Just quickly wanted to say that although most of the animated shorts were interesting this year, our favorite still goes to “Ice Merchants” (which was also nominated for an Academy Award), followed by “Christopher at Sea”.
“Ice Merchants” is dialogue-free and is just fantastically done hand-drawn animation. We liked how “Christopher at Sea” used opera music to demonstrate the emotional journey the queer character experiences.
Also, “Sandwich Cat” won the Audience award. It has a silliness about it that we’re just unsure of.. but it’s what the audience chose.
We’re admittedly partial to animation, so here’s a link to the winners in ALL of the categories.
2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Announces Audience Award Winners
These are shorts I would have loved to see. I must admit…. The title “Sandwich Cat” makes me curious. ?
Ice Merchants’ is a family drama about loss and family connection. I absolutely loved the father-son bond. It was definitely a very interesting short animation that deserves recognition. The music was great and although no spoken word I found it to be very heartfelt.