‘Waves ’98’ Beats Out Live-Action Shorts For Cannes Palme d’Or

The 68th Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday evening, and animation came out on top this year. The Palme d’Or for best short film was awarded to the Lebanese director Ely Dagher for his animated short Waves ’98.

Dagher’s 15-minute short, a coming-of-age story set in 1990s Beirut, was one of two animated pieces in the nine short film competition slate. Cannes doesn’t segregate animated films from live-action, which makes Dagher’s win even more special since he was competing against the entire field of short films. The last time that an animated short won the short film Palme was in 2010 when Serge Avédikian took the prize for Chienne d’Histoire.

Dagher’s win marks the second time this year that an animated film has won the top prize at a major film festival that judges animation and live-action together; Don Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow won the grand jury prize at Sundance last January.

Cannes is an Academy Award-qualifying festival so Dagher’s Waves ’98 is now qualified for the 2015 Oscars. For more info about the film, visit its film’s website.