altan, United States)
• Mother’s Child (dir. Naomi Noir, Netherlands)
• Poppy Flowers (dir. Evridiki Papaiakovou, Estonia)
• The 12 Inch Pianist (dir. Lucas Ansel, United States)
• Two Point Five Stars (dirs. Sina Lerf, Dario Marti, and Dario Boger, Switzerland)
• Vogelleben (Bird Life) (dir. Lukas Wind, Estonia)
• გაბნეული შუქები (Lights, Haze) (dir. Tata Managadze, Belgium/Finland/Georgia/Portugal)
• マミ子のウン子 (Mamiko’s Poop) (dir. Yasuteru Ohno, Japan)

Canadian Student Competition

• 3 x 2³ (dir. Justin Lemay, Canada)
• Blindfold (dir. Peter De Souza-Samanek, Canada)
• Bouteille Fusée (Bottle Rocket) (dir. Yann Le Bihan, Canada)
• Bugsick (dir. Venya Aggarwal, Canada)
• February 3rd, 2023 (dir. Kseniia Inchakova, Canada)
• Hogar (dir. Olly Norambuena, Canada)
• lullaby for a deathdream (dir. Charlie Galea McClure, Canada)
• Monarchomania (dir. Ariel Rutherford)
• Monkey Bar (dir. Mya Van Dyk, Canada)
• Music in the Pocket (dir. Veronika Kostyuk, Canada)
• Nos fleurs en perles (dir. Maxime Kornachuk, Canada)
• Rudy Boyles’ Spore-nographic Journey (dir. Mitchell Green, Canada)
• Stalin’s Toast (dir. Alexandra Ouchev, Canada)
• Stride & Shine! (dir. Xinyi Tian, Canada)
• The Clown Film (dir. Silvan Ghahri, Canada)
• Une nuit debout (Awaken Night) (dir. Julie-Ann Déry, Canada)
• Uproar (dir. Camille Vandelac, Canada)
• When the Moon Sings (dir. Jesu Medina, Canada)

Bento Box Entertainment continues its support of the Festival with the Bento Box Award for Best Student Animation, which includes a $1,000 CAD cash prize. The studio will also present the Salon des Refusés party on September 26. An attendee favourite, the OIAF signature event screens a selection of films that were not accepted into this year’s festival, celebrating “rejection as redirection.”

TVPaint Animation, a 2D animation software company, will present an educational license for TVPaint Animation 12 Professional to the winner of the TVPaint Canadian Student Award. Tech companies XPPen and Wacom return to present product awards to the respective winners of the XPPen Craft Award Prize for Best Animation Technique and the Wacom Public Prize. The winner of the Wacom Public Prize will receive the Wacom Movink 13, and the winner of the XPPen Craft Award Prize for Best Animation Technique will receive the Artist Pro 22 (Gen 2).

The winner of this year’s Animation Mentor Best Narrative Short Award will receive a full scholarship for a 3D Animation course valued at $3500 CAD, courtesy of Animation Mentor. In celebration of its 65th anniversary, ASIFA-International will present the ASIFA International 65th Anniversary Best Non-Narrative Award, including an $800 CAD prize.

The Commissioned Animation, Narrative Animation, Non-Narrative Animation, and Student Animation categories will be judged by the OIAF Shorts Jury, comprised of Gina Kamentsky (United States), Miriam Kandelaki (Georgia), and Winston Hacking (Canada).  All winners will receive a unique award statue designed by Ottawa-based scrap metal artist Tick Tock Tom. The statues are working phénakisticopes featuring an animation by New York artist George Griffin.