Winners of animated edition of Viewster Online Film Fest (#VOFF) revealed.

VOFF5 winners

Online video series Viewster has announced the winners of the animation edition of its Viewster Online Film Fest, titled #VOFF5: Animated Worlds.

First place and the top prize of $30,000 was awarded to Ira Elshansky of Israel for Warm Snow, a surrealist claymation short about a father and daughter’s relationship, set in a  domestic setting.

Ira said about making her film: “I’ve been working with clay since I was a child and for me it is the material where I can express myself the best. It is a very honest material and people have been using it for centuries. Warm Snow is a very personal movie; I’m sure many of us have this feeling of being not fair to our parents, and this was my way to apologise and to show them my love.“

Second place and $15,000 was awarded to Mehdi Alibeygi of Iran for Changeover, a film about a bird on a badminton pitch that mistakes a shuttlecock for another bird – with a surprising twist at the end.

Kevin Parry, who was assistant animator on recent animated features The Boxtrolls and Justin Time, of Canada has won third place and $5,000 for The Arctic Circle, which is a stop-motion film about an Arctic inhabitant who is fascinated by the sudden appearance of a mysterious box.

#VOFF5 received more than 140 short films from 37 countries and the winners share the festival’s $50,000 prize fund.

The winning films were chosen by the jury from a shortlist, following a public voting period when fans watched, discussed, shared and voted for their favourite entries.

The #VOFF 5 jury comprised Michael Schlingmann (Paranorman), Samantha Youssef (La Fuga Grande), Christophe Vacher (Despicable Me), Athena Yvette Portillo (Star Wars Rebels) and voice actor Yuri Lowenthal (Ben 10).