Made up of over 8,000 paintings, The Dam Keeper, produced by Tonko House Studio, won the inaugural Best Animated Short Award, at the Spark Animation Conference, Film Festival and Job Fair. The award was announced at the final shorts program on 26 October at the Vancity Theatre in Vancouver, BC.
The film has been directed by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo (known for their art direction in Ice Age, Ratatouille, Monsters University and Toy Story 3). This short-feature blends traditional hand-drawn animation with lush brushstrokes to bring Kondo and Tsutsumi’s celebrated painting-style to life like never before.
The 18 minutes long animated film tells the tale of a young pig encumbered with an important job. Set in a desolate future, one small town’s survival is solely due to a large windmill dam that acts as a fan to keep out poisonous clouds. Despite bullying from classmates and an indifferent public, the dam’s operator, Pig, works tirelessly to keep the sails spinning in order to protect the town. When a new student, Fox, joins Pig’s class, everything begins to change.
It is a first-time collaboration between some of the most talented artists in animation, The Dam Keeper made its world premiere as an official selection at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival.
The Jury was led by Academy Award winning director David Fine, who won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 1995 for Bob’s Birthday. As Jury President, David also announced a special President’s Prize to Timber, directed by Nils Hedinger from Switzerland.
A Canadian short, Religatio, directed by Jaime Giraldo of Vancouver Film School was one of four films to receive an Honorable Mention for Best Student Animated Short.
Special Mention for Excellence in Cinematics went to Assassin’s Creed Unity: E3 Cinematic, directed by TrailerIstván Zorkóczy of Hungary. The Special Mention for Excellence in Animated Music Video was awarded to Sodagreen: Story, directed by Muh Chen from Taiwan.