The main prize in the international competition Animation Avantgarde is going to France in 2020. Adrien Merigeau receives the ASIFA Austria Award for his computer animation “Genius Loci”, endowed with 2,000 euros. The Chinese film “The Six” by An Xu and Chen Xi was awarded the jury prize. One prize also went to Austria.

The jury, consisting of the artist Billy Roisz (AT), the animation director Michaela Pavlátová (CZ) and the Japanese festival director Nobuaki Doi (JP), described “Genius Loci” as “a complex work of art that is outstanding in every respect”. The film, which has already won an award at the Berlinale, is now qualified for the Oscars.

In Animation Avantgarde, the Jury Prize went to the Chinese 2D animation “The Six”, which “imitates the meditative rhythm of the phases of the moon and thereby directs the gaze in a loop through time and space”. Xu and Chen Xi receive a residency in Vienna and 1,050 euros. A special mention was given to Max Hattler’s “Serial Parallels”.

Meanwhile, the Youth Jury Prize for the best Austrian experimental film was awarded across all competitions. The youth jury was impressed by the selection as a whole, but ultimately awarded “THORAX” by the Upper Austrian Siegfried A. Fruhauf with a post-production voucher worth 1,000 euros.

All jury statements can be found here. We would like to thank the prize donors ASIFA Austria, MuseumsQuartier and Q21 as well as Blautöne and viennaFX.

News 3.6.2020