Six-day festival wrapped on Sunday having welcomed a total of 658 delegates from 30 countries.

Gunhild Enger’s Prematur (Premature) and Emma de Swaef & Marc James’ Oh Willy… were among the winners at the 18th Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, which ran between September 18-23.

Enger’s 17-minute short scooped the Brief Grand Prix with the judges praising it for having “an excellent script with execution to match”. The Brief jury consisted of Caroline Cooper-Charles (Creative England, UK), Alexandra Heneka (Kurzfilmagentur, Germany), Katarzyna Klimkiewicz (director, Poland), Jukka Pekka-Laakso (Tampere Film Festival, Finland) and Jan Naszewski (New Europe Film Sales).

James & de Swaef’s animation picked up the Animated Grand Prix, judged by Paul Bush, Peter Lord and Marjut Rimmenen.

Both projects received £2,000 and a digital cinema print to be submitted to the Academy Awards for consideration in the Short Film and Short Animation categories.

The UWE European New Talent Award for Brief Encounters went to Anke Blondé’s Dura Lex, while the UWE European New Talent Award for Animated Encounters went to Joni Mannisto’s Kuhina (Swarming). Both received €1,000, supported by the University of the West of England.

Over the festival’s six days, a total of 658 delegates attended from 30 different countries, including 183 filmmakers.

For the full list of winners, visit Encounters’ website.

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