The first edition of the Hiroshima Animation Season 2022 animation festival concluded with its closing ceremonies on Sunday, August 21, where the Grand Prix and other award-winning films were announced. The competition received 2,149 entries from 86 countries and regions, with 54 selected for competition in two categories: Pan Pacific and Asia Competition, and World Competition.

The Winners:

The Grand Prix was awarded to Darwin's Notebook, a short film by Swiss filmmaker Georges Schwizgebel.

In the Pan-Pacific and Asia Competition:

• Best Film - Los Huesos directed by Cristobal León and Joaquin Cocina, Chile
• Jury Personal Pick – Florence Miaihe Award: Bird in the Peninsula, directed by Atsushi Wada, Japan
• Jury Personal Pick - Chris Robinson Award: The Loach, directed by Chen Xi and An Xu, China
• Jury Personal Pick -Joe Hsieh: Bestia, directed by Hugo Covarrubias, Chile
• Audience Award - Bird in the Peninsula, directed by Atsushi Wada, Japan

World Competition:

Categories:

• Allegories Nowadays - Audience Award: Skinned, directed by Joachim Hérissé, France
• A Slice of Society - Audience Award: Precious, directed by Paul Mas, France
• Adventure in Storytelling - Audience Award: Darwin's Notebook, directed by Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland
• Visual Poetry - Audience Award: Zoon directed by Jonatan Schwenk, Germany
• The Spark: Films for Children - Audience Award: A Town Called Panic: The Summer Holidays, directed by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier, Belgium, and France

Allegories Nowadays - fiction-based films:

• Category Award: Skinned, directed by Joachim Hérissé, France
• Arthur Binard Award: Confessions of an English Ant-Eater directed by Alex Crumbie, U.K.
• Hiroko Sebu Award: In the Mountains, directed by Wally Chung, USA
• Shizuka Miyazaki Award: Prince in a Pastry Shop directed by Katarzyna Agopsowicz, Poland

A Slice of Society - animated documentaries and films with social issues

• Category Award: Salvia at Nine, directed by Jang Nari, Korea)
• Kiki Sugino Award: The House of Loss, directed by Jinkyu Jeon, Japan, Korea
• Asako Fujioka Award: All Those Sensations in My Belly, directed by Marko Dješka, Croatia
• Honami Yano Award: Mom, What’s up with the Dog?, directed by Lola Lefevre, France

Adventure in Storytelling - films with a unique narrative

• Category Award: Darwin's Notebook, directed by Georges Schwizgebel
• Min Tanaka Award: The Blind Writer, directed by Georges Sifianos, Greece
• Yuki Harada Award: My Father's Damn Camera, directed by Milos Tomic, Slovenia
• Sarina Nihei Award: In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-weeny Pocket, directed by Yoko Yuki, Japan

Visual Poetry - poetic films

• Category Award: Archipel,directed by Felix Dufour-Laperriere, Canada
• Ma Jung-Yeon Award: Intermission, directed by Réka Bucsi, Hungary
• Daito Manabe Award: Clockwise, directed by Toni Mitjanit, Spain
• Koji Yamamura Award: Zoon, directed by Jonatan Schwenk, Germany

Special Jury Awards:

• Feature Film Jury Award When You Get to The Forest, directed by Eric Power, USA
• Hiroshima Choice Award and Hiroshima Animation City Award:  A Town Called Panic: The Summer Holidays, directed by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier, Belgium, France

The next Hiroshima Animation Season will be in August 2024.

Source: Hiroshima Animation Season