Marc James Roels and Emma De Swaef’s award winning animated short Oh Willy… has been selected for competition in both the European Short Films and European Animated Films sections of the European First Film Festival (18 -27 January) in Angers, France. Wouter Bouvijn’s short film Crossroads is also running in competition in the Student Film programme of the fest.
Crossroads could win the Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award or Students of Angers Award at the fest, all worth € 1,500. Oh Willy… also has a chance of winning the Grand Jury Prize in both the short film and animated film competition. Besides the titles in competition, Jonas Geirnaert’s short Flatlife is screening in the side bar ‘short films for children’ which features the best animated shorts of the festival’s past 25 years. In 2004 Flatlife won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Crossroads, Bouvijn’s graduation short for the RITS School of Arts, Maxime is faced with an uncertain future when his father dies from a genetic disease. He must choose: a genetic test or a leap into the unknown. The short also won the Award for Best Debut at the International Short Film Festival Leuven.
In Oh Willy…, fiftysomething Willy returns to the naturist community where he spent his youth to visit his dying mother. When she dies shortly after he arrives, Willy is confronted with the choices he made in his life. In confused sadness he flees into the forest. After a rough start, he finds the motherly protection of a big, gentle, hairy beast. Flemish producers are Ben Tesseur and Steven De Beul for Beast Animation. The film was made with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF).