Winsing Animation’s Iron Fan Studio has made a winning roar with its animated short, Lion Dance, which has bagged the ‘Best Animation’ at 2020 Great Lakes International Film Festival (GLIFF).
Targeted to teenagers, Lion Dance focuses on adventure, growth, fantasy, and action. The official description goes:
It introduces that a forgotten and washed-out dancing star lion is sparing no effort to return to the public eye. The stranded lion unintentionally attends a lion dance performance at the Chinese New Year Temple Fair in Chinatown and achieves huge success, which reminds the lion of its glory days. Then, it joins the Lion dance team in excitement and learns from the Panda Master, dreaming of a career rejuvenation, but only to realize that lion dancing is unheeded and disliked except during traditional holidays. Lion dancing is an abandoned culture. Chinatown will be pulled down to make room for an international city lay-out, forcing the lion dance team to disband. The lion returns to the lion mountain in loneliness, but with its passion for lion dance. In order to save this culture, it comes up with a crazy idea of combining the lion dance and normal choreography, and returns to the city.
As the first outcome of Winsing’s Director Support Programme, Lion Dance has accomplished its director Zhong Yu’s desire to use his expertise to tell and develop a story with great Cantonese features in his animation career. Lion Dance is exactly what he wants to show to the audience in his own way. With more and more international affirmations, this short film brings more confidence to the studio and encourages the talents to be more motivated to explore different types of stories and try more brand new things in the content area.
Comments he, “Traditional Chinese culture is the fundamental creativity of our civilization. Winsing Animation has always endeavoured to tell the Chinese stories to the world and carry forward the traditional culture. It is believed that Winsing will deliver good traditional culture to more audiences globally with more new and advanced technologies, ideas and themes in the future.”
Until now, this short film has received a lot of international recognition:
- BEST RISING STAR FOR ANIMATION at 2020 Jersey Shore Film Festival (JSFF)
- BEST FILM (ANIMATION) WINNER at 7th Darbhanga International Film Festival
- BEST FILM (ANIMATION) WINNER at 2020 Great Lakes International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for 2019 San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival
- Official Nomination for 2020 Vegas Cinefest International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for the 17th Central Michigan International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for Puglia International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for Orlando International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for Bolton International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for the 5°Canal de Panama International Film Festival
- Official Nomination for 10th Pune Short Film Festival
