Manchester Animation Festival announce 2023 winners- and who will be eligible for Academy Award competition

The full list of award winners at the 2023 Manchester Animation Festival have been announced. The awards were handed out at a ceremony earlier this month. 

This year’s Film Awards, which is the festival's international film competition, have categories of Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best British Film, Best Student Film, Best Children’s Film, Best Commissioned Film and Best Immersive Film. 

For the first time, this year recipients of the festival's Short Film Award will be eligible for consideration in the Short Films competition of the Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules. The winner of this festival award was ‘The Miracle’ by Nienke Deutz. 

The full list of winners from the awards are below. There are two lists, for industry excellence awards and then the Manchester Animation Film Awards. 

The 2023 Industry Excellence Awards

•  Script Writing- Frank Cottrell-Boyce for ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ (Lupus Films)
•  Storyboarding- Kayvon Darabi-Fard for ‘My Father’s Dragon’ (Netflix)
•  Character Design- Tom Angell for ‘The Sound Collector’ (ITV)
•  Character Animation- Freddie Elsom for ‘The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince’ Ivandoe (Hanna Barbera Studios Europe)

Manchester Animation Film Award Winners

•  Feature Film- ‘Chicken for Linda’ by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
•  British Animated Short Film- ‘All Gucci My Broski’ directed by Harry Plowden
• Audience Award- ‘King Sausage’ by Mascha Halberstad
• Student Film- ‘Rising Above’ by Natálie Durchánková
• Short Film for Children- ‘Dewmini’ directed by Siqi Song
• Commissioned Film- ‘Ashnikko: Worms’ directed by Raman Djafari Special Mention: ‘The Lords of Water’ by Golden Wolf
• Immersive Award- ‘From The Main Square’ directed by Pedro Harres