The Niigata International Animation Festival (NIAFF) has announced the winners of its most recent feature-length animated film competition (March 2023) and issued a call for entries for its second edition coming March 15-20, 2024.

The Jury for NIAFF 2023:

• Mamoru Oshii – directorial credits include Mobile Police Patlabor 2 the Movie, Ghost in the Shell, Innocence (Cannes Film Festival in Competition), and Sky Crawlers.
• Jinko Gotoh – credits include Klaus, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Little Prince, The Illusionist, 9, and Finding Nimo—Gotoh is vice president for Women in Animation.
• David Jesteadt – (GKIDS president) credits include executive producer of the Oscar-nominated films The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers.

The 2023 winners included:

Grand Prix:

• Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - Pierre Földes (France, Canada, Netherlands, Luxembourg)

KABUKU Award:

• Khamsa - The Well of Oblivion – Vynom (Algeria)

Special Mention:

• Vampire in the Garden - Ryotaro Makihara (Japan)

Evolve Award:

• Thee Wreckers Tetralogy – Rosto (Netherlands, France)

Entries for the NIAF 2024 feature film competition are now being accepted – additional information is available here.

Source: NIAFF