New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival has announced the NYICFF 2013 festival award winners, which were presented at the annual NYICFF Awards Ceremony this past Sunday, March 17 at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Manhattan.
Three feature films were honored, including the French animated “Ernest and Celestine,” from directors St๏ฟฝphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner, which received the NYICFF Grand Prize – the festival’s top Audience Award. The film appeared in Berlin and Toronto and won France’s Cesar for Best Animated film prior to making its US premiere at New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival.
Other NYICFF Audience Award Feature prizes went to Tom Shu-yu Lin’s “Starry Starry Night,” which appeared as part of the Festival’s Girls’ POV Program, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Wolf Children,” which received Japan’s Academy Prize for Animation the day before its premiere at the Festival. New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival has presented the US premiere of all three Mamoru Hosoda features.
The NYICFF 2013 Special Jury Award for Best Animated Short was awarded to UK film, “I Am Tom Moody,” by Ainslie Henderson, while Best Live Action Short went to Spain’s The Runaway by Victor Carrey. As an Academy๏ฟฝ-qualifying festival, both films are eligible for consideration for the Academy Awards๏ฟฝ in their respective categories.
NYICFF 2013 JURY
• John Canemaker – Academy Award๏ฟฝ-winning animator
• Geena Davis – Academy Award๏ฟฝ-winning actor (The Accidental Tourist, Thelma & Louise)
• Tomm Moore – Academy Award๏ฟฝ nominated animator/director (The Secret of Kells)
• Lynne McVeigh – Associate Professor of Children’s Media at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
• Matthew Modine -Award-winning actor (Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises)
• Dana Points – Editor-in-Chief, Parents Magazine
• Susan Sarandon – Academy Award๏ฟฝ-winning actor (Dead Man Walking, Arbitrage)
• James Schamus – Award-winning writer/producer (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm)
• Evan Shapiro – President, Participant Television
• Christine Vachon – Award-winning producer (Boys Don’t Cry, Mildred Pierce)
• Gus Van Sant – Academy Award๏ฟฝ nominated director (Milk, Good Will Hunting)
• Taika Waititi – Academy Award๏ฟฝ nominated writer/director (Two Cars One Night, Boy)
• Jeffrey Wright – Award-winning actor (Basquiat, The Ides of March)
ABOUT NYICFF
Established in 1997, NYICFF is an Oscar๏ฟฝ-qualifying event and North America’s largest film festival for children and teens. NYICFF 2013 takes place March 1-24, with 100+ films from around the world, plus gala premieres, filmmaker Q&As, filmmaking workshops, audience voting, and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. Festival sponsors include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Club Med, Meredith, HBO, and Scholastic, with funding support by National Endowment for the Arts, NY State Council on the Arts, and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to the annual March festival, NYICFF presents year-round film programming both in New York and nationally. NYICFF is a 501c3 non-profit organization.