The 2021 KuanDu International Animation Festival (KDIAF) closed on October 30, with “Inside,” a work by Taiwanese artists, Lien Chun-Chien and Lee Po-Han, winning the Best Animated Film Award.
The Best Promising Score Award also went to a Taiwanese pair, Tsai Hsin-jui and Li Po-han, for their work for “Monster Detective Agency.”
Of the 13 films selected by the jury this year, six were from Taiwan, showing the achievements of Taiwanese artists.
The seven-day KDIAF featured a series of physical and virtual activities, including film screenings, concerts and lectures.
The Kuandog prizes were divided into two groups – one open to all and the other to students. This year 2,141 films from 104 countries were submitted for competition, and 36 of them were selected as finalists in the open group and 45 in the students group.
The opening film this year was Remi Chaye’s “Calamity,” winner of the Cristal Award for Best Feature Film at the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. It is a story about 12-year-old Martha Jane and her family who head West in search of a better life in the United States in 1863.
The closing film, “The Prince’s Voyage,” is about an old monkey Prince who runs aground on an unknown shore. It was one of the selected films at the 2019 Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival.
Speakers featured in the event included: Scott Chen, who had previously worked at Walt Disney for 22 years (1996-2018) and held different positions – such as general manager of Southern China, general manager of Taiwan Business and Distribution, and regional director of Greater China and Southern Asia; animation director Yu-Shu Liu; Li-Wei Chiu, who has won many international animation awards; and Yee Chih-yen, winner of the Golden Horse Award for best animation in 2021.
A selection of films from Ars Electronica Festival was also screened during the seven-day KDIAF.
Films from this year’s KDIAF will be screened at the Hualien Railway Movie Theater from December 10 to 12, and at the Kaohsiung Film Archive from December 16 to 18.
For more information, please visit: KDIAF website or the Facebook page of Kuandu International Animation Festival.