Marc James Roels and Emma De Swaef’s animated short Oh Willy… has picked up three more awards over the course of one weekend. The film grabbed the Grand Prix at the 11th Silhouette Festival in Paris, the Award for Best Film at the 10th Fantoche International Animation Film Festival in the Swiss town of Baden and the Grand Prix at the 6th International animation festival ANIMANIMA in Cacak, Serbia. Oh Willy is also nominated for a Cartoon d’Or 2012. The Award Ceremony will take place this week during the Cartoon Forum in Toulouse (11- 4 September).
Director Emma De Swaef was present at the Award Ceremony in Baden to receive the main prize (pictured). The jury at Fantoche had nothing but praise for the creative short: “We all agreed very quickly. We were impressed with the exceptional sense of rhythm, full of twists and surprises, with the strong visuals that are coherent and reinforce the content, with the precision of the sound and with a story that touched us with its simple and direct way of talking about the human condition. A film that convinced us as a whole.” With around 70 festival selections and 10 awards, Oh Willy can truly be called a festival favourite.
In the short stop-motion animation film, 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.
The 17-minute film is produced by Ben Tesseur for Flemish stop-motion studio Beast Animation (A Town Called Panic). The short was made with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF).