My favourite Ottawa festival, the Canadian Film Institute’s Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), begins Sept. 25 and runs to Sept. 29. In Apt613’s earlier interview with the festival’s Artistic Director Chris Robinson, Robinson mentioned several interesting films. I’d like to add some to his list in OIAF 2024’s film catalogue that have attracted my attention.
There’s a huge number of films on offer–69 short films in competition, including the Canadian Student category, Young Audiences 7+ and Teen Audiences 13+–plus six animated series, seven feature films and a special preview feature. So my recommendations are only a starting point. You’re sure to spot other films in the catalogue that intrigue you.
Ottawa International Animation Festival banner. Photo provided.
Never been to the OIAF and wondering if you should go? After all, animation is just for kids—right? Wrong! Think of the wonderful Studio Ghibli films such as Spirited Away and the recent The Boy and the Heron. Robinson has said, “This crop of films reminds us that animation is not just the domain of children and fluffy entertainment; it continues to be a potent piece of personal and poetic expression.” But there’s plenty of lighter fare, too, such as a comedy about male balding and a basketball-playing dog having an existential crisis. There’s something for everyone.
That includes the OIAF’s programming for young audiences. Check out what’s available on Sept. 28 for kids 7+ and teens 13+, as well as Teen Day@OIAF for high school field trips on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27. All these are free! Kids can learn how to animate at workshops and even sit in on the jury screenings—juries made up of their peers!
Still from Beautiful Men. From the Narrative Shorts competition at the OIAF.
Let’s start with the short films in competition. They’re curated into collections of short films, with each collection lasting a little over an hour. Here’s what caught my eye in the catalogue:
In the Canadian Student competition, the cute title Ronny: A Crocumentary caught my eye. It’s about a friendly crocodile who only wants a hug. Then I spotted Happiness, which is rotoscoped, a rarely used technique—I have to see this! And in Lunch Time, a baby girl plays with her toys in a vast palace as lunchtime approaches. The animation is elaborate, and I’m curious about the story.
Still from Ronny: A Crocumentary at the OIAF. Photo provided.
In the Short Film Competition 1, I liked the write-up for Beautiful Men, the comedy about male balding that I mentioned earlier, and for Keep Out, about individuals isolated from each other who communicate through live video streaming. In Short Film Competition 2, there’s Kawauso, an exquisitely beautiful b-and-w Japanese film about a girl and a river otter. In a different vein, there’s also the 1-minute Pinocchio, which was directed by Jonny Crickets—it doesn’t look as if it’s for children.
Still from Pinocchio at the OIAF. Photo provided.
Short Film Competition 3 includes Larry, the basketball-playing dog, High Street Repeat which uses various animation techniques to tell the story of migration and enterprise through the changing face of a British high street, and Keep Frozen about a supermarket that’s about to open for the day’s customers when a man steps in and removes all his clothes. Short Film Competition 3 also has the premiere showing of Maybe Elephants by the Norwegian animator, Torill Kove, whose delightful works were the subject of a recent OIAF retrospective.
Still from Maybe Elephants at the OIAF. Photo provided.
Short Film Competition 4 includes Circle. A little girl draws a circle on the ground. Passers-by step into it. Soon it’s full. Then the little girl returns. Short Film Competition 5 has Carotica—a teenage boy is writing gay erotica in his bedroom and his mother is falling in love with a sexy carrot. There are some things you can only do in an animated film.
Some of the best short films I’ve seen at previous OIAFs have been for kids, so let’s see what’s in the Teen Audiences 13+ competition. How about Girls in Real Life Situations and Hairy Legs? With titles like these, I have to see them! Self is a stop-motion film about a wooden doll that tries to fit in. The story in The Last Drop is about when you buy a full tank of gas, you get a free populated mini-town. In the Young Audiences 7+ competition, there are Hoofs on Skates—felt farm animals on skates—and Yuck! which is about little kids doing a yucky thing, namely kissing.
Still from Girls in Real Life Situations. from the OIAF. Photo provided.
Want more? There are nine animated features in the competition. I’m eager to see three of them. Flow is an animated eco-fable in which the world’s waters rise as a cat, dog, lemur, bird and capybara join together to seek higher ground. It won three awards, including the Audience Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. (Annecy is a festival similar to OIAF in scope and prestige.) The director of Sultana’s Dream was inspired by a Bengali sci-fi story about exploring India in search of Ladyland, the utopian land of women. The third film on my list is Memoir of a Snail. It’s a stop-motion film in which a lonely old woman relates her life history to a garden snail. The latter two films won top prizes at Annecy.
Still from Sultana’s Dream from the OIAF. Photo provided.
There are loads of films that aren’t in competition. I gravitate towards two national collections: Spotlight on Spanish Animation and Spotlight on Korean Animation 1: Short Films because at previous OIAFs I’ve seen some fine films from both countries. There’s also a Korean feature film, Your Letter, which deals with school bullying and which has gorgeous-looking stills. Expanding on the International theme, the World Panorama has an eclectic selection of short films. I’m particularly drawn to one in which a robotic vacuum suffering from burnout quits its job at a hospital and sets out to find community and a greater purpose and another in which three babies in a maternity ward discuss what it’s like to be born!
Still from Your Letter. Photo provided.
OIAF always has retrospectives. I’m looking forward to two of them. One is a collection of shorts about war called What Is It Good For?: Experiences of War in Animation (Parts 1 & 2). Strong stuff! The other spotlights two amazing Croatian animators and their colleagues: Restless Stillness: The Puppet Animations of Ivana and Thomas Volda.
Plus there’s a preview of a wonderful-looking feature film, The Wild Robot. It’s about a robot which is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. To survive, it bonds with the animal inhabitants of the island. It’s being screened at the OIAF two days before it’s in cinemas. A great opportunity!
Still from The Wild Robot. Photo provided.
At the end of the Festival, there are two Best of the OIAF screenings on Sunday evening at the ByTowne of the short films that won prizes.
Well, that should get you started. I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun at the OIAF!
For more information on the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), check out their website. The film catalogue can be found here, and the daily festival schedule is here. The young audience info can be found here and you can buy tickets and a variety of passes here.
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