MEDIA RELEASE
16 October 2019, Brisbane, Australia – The Computer Animation Festival (CAF) at SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 celebrates how computer graphics have become a medium for storytelling in animation, visual effects, games, and other applications. The 12th edition of SIGGRAPH Asia, the region’s premier event for computer graphics and interactive techniques, takes place 17–20 November 2019 in Brisbane, Australia.
“I can’t wait for you to see this year’s SIGGRAPH Asia Computer Animation Festival. The jury selected amazing works from all over the world that truly represents how computer graphics are being used by students and professionals to create short films, advertising, visual effects, and visualization,” said Pol Jeremias-Vila, SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 Computer Animation Festival Chair.
Across the four days in November, CAF will showcase 41 short films and presentations, selected from 524 submissions. With works created by students to professionals, 3 prizes will be awarded at the festival. The festival underscores how artistry in animation and graphics technologies evolve in tandem and consists of the following main components.
Award Winning CategoriesFrom this year’s submissions, an expert jury has selected award-winning works from the fields of visual effects, animation, research and development, games, advertising, and education. The three award categories are the Best of Show Award, Jury Prize and Best Student Project Award. The CAF Awards will be presented on the Opening Ceremony of SIGGRAPH Asia, on 18 November 2019.
This year’s winners are:
BEST IN SHOW: Kids
Co-Created by Michael Frei & Mario von Rickenbach, Playables, Switzerland
Distributor: Wouter Jansen, Some Shorts, The Netherlands
An animated short film that explores group dynamics, and how we define ourselves when we are all equal, asks who is steering the crowd, and what if it is heading in the wrong direction? Along with where does the individual end and the group begin? What is done by choice, and what under duress?
JURY PRIZE: Spring
Director: Andy Goralczyk, Blender Foundation, The Netherlands
Producer: Francesco Siddi, Blender Foundation, The Netherlands
Spring is the story of a shepherd girl and her dog, who face ancient spirits in order to continue the cycle of life. This poetic and visually stunning short film was written and directed by Andy Goralczyk, inspired by his childhood in the mountains of Germany.
BEST STUDENT PROJECT: The Ostrich Politic
Director: Mohammad Houhou, Miyu Distribution, France
Producer: Moira Marguin, Miyu Distribution, France
Ostriches carry on their daily activities burying their heads, believing that it is an Instinctive behavior. However, research by phylogeneticist Dr. Kays proves otherwise.
The Electronic Theater is an overview of the best animations, visual effects, and scientific visualizations produced in the last year. 22 must-see works in computer graphics are presented, handpicked by the CAF 2019 jury. Highlights of the Electronic Theater in 2019 include:
Maestro
Directed by ILLOGIC Collectif, Miyu Distribution, France
Deep into a forest, a gathering of wild animals start a nocturnal opera, conducted by a squirrel.
Hedgehog
Directed by Vaibhav Keswani, Jeanne Laureau, Colombine Majou, Morgane Mattard, Kaisa Pirttinen, Jong-Ha Yoon Vaibhav Keswani, Jeanne Laureau, Colombine Majou, Morgane Mattard, Kaisa Pirttinen, Jong-Ha Yoon, Gobelins, France
A little boy speaks about hedgehogs all the time to everybody.
Mascot
Directed by Leeha Kim, Aniseed, South Korea
The fox who wants to be a mascot for the city goes to a mascot training academy. He lives in a very tiny house and works many part-time jobs. He is still getting many Mascot auditions with taking loans at a high-interest rates for undergoing plastic surgery.
The Animation Theater is an in-depth exploration of the year’s highlights in animation and visual effects. In the Animation Theater, all-day shows will feature 17 outstanding works from across the world. Highlights of the Animation Theater in 2019 include:
Samsara
Directed by Hyunjoon Joo, Korea National University of Arts, South Korea
There was a boy who took care of a fig tree which did not bear any fruit for a long time. One day, he went to another world through his dream and got the fruit he wanted so much. Before long, however, he got tired of the world where everything he wanted was possible. In the end, he came back to the real world to take care of the fig tree.
Mice, a small story
Directed by Jade Baillargeault, Nazli Doale, Dimitri James, Quang Daniel La, Morgane Lau, Mélanie Pango et Manon Pringault, Isart Digital School, France
In a dark subway tunnel, a group of mice find a gold ring-pull that seems to have a mysterious effect on one of them. Not so far from them, an owl and his enslaved rats are watching. The owl sends his rats to get hold of this strange object...
Iam Twisq
Directed by Red Wong, Ray Mok, School of Creative Media City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Hong Kong is known as a concrete jungle and we seek for a different angle to review Hong Kong’s city landscape from the sight of a bird. The music video of “Iam Twisq” re-creates an urban playground by animating shapes, forms and colors extracted from the original buildings.
At SIGGRAPH Asia 2019, the Panel & Production Talks will feature the world's foremost computer graphic experts and creatives, who will present what goes on behind the scenes when creating their content. Highlights of the production talks this year include:
Visualizing the "Birth of Planet Earth" for Fulldome Theaters
Members of the Advanced Visualization Lab from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will discuss the challenges they encountered in producing 15 minutes of data-driven cinematic visualization in order to tell the epic story of the history of Planet Earth in a fulldome documentary entitled “Birth of Planet Earth”.
The film features scientific visualizations of an evolving Milky Way galaxy that is filled with explosive supernovae; a journey into our evolving Solar System with its violently colliding rocks and early planets; a close up view of the giant impact that created the moon; a tour through the quantum-mechanical process of photosynthesis; and a look back at our modern planet through the photographic lenses of a satellite.
These visualizations required innovations in data science, camera choreography, procedural effects, visual design, and compositing, which the team will break down and discuss, illustrating with a variety of visual examples.
MPC Film presents: The Making of The Lion King
MPC VFX Supervisor Elliot Newman will reveal the artistic and technical challenges that his team encountered when making of Disney's The Lion King. A new approach to filmmaking was required, to harness the latest in Virtual Production techniques, along with creative and technical talent. Ultimately, a team of more than 1300 computer graphics artists worked for over a year to design and animate the animals in the movie, by crafting full CG environments and to simulate earth, fire and water.
New to CAF in 2019 is the Japan Media Arts Festival (JMAF) 2019 Award-Winning Program, a comprehensive festival of media that honors outstanding works from animation and comics to media art and games. Two prize-winning films from the 22nd JMAF will be featured at SIGGRAPH Asia 2019’s Computer Animation Festival:
JMAF 2019 Grand Prize in Animation: La Chute
Directed by Boris Labbé, ©Sacrebleu Productions, France
A short, animated film inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Inferno. As the celestial beings descend to the Earth and begin destroying the activities there, disturbing the world’s order and creating chaos. Initiated by these terms, a tragic fall leads to the parturition of the crucial opposites: Hell, and Heaven’s circles. The film depicts the grand theme of loops, metamorphoses, and degeneration and regeneration.
JMAF 2019 Excellence Award in Art: Discrete Figures (excerpt)
Artists: Manabe Daito, Ishibashi Motoi, MIKIKO, ELEVENPLAY, ©Rhizomatiks / ELEVENPLAY, Japan
A dance performance generating bodily expression through mathematical and collective intelligence-based methodology. With AI and machine learning offering new insights into the body schema and movement, numeric data and analytical results derived from it inform the choreography.
Also new to SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 is the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (SICAF) 2019 Award-Winning Program, which together with JMAF adds breadth to the scope of creativity presented at SIGGRAPH Asia 2019.
SICAF began in 1995 as a cultural festival for cartoons, animation and visual images. Today, SICAF is one of the top 5 animated film festivals globally. Two prize-winning films from this year’s SICAF will be featured at SIGGRAPH Asia 2019’s CAF:
SICAF 2019 Grand Prize in Short Films: Traces
Directed by Sophie Tavert Macian, Hugo Frassett, France
36,000 years ago, in the Ardèche river gorge, when an animal was painted, it was hunted. When it is again time to go Hunting and Painting, Gwel is appointed head of the group of hunters while Karou the Painter and his apprentice Lani set off to paint the walls of the great cavern. But they hadn't counted on meeting a cave lion.
SICAF 2019 Grand Prize in Student Films: Hors Piste
Directed by Léo Brunel, Loris Cavalier, Camille Jalabert, Oscar Malet, France
The two best rescue workers of the region are ready for their new mission. Despite their professionalism and their determination, it will not go as planned...
SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 takes place at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre 17-20 November 2019. For more information, please visit https://sa2019.siggraph.org.
Notes to Editors
- Keep tabs of updates, download images and more at the SIGGRAPH Asia virtual newsroom
- Media may apply for media accreditation to SIGGRAPH Asia
- High-resolution images of the prize-winning films, panel and production talks, as well as the featured films from JMAF and SICAF may be downloaded at this link
About SIGGRAPH Asia 2019
The 12th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia (SIGGRAPH Asia 2019) will be held in Brisbane, Australia at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) from 17 – 20 November 2019. The annual event held in Asia attracts the most respected technical and creative people from all over the world who are excited by computer graphics research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education and emerging technologies.
The four-day conference will include a diverse range of juried programs, such as the Art Gallery / Art Papers, Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Doctoral Consortium, Emerging Technologies, Posters, Technical Briefs, Technical Papers and XR (Extended Reality). Curated programs include Business & Innovation Symposium, Demoscene and Real-Time Live! A three-day exhibition held from 18 – 20 November 2019 will offer a business platform for industry players to market their innovative products and services to the computer graphics and interactive techniques professionals and enthusiasts from Asia and beyond. For more information, please visit http://sa2019.siggraph.org. Find us on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube with the official event hashtag, #SIGGRAPHAsia and #SIGGRAPHAsia2019.
About ACM SIGGRAPH
The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques is an interdisciplinary community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers, and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. ACM SIGGRAPH enriches the computer graphics and interactive techniques community year-round through its conferences, global network of professional and student chapters, publications, and educational activities. For more information, please visit www.siggraph.org.
About Koelnmesse
Koelnmesse Pte Ltd is one of the world's largest trade fair companies. Its more than 80 trade fairs and exhibitions have the broadest international scope in the industry, as 60 percent of the exhibitors and 40 percent of the visitors come from outside Germany. The Koelnmesse events include leading global trade fairs for 25 sectors, such as Imm Cologne, Anuga, IDS, INTERMOT, Interzum Cologne, Photokina, Gamescom, and the International Hardware Fair Cologne. Koelnmesse is ACM SIGGRAPH’s event organizer for the last 11 editions of SIGGRAPH Asia. For more information, please visit www.koelnmesse.com.sg.
Media Contacts
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