Jeremy Colson

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TOKYO ~ Angry Man, a film about domestic violence, has won top prize at the Hiroshima Animated Film Festival.

Based on the book by Gro Dahle and Svein Nyhus, the film focuses on a small frightened child who desperately wishes to tell someone about what is going on at home, but doesn’t know who to talk to or what to do.

In awarding the Grand Prix to the film’s director, Anita Killi, the festival jury described Angry Man as a “beautifully made mixed media film” which they had chosen “not only for its important social comment but for the engaging way the story is told”.

Being animated directly under the camera, with a cut-out and multi-level technique, completely without data manipulation, gives the film a special texture and vulnerability.

Angry Man, which runs for 20 minutes, has already won several prizes on the short film and animation festival circuit, including Jury Special Prize, Audience Award and UNICEF Prize at Annecy in June. But the Grand Prix at Hiroshima is without doubt the highest accolade.

In a statement issued by Toril Simonsen of the Norwegian Film Institute, Anita Killi said she had wanted to create a strong and aesthetic film about a difficult topic - domestic violence - for both children and adults.

“My goal and hope is that the film will help to break the silence and the secrets surrounding domestic violence. I wanted the film to function both in therapy and teaching situations, but also as a free artistic film, to reach and touch as many as possible,” Killi added.

She said that  not many people will initially go to see a serious movie about domestic violence, but when Angry Man is selected for festivals, and perhaps gets educational distribution, the message will reach many.

Killi said spreading the message that children can get help has been very important to her and she acknowledged that she may sometimes have made some pedagogical choices rather than artistic ones to achieve her objective.

But the jury at Hiroshima, headed by Vivien Halas of the Halas and Batchelor Studio, was in no doubt that Angry Man deserved the Grand Prix on artistic as well as social grounds.

The festival’s Hiroshima Prize went to Priit Pärn and Olga Pärn of Estonia’s Eesti Joonisfilm Studio for their Divers In The Rain.

The producers describe their film as a  story about an everyday diver and a night dentist. “Their kisses are always good-bye kisses. He is a diver and he has to dive. She is tired and has to sleep. But there are no silent places in her dreams. and a big ship is slowly sinking in the rain. Nobody knows when it is time for the last cigarette”. It is a wry film with great wit.

The Debut Prize was one by the UK’s Joseph Pierce for A Family Portrait. The jury liked Pierce’s use of humour in what is otherwise a tense situation. “Its strong graphic style emphasises the equally strong narrative.” the jury said.

The Renzo Kinoshita Prize went to Italy’s Donato Sansone for Videogame a Loop Experiment. The jury described this as a “great film [that] extends the vocabulary of animation which can be created not only on cell or paper with peg bars”.

The Special International Jury Prize went to Philip Hunt of the UK for the widely acclaimed Lost and Found. The judges described the film as “an outstanding combination of storyline, direction, animation and art work”.

The Audience Prize was awarded to Santiago 'Bou' Grasso of Argentina for The Employment.

Other prize winning competition entries were: Muto (Italy); Lipsett's Diaries (Canada); Wings And Oars (Latvia); Laterarius (Switzerland); The Winter Solstice (China); Mixed Bag (Switzerland); Kitchen Dimensions (Estonia); Night Fishing with Cormorants (USA); The Little Boy and The Beast (Germany); The Dressmaker's Daughter (Australia) and Hand Soap (Japan).