Worlds Apart, a short, animated film produced under the umbrella of the Project X class, faced its toughest jury yet. The Encounters Film Festival visited 20 schools in Bristol to present a special screening of this year’s nominees for the Children’s Jury Award to hundreds of children. After the screening the students voted for the short film they liked best.
And the envelope please – Worlds Apart wins the Children’s Animation Jury Award! Film Director and Cogswell faculty, Michael Zachary Huber, was on hand to accept the award.
“The award is regarded as one of the best awards to get at the festival,” said Huber, “because these young judges are so brutally honest and free of bias. At the Awards Ceremony where they also showed the film, people in the audience were wiping their teary eyes right after it screened.”
All Official Selections under 15 minutes long and deemed suitable for young audiences over 7 years of age are entered in this competition. These films demonstrate how animation is a great way to tell stories visually; in ways that require little or no spoken language.
Part science fiction and part cautionary fairytale, Worlds Apart explores the universal themes of stewardship of nature and the fate of humanity. Worlds Apart asks the question, “Can humanity change its ways and save itself?” Watch the trailer.
Encounters Bristol International Film Festival is the UK’s longest running competitive short film and animation festival. The festival presents one of the world’s best-known showcases and meeting points for emerging talent, and seeks to promote the importance of short film as a means to develop the next generation of filmmakers and animators. Of the more than 1,800 films submitted to the festival only a tenth of those made it through to the festival competition.
Project X is a one-of-a-kind, project-based class at Cogswell College that is run like a professional animation production studio using teams of skilled artists and sound designers. Students work tirelessly for three semesters to produce a studio-quality, short film. During production they are supported by a massive collaborative effort from faculty, staff, visiting artists, industry professionals and alumni.
LINKS:
Encounters Film Festival http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/encounters-2011-awards.html
Cogswell Polytechnical College is pleased to announce that The Offering, the first animated, short film produced under the umbrella of the 
Cogswell Polytechnical College is pleased to announce that The Offering, the first animated, short film produced under the umbrella of the