Ohe winners of the 22nd edition of Monstra were revealed tonight at Cinema São Jorge, in Lisbon, at the festival’s closing ceremony, which began on March 15th and ends on Sunday.
In addition to the SPA | Vasco Granja and the Audience Award, in the Portuguese competition, “Ice Merchants” also won the prize for Best Portuguese Short Film, in the international short film competition, in which it also won the Audience Award.
“Ice Merchants”, which had its world premiere in 2022 at Cannes Critics’ Week, in France, where it was awarded, was nominated this year for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
This film has received several other awards in the context of festivals, including the Annie for Best Short Film – the Annie awards are considered the ‘Oscars of animation’ – and the public award, in the same category, at the International Film Festival of Animation Anima in Brussels.
João Gonzalez’s third film is about loss and family ties, between a father and a son, and has as its starting point the image of a house on a mountain, leaning over a precipice.
“Ice Merchants”, told without a narrator or dialogues, just drawn images and music, composed by Gonzalez himself, is co-produced by the Portuguese company Cola Animation, with the United Kingdom and France.
There were, however, more prize winners at the 22nd Monstra.
“Wars of Unicorns”, by the Spaniard Alberto Vázquez, and “Apartamento de Cão”, by the Estonian Priit Tender, won the Monstra RTP2 Grand Prix, in the international competitions of feature and short films, respectively.
In the feature film competition, “Nayola”, by José Miguel Ribeiro – which will premiere on the commercial circuit on April 13 -, was distinguished with the prizes for Best Soundtrack and Audience Award. The jury of this competition also awarded a Special Prize to “Os Demônios do meuvó”, by Nuno Beato.
The winning films will be shown again on Sunday at Cinema São Jorge.
The 22nd edition of Monstra was associated with the 100 years of Portuguese animation cinema and hosted the largest ever presence of national films in competition.
Japan, which almost always has a prominent place in Monstra, is the country honored in this edition, due to the 480 years of friendship with Portugal.
Also Read: ‘Ice Merchants’ Didn’t Win an Oscar, But It’s Already Made History
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