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The Japanese anime film ‘Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window’ by Shinnosuke Yakuwa <\/strong>got the Anima Festival<\/a> award for best animated feature at the 44th Anima Festival (Brussels, 28 February – 9 March 2025). The film adapts the popular Japanese eponymous autobiographical book by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi; it tells the unconventional story of Totto-Chan, a young girl who enrolls at Tomoe school, which prioritizes independence and creativity -at the same time as Japan descends into war.<\/p>\n The film also won the festival’s audience award for feature animation, while the Best Feature Animation for children award was given to the Czech\/Slovakian\/French film Living Large by Kristina Dufkov\u00e1<\/strong> (CZ\/SK\/FR)<\/p>\n Special mention for the Hungarian animation documentary<\/strong> ‘Pelican Blue’ by \u00a0L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Cs\u00e1ki<\/strong>, which tells the story of young Hungarians wanting to travel outside their country after the Iron Curtain falls -but have no money to do so.<\/p>\n In the international short film competition<\/strong>,\u00a0St\u00e9phanie Lansaque<\/strong><\/a> and Fran\u00e7ois Leroy,<\/strong> the French authors of the acclaimed animation shorts ‘Cold Coffee’ (2015) and ‘The Awakening of the Insects’ (2020) scored a Grand Prix for a Short Film victory, with their new, Asia-based film, ‘Sisowath Quay’. A young couple, Nakry and Sothear, meet on the Sisowath quay (Phnom Penh) for their first date. At nightfall, the romance turns into a nightmare when the young girl transforms into a strange creature.<\/p>\n Special jury mention for the Estonian\/Lithuanian stop-motion film ‘On Weary Wings Go By’ by Anu-Laura Tuttelberg<\/a>, the second in her trilogy of seasons\u00a0<\/p>\nRead: Our interview with Anu-Laura Tuttelberg<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n