Garden of Words, Berserk, Kick-Heart Win at Montreal's Fantasia Fest

The Garden of Words & Berserk win Satoshi Kon Award, Kick-Heart is Best Animated Short Film

---

Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival announced this year's winners on Thursday. The Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation went to both Makoto Shinkai's The Garden of Words and Toshiyuki Kubooka's Berserk Golden Age Arc III: Descent films. The festival renamed its animation jury prize as The Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation last year.

The judges stated that The Garden of Words is "delicate film of poetic observations of life that is extremely beautiful and every single scene is a masterpiece of composition. The colors, the exceptional backgrounds, and the intimate, well-observed relationships will win everyone over." The film also won the Audience Award for Best Animation Feature.

The judges issued the following statement forBerserk Golden Age Arc III, "This film is 'fantastic' in every sense of the word, from start to finish. An intense visual attack of the senses, 'The Advent' goes deep into the dark side, to look horror, pain and death in the face, without shying away."

Hitoshi Takekiyo's After School Midnightersearned a special mention for the award.

Masaaki Yuasa's Kick-Heart anime short won Best Animated Short Film. The judges stated "Kick-Heart stood out for its overall originality, unique sense of timing, and its engrossing and vibrant style of motion and visuals."

Forbidden Super Hero by Yūichi Fukuda won the gold Audience Award for Best Asian Feature and Guru Prize For Most Energetic Film. Takashi Miike's Lesson of the Evil won silver for Best Asian Feature.

Other anime films screened at the festival included Kenji Kamiyama's 009 Re:Cyborg,Toshiyuki Kubooka's Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey, Ujicha's The Burning Buddha Man (Moeru Butsuzou Ningen), Hideaki Anno's Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, Eiichi Yamamoto's Kanashimi no Belladonna/La Belladone de la tristesse,Katsuhiro Otomo's Combustible, and Shuhei Morita's Possessions (Tsukumo).

The festival's live-action films included Toya Sato's Gatchaman, Takashi Ishii's Hello, My Dolly Girlfriend, Mika Ninagawa's Helter Skelter, Yūichi Fukuda's HK/Hentai Kamen and I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow, Takashi Miike's Shield of Straw, Shinsuke Sato'sLibrary Wars, Keishi Ōtomo's Rurouni Kenshin, Hideki Takeuchi's Thermae Romae, Ken Ochiai's The Tiger Mask, and Yuichi Abe'sUltraman Zero: Revenge of Belial.

The 2013 Fantasia International Film Festival took place from July 19 to August 7.