Pixar’s ‘Purl’ Wins Best In Show At 2019 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival announced the award winners in its three competitive categories, as well as the lineup of 24 short films, breakdowns, scientific visualizations, advertisements, and other content selected to screen at the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater to take place on Monday, July 29, at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The full Siggraph festival runs July 28-August 1.

The jury selected the 24 works from nearly 400 submissions. The culturally diverse selections are also in tune with the conference’s theme this year: “Thrive.” Works featured in the showcase represent Serbia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Singapore, U. K., France, and the U.S.

Here is a sneak preview of the selected works:

Emily Hsu, director Siggraph Computer Animation Festival, said of this year’s selections:

The Computer Animation Festival celebrates the power of telling stories, whether emotional or educational, through computer graphics… The range of work being displayed is truly unique, but also reflects themes that are universal: How do we define ourselves in the world? How does the world define us? How can we overcome daily struggles and experiences that often unite or divide us? What does it mean to be human, even if portrayed through non-human characters? I am as excited about the thought-provoking conversations that will follow the screening as I am about the show itself.

“The quality and diverse perspectives in the work we saw–especially from students!–was incredible, and made for some tough decisions” added jury member Everett Downing, Jr. of Netflix Animation. “Honestly, if all of us had our way, the show would be three hours instead of two. The experience definitely reinforced my enthusiasm for storytelling through animation.”

Among the 24 selections, there were 10 student works and 14 professional productions, including projects from Sony Pictures Imageworks, NASA, Ringling College of Art and Design, Industrial Light & Magic, Weta Digital, and Dreamworks Animation. The three award winners are:

Best in Show

• Purl by Kristen Lester
  Pixar Animation Studios (United States)

Jury’s Choice

• The Stained Club by Mélanie Lopez
  Supinfocom Rubika (France)

Best Student Project

• Stuffed by Élise Simoulin
  Supinfocom Rubika (France)

The remaining 21 entries set to screen at the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater are:

• Birth of Planet Earth Fulldome Excerpt: Photosynthesis in a Chromatophore by Donna Cox
  Advanced Visualization Lab, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (United States)
• Game Changer by Aviv Mano
  Ringling College of Art and Design (United States)
• The Bolt Connection by Nicolas Lebas
  Supinfocom Rubika (France)
• Old Soldier by Marc Messenger
  Blizzard Entertainment (United States)
• Hedgehog by Vaibhav Keswani
  Gobelins (France)
• The Making of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World by Dave Walvoord
  Dreamworks Animation (United States)
• Passage by Igor Coric
  Artrake (Serbia)
• Share Your Gifts by Buck
  Buck & TBWA\Media Arts Lab (United States)
• NASA Surveys Hurricane Damage to Puerto Rico’s Forests by Alex Kekesi
  GST, Inc. – NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (United States)
• Best Friend by Nicholas Olivieri
  Gobelins (France)
• Alita: Battle Angel by Eric Saindon (vfx supervisor)
  Weta Digital (New Zealand)
• Mayday – Final Chapter by Muh Chen
  Grass Jelly Studio (Taiwan)
• Expedition Reef for Educators by Ryan Wyatt
  California Academy of Sciences (United States)
• Kinky Kitchen by Bea Hoeller
  Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH, Animationsinstitut (Germany)
• The Heretic (Part 1) by Veselin Efremov
  Unity Technologies (Denmark)
• The Tree by Basil Malek-Abuhamdan
  Gobelins (France)
• Wild Love by Maryka Laudet
  Ecole des Nouvelles Images (France)
• ILM 2019 – Behind the Magic by Brent Segura-Bowers
  Industrial Light & Magic (Canada, Singapore, United States, United Kingdom)
• The Ostrich Politic by Mohammad Houhou
  Gobelins (France)
• Marooned by Andrew Erekson
  Dreamworks Animation (United States)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by Danny Dimian (vfx supervisor)
  Sony Pictures Imageworks (United States)