‘Death Does Not Exist,’ ‘The Puppet And The Whale’ Take Top Honors At OIAF 2025

At an awards gala held over the weekend, the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) celebrated the best in animation from around the world in 2025, spotlighting both international and Canadian talent.

From the fest’s feature category, La mort n’existe pas (Death Does Not Exist) by Félix Dufour-Laperrière took home the Grand Prize, while the short film competition was topped by Roberto Catani’s Il burattino e la balena (The Puppet and the Whale).

Death Does Not Exist is a haunting, visually poetic story that blurs the boundaries between documentary and dream. In it, Dufour-Laperrière weaves together hand-drawn imagery, painterly abstraction, and voiceover to explore memory, loss, and the fragility of existence. Before its Ottawa triumph, the film premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes and earned a jury distinction for its soundtrack at Annecy.

Italian animator Roberto Catani’s The Puppet and the Whale is a lyrical, hand-drawn tale about memory, childhood, and the call of the sea. The film premiered at Annecy, where it won the Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a first film, and later screened at Hiroshima, earning a jury prize before its win at the OIAF. The jury selected The Puppet and the Whale for its “ability to work with image, movement, and sound in equal partnership while leaving room for the viewer to engage with its ideas. ”

The Girl Who Cried Pearls, the Canadian stop-motion fable that won this year’s CFI Award, capped off a strong festival season, having already turned heads earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film. The OIAF jury described it as “extraordinary animation with a startling fairy tale narrative, combining a searing critique of human greed with a plea for love and personal integrity.”

This year’s OIAF drew nearly 3,000 submissions from 99 countries, cementing its status as North America’s most influential animation showcase and a launchpad for future Oscar contenders.

2025 Ottawa International Animation Festival Winners

GRAND PRIZE FOR SHORT ANIMATION

Il burattino e la balena (The Puppet and the Whale), Roberto Catani

GRAND PRIZE FOR ANIMATED FEATURE

La mort n’existe pas (Death Does Not Exist), Félix Dufour-Laperrière

• Honorable Mention: La gran historia de la filosofía occidental (The Great History of Western Philosophy), Aria Covamonas

CFI AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN ANIMATION

The Girl Who Cried Pearls, Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski

• Honorable Mention: We’re Kinda Different, Ben Meinhardt

WACOM PUBLIC PRIZE

S the Wolf, Sameh Alaa

HÉLÈNE TANGUAY AWARD FOR HUMOR

Poor Marciano, Alex Rey

ASIFA INTERNATIONAL 65TH ANNIVERSARY BEST NON-NARRATIVE AWARD

Green Lung, Simon Hamlyn

ANIMATION MENTOR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT AWARD

Rakugaki (The Graffiti), Ryo Orikasa

BEST COMMISSIONED ANIMATION

Desi Oon, Suresh Eriyat

BENTO BOX AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT ANIMATION

Anklebones, Nicole Altan

TVPAINT CANADIAN STUDENT AWARD

Lullaby for a Deathdream, Charlie Galea-McClure

• Honourable Mentions: Music in My Pocket, Veronika Kostyuk; When the Moon Sings, Jesu Medina

ANIMATION FOR TEEN AUDIENCES 13+ COMPETITION

Autokar, Sylwia Szkiłądź

ANIMATION FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES 7+ COMPETITION

Les bottes de la nuit (The Night Boots), Pierre-Luc Granjon

• Honourable Mention: Omedodeedu (Edu’s Fear), Bruno Mazzilli and Tiago Judas)

ANIMATED SERIES COMPETITION

Eggland, Cole Kush & Christopher Rutledge

• Honourable Mention: Common Side Effects “Pilot,” Camille Bozec

ANIMATED SHORT COMPETITION – CRAFT AWARDS

Best Script: S the Wolf, Sameh Alaa

Best Design: 海星，乌鸦，独角兽 (Crow, Starfish, and Unicorn), Xiaoxuan Han

Best Animation Technique (XPPen Craft Award): Fusion, Richard Reeves

Best Sound Design: Evacuations, Lilli Carré