The 25th ifva Awards
Animation Category Jury Meeting Transcript
Jury Members ：Lo Che-ying (Lo), Haze Tsui Ka-hei (Tsui), Henri Wong (Wong), Vincent
Mak Shing-fung (Mak), Matt Abbiss (Abbiss)
Organizer representative： Kattie Fan (Fan), Sammy Wong
Fan:

Today, we have to select one Gold Award, one Silver Award and one Special
Mention among the 10 finalist works that you have seen. To begin, we can talk about
each film one by one, and then you can tell us which ones you like the most. Let’s
begin with the first film, Another World.

Mak:

Personally, I like this film and its fine animation technique. I very much appreciate
the artwork. I think they are planning to do a feature-length film based on this. Fora short film, too much depends on the dialogue, and it is a little bit too heavy for ashort animation film.

Lo:

The production is quite mainstream and commercial, but I appreciate that the teamtries to tell a complicated story with heavy themes like reincarnation, life and death,
which are difficult to show in an animation. I like the courage they have. The filmis quite entertaining and enjoyable to look at, it has a certain length, and the art
direction, movement and color are very nice. I enjoyed it very much.

Tsui:

This film represents the standard of Hong Kong animation nowadays.

Wong:

I think the finishing and production value are the best among all the finalists.
Although the production is good, I think it is still not enough to illustrate what they
are trying to say. It’s not very clear what the story is talking about. I think I knowwhat their intention is, and it’s a pity that the moment they try to illustrate does nothave any impact. I know the story they are trying to say, I just don’t get the impact,which is a pity

Mak:

I agree with Henri.

Abbiss:I didn’t hear the last point. Can you say that again?

Wong:

When watching the animation, I know what they are trying to say with the story, I
just don’t get the impact of that point.

Abbiss:Yes, I understood, but wasn’t that moved.

Fan:Let’s move on to the next one, Amaryllis.

Mak:

Before discussing this, I have a declaration to make. Because I am teaching
animation at a university, and this work came from some of my students. Maybe I’drather not give too many comments for this work.

Abbiss:This category has a mixture of student and professional films?

Lo:

That’s right.
1

Abbiss:

The first work that we discussed was not a student film?

Lo:

No. It’s produced by a young studio. For the second film, I like it. This is theanimated version of In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai. It’s prettily made,including the color and movement. It’s not very deep emotionally, but visually it’sinteresting. What I don’t like is that the character design could have fitted the theme
better. The theme is mature and erotic but the character is too childish, like a very
young girl. I can’t tune in to the character. Otherwise, it’s good.

Wong:

The visual style is not mature enough. The character is too childish, it should besexier. They’re talking about sex, actually.

Abbiss:I thought it’s very similar to the first film in terms of overall quality. There are somelovely moments in there, like the montage. It’s a very enjoyable animation and I’mvery impressed with it. If it’s a student film, it’s an excellent piece of work.

Tsui:

I am impressed with this work, and I really appreciate these two young animators’
work. I like their drawing, motion and editing. Although they used a childish style,the technical skills and storytelling is really good, especially for a first film. I want
to nominate this film for Special Mention, at least.

Fan:

If you don’t have any more to add, we’ll move on to the next work, Petty Thing.

Abbiss:I really liked this one, I thought it’s very strong. As I watched it, I thought “this has
got to be the contender for the best one.” After watching all the works, this one isstill high on my list. The character design is unusual to me and they made me smile,these awkward, ugly little kids have a lot of character, they have a lot of appeal. The
work reminded me of the American series The Wild Bunch, the themes were very
similar. I knew how it was going to go, but I didn’t know how they would tie it in.
It looked really good, there’s humor in the tone, which is always nice when you’re
doing a serious subject.

Wong:

I liked it very much, too. The execution is also very good. The choice of editing, thesound design, the use of real children’s voice as they gossip, it increases the realismof the mood. Personally, I like this the most. The theme is very good, and themoment is very shocking at the end.

Lo:

Technically, I like this film, I think it’s very well produced, with the off-screen voiceover and everything. What I don’t like is the sample they choose, because the filmtalks about violence and war…

Tsui:

I like the voice acting, the feeling is so realistic. If it was live action, this film would
be very good and as animation, it is truthful. Maybe it can be a point for discussion,
whether the artist take the right medium to show their work. The ending is not acause and effect of the storyline, the tension is lost at the end.

Wong:

They just want to show a nuclear bomb in that specific place.

Lo:

They talk about the Japanese in the dialogue when they are playing.
2

Mak:

It reminds me of a film by Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove, which also shows anuclear bomb at the end. But here, I’m not sure where the ending came from.

Abbiss:I think they just went for the most famous death event. I actually forgot that it’s at
the end of the film, which shows that to me, it’s not that important. It didn’t needthat scene at the end, so it’s a weakness, but it didn’t spoil it for me. It just didn’t
have the impact it was intended to have. It’s a little bit lazy.

Fan:

Let’s move on to the next work, My Father at Grandma’s Funeral.

Lo:

I really don’t like this work. The paint brush drawings are too intentional, there is
too much moving brush strokes, which is no use, because the animation is not doing
so well. The animation is very loose and the story relies too much on the text.

Wong:

The text is not easy to understand.

Abbiss:I thought the English translation is not very good.

Lo:

It’s too abstract.

Abbiss:I was reading the English subtitles, but wasn’t sure if it was a good translation.

Mak:

I like the animation style. Since we cannot see the work in a theatre, I try to set up
an environment in my home. I found the sound design and music quite good, I agreewith Lo Sir that the animation element is not too good, and the movement is not
good. The Chinese ink drawing style is related to the character thinking about his
grandma.

Lo:

The words and paintings are okay, but the artist tries to move things without any
meaning. I’ve seen this work several times on the big screen in Taiwan already.

Abbiss:I agree. The animation is very mixed. There are things that look very bad, I don’tknow why he left them in there. There are characters that turn around and they haveno faces, I don’t know whether that’s intentional. I shouldn’t be asking this, it should
be more obvious. I like the sound, it is interesting. There’s a very tactile and textual
feeling with the drawing and the paper, but then there’s this very modern, digitalsound.

Tsui:

I really like the music design. The mixture modern and traditional music is, for me,quite interesting.

Wong:

With this kind of animation, you’re really talking about personal taste. There’s nogood or bad, you either like it or you don’t like it. I understand the mood, but I’m
not sure what’s going on with the story.

Tsui:

I think the director is saying something very personal. I see a very Taiwanese
directing style in this work.

Wong:

I think the style is good, but the outcome is not quite authentic. Now it’s just notorganic, and it’s not to my taste.
3

Abbiss:

I don’t personally like it when films look like they’re being done on paper. If it’s
digital, then love the digital, or else do it on paper. I like honest and integrity in thetechnique. It’s an interesting work in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t come together for
me.

Fan:

The next work is Passerby.

Lo:

As a student film, it does quite well. The framing, color use, art direction is nice, thestory is simple and clear. What I don’t like is the sound dubbing, it’s not that good.
Some of the dialogue is useless; the script can be better for telling the story.

Mak:

I like the art style. Most of the students do well with art style and drawing, they haveintensive training with this in Hong Kong. The story is too formal. You have somecharacters talking about the past, and they go into a dream sequence, do some fancy
animation and then go back to reality. When I supervise my student works, I tellthem not to do that. In past years, most students think up this kind of works. The
art style of this work is good but the story is too straight forward for me.

Abbiss:

It’s an excellent student film. It’s nothing ground-breaking in terms of its structure,but I really enjoyed this film. I like the sequence in the middle, the black and whitepart. I enjoyed seeing the minimal effort, because you can feel the preparation they
made beforehand. The dream sequence works very nicely. I’m not sure if I
understand the story, I thought the woman in the soup shop is her mother.

Lo:

It comprises some Chinese mythologies. The old lady is supposed to be somewhere
between the Earth and hell, when you die you go to some place and meet somepeople, then you drink some tea to make you forget and you reincarnate into a new
person. They incorporated that into the story.

Abbiss:

The tea wasn’t clear to me, because it doesn’t need explaining. The director is very
meticulous about showing the plaques with the different types of tea. Did you
immediately understand what that was when her tears fall into the tea? I didn’t
understand while I was watching it.

Lo:

The animation is very nice for that scene, very detailed. When you go to that kindof teashop, you see people drinking tea this way. As for the teardrop, according tolegend, the old lady puts tears into the tea, and when you drink it you are supposed
to wash away your memory.

Wong:

I agree with Vincent, I think the story is too normal. It’s just an average script. I likethe way they mention some Hong Kong celebrities who have passed away at the
end.

Lo:

That part is quite Hong Kong.

Fan:

Let’s move on to the next one, This Side, Other Side.

Wong:

This is to my taste, I only like this kind of films. The story is very clear, and I
especially like the ending. They tell a story that life is beautiful, people have warm
hearts and they will recover, but the end tells you, no, people are all stupid. It
4reminds me of the end of the film Parasite, in which the character wants to rescue
his father, but no way, it won’t help.
Tsui:

I was moved by the story, although I’ve seen this kind of stories before. Even if, like
Vincent said, it’s a common story, it still touches me. The innocence of the child andtelling this story by animation has cured my appetite.

Mak:

I think the work has very good drawing technique and art style, but the story is quite
common, and the plot is very similar to other animations about war. I like the ending,it says that all people are guilty if they don’t do something like this. I think thedirector probably didn’t think of this part at the beginning, maybe he thinks it’s too
normal and decided to add this part at the end.

Abbiss:

The work is enjoyable, and maybe needed that punch at the end. The ending takes
away from the optimism but I think it remains. As much as there is the destructive,
horrible side of war, that’s the creature we are. I think it needed that last shot. I wasenjoying the film up until then, and you get the point. It’s a bit clichéd, but it makes
sense because it’s told from a child’s point of view; the Disney style also makes
sense because it’s the child’s world. I was very much impressed with this work, andI appreciate the last shot, but I didn’t like it as a CG rendering.

Wong:

I want to explain why I like the ending. When I see the picture at the end, I make up
another story in my mind, about a child in a war trying to stop the war. They hope
they can stop the war, but in the end, maybe the children are dead already. This
moves me. Haze mentioned that the work moves him, but it doesn’t move me. The
point is the director really used that violent scene, I didn’t expect them to really cut
down the children’s heads, which would be very extreme. I think the film is wellexecuted.

Mak:

I think the execution is very smart.

Lo:

Because the film is from Iran, it should be like this, but for me, it’s really too clichéd.
The production, drawing and animation are very good, but I expect more, a deeper
concern with the topic.

Abbiss:I thought the same way. It’s an excellent idea, but I wanted it to go further. I’m notsure if that’s a valid criticism, because the film inspires you to think, “I can dosomething with this idea.” As a viewer, you want the film to go there, but they
didn’t explore the metaphor fully, what can it tell us about optimism in this awful
situation, rather than just get the hammer blow at the end. There’s a potential for a
bit more depth.

Fan:So, we move on to the next one, A Gong.

Lo:

It’s short, but nice use of color and animation. It doesn’t have much dialogue, but
provides a good atmosphere about Taiwanese funerals and what happens with thedead. It’s interesting to look at. I expected to see more about the relationshipbetween the grandpa and the child, and now it’s not that clear. Anyway, it’s a very
good film.

Mak:

I like the artwork and the dialogue mixed with music. I compare this to the fourth5

film, My Father at Grandma’s Funeral, which has a similar topic, and also with
Passerby, and I prefer this one. The story is simple, but I still got something fromthe ending. When the child looks at the dog, he thinks about his grandpa. It’s very
Chinese culture, the idea that even though his grandpa passed away, he still exists
somewhere near.
Wong:

The ending is quite humorous.

Tsui:

The emotion builds up in the last scene. The boy goes out of the forest and realizes
his grandpa has passed away and he cries. I consider the character’s emotions, thiskind of storytelling with the emotional build-up is good.

Wong:

In terms of style and technique, I think this is the best one. The animation and art
direction are good, the only down side is the relationship between the child and his
grandpa is not that clear. You feel the emotion at the end, but it’s only by techniqueand not the story; it is only by the music, the montage sequence and the drawingthat you get the mood.

Abbiss:When it finished, I thought it’s great. It’s almost perfect, and I love the reveal at theend with the dog. It looks and sounds perfect, and the story is flawlessly told. Maybe
you’re right in that it lacks a story element, but it’s quite cool to tell a story with thedesign and sound design and everything. I really enjoyed this work, and I thought it
was excellent. In terms of technique, you couldn’t fault it.

Fan:

The next work is Lionverse.

Lo:

There’s no storyline, it’s just a collage of features about the development of HongKong. It’s a short work, but I enjoyed watching it because you don’t have to think
about anything. As a Hong Kong person, you can see some elements inside it thatyou know very well, and you see the transition of everything. It’s a simple work.

Abbiss:I understood that I’m never going to understand this one, because it is about Hong
Kong.

Lo:

It’s a real Hong Kong film for Hong Kong people.
with very complex visuals.

Mak:

I like the camera movements and transitions between the scenes, and it has very
good use of visual elements about Hong Kong. They did a lot of research, andinvokes a lot of memories about Hong Kong. These are the good things about thiswork. This is like an MV, a Hong Kong people’s film, and that’s why they call it
Lionverse. It tries to mix all the elements together, but the director of the film gave
up too much content.

Fan:Let’s move to the second last work, Survival HK.

Wong:

It is very good, I laughed so many times. It’s very enjoyable and captures that kindof mood very well and very accurately. This was how I felt when I was taking exams.

Lo:

The situation is interesting; it puts two things together: the examination and thestorm outside. It’s very cleverly put together, which makes you think of something

Technically, it’s very nice,6else. What the director wants to talk about and the theme behind it is a very goodone. The animation matches with the whole thing. It’s like comics artist Chihoi’s
drawings.
Abbiss:I understood the film to be an allegory. Is it clear to you what that was?

Lo:No, absolutely not! Why do they put these two elements together? It makes you
think of something else, and there should be something else. But you don’t knowwhat it is, that’s the point.

Abbiss:I thought it was excellent, but I was worried I was missing something. You reallyfeel the tension.

Wong:

You feel the tension without knowing any context. It just captures the mood very
well. As a student, I got the exact same feeling. You just want to get out of theclassroom and you think the examination is so silly. You just want to go out but you
have to stay in there and listen to the nonsense; it’s boring and you want to get out.
The film captures that feeling very well.

Mak:

I appreciate the usage of the voice-overs in the examination.

Lo:

It’s very authentic.

Mak:

Elements such as using the eraser shavings to make a ring, the usage of theseelements is very smart.

Abbiss:Is it a student or professional film?

Lo:

I think it’s a student film from Cal Arts.

Fan:

The last work is Do-ji-le?

Lo:

The script is very good. The interpretation is very life-like and the content is rich.

Mak:

The realism style of the story, dialogue and drawing are good. I love this work.

Tsui:

I like this work so much. I quite understand this story about two girls, how they
move on to find their own lives. It’s a simple and heart-warming story. The
animation and motion are good, and you really feel the emotion. In the second-roundjury meeting, many works are about life and death, they are too heavy. Why can’t
they use this method?

Wong:

It is a professional work, but when we are selecting for an independent film award,
the style may be not my taste. It’s a copy of a style. It’s good, but if you’re talking
about independent spirit it’s not a good choice.

Abbiss:I agree. I enjoyed it a lot, but didn’t leave much impact on me. There are other more
impactful films.

Fan:

If you have nothing more to add, we’ll move on to the next part, nominating the
prizes. Let’s see if you are ready to nominate the Gold and Silver awards?
7

Lo:

Shall we nominate the awards directly, or choose some favorite works?

Fan:

One way is if you have some works that you’d like to give the Gold award to, then
you can directly nominate the films. Otherwise, you can choose the top three andnarrow down the discussion.

Mak:

I am not sure about Gold Award. I have chosen some good works. Compared withfilms about similar topics, I think A Gong is the best one that deal with the themeof death. I recommend this one for Special Mention. I like Another World andAmaryllis too, but maybe I’ll wait to hear your comments first.

Wong:

Maybe I can list my top three. Petty Thing, This Side, Other Side, Survival HK.
These are my top three.

Abbiss:My top three would be very similar. Petty Thing, A Gong and Survival HK.

Tsui:

My choices are the Another World, Amaryllis, This Side, Other Side and Do-ji-le.

Fan:So, four altogether?

Tsui:

Yes.

Lo:

My top three are: A Gong, This Side, Other Side and Another World.

Fan:

We can eliminate three works that no one had chosen: My Father at Grandma’s
Funeral, Passerby and Lionverse. We can put these works aside.

Tsui:

Can we have two Gold or two Silver awards?

Fan:

It is possible to have two Gold or two Silver awards, but if we can select one Gold,one Silver and one Special Mention, that’d be good.

Tsui:

I have one for Special Mention, Amaryllis.

Abbiss:I was looking at the list. I think everyone reacted quite well to Survival HK. Is thateveryone’s favorite for Gold? Maybe we can start with that.

Lo:

Not for me. Absolutely not.

Abbiss:Maybe Silver or Special Mention?

Lo:

We can talk about that. It’s a clever film, but technically, it pretends to be a simple,naïve animation, but it is too simple. What’s good about this film is the idea and the
choice of the situation with taking the exam and the storm outside, which is clever.
But that’s all. The drawings look like many independent comics in Hong Kong, andthe animation is too simple. Technically, it’s not a good one.
8

Tsui:

I agree with Lo Sir. It’s a good work, but it’s not good enough for Gold.

Wong:

Personally, I like it the most, but I’m not sure if it is good enough for Gold. Maybea Silver Award.

Mak:

So, the elements for a Gold Award, we are talking about good animation technique,editing, sound design, music?

Lo:

It should have something deserving of Gold Award. For example, why I chose
Another World is that although the production is too mainstream and the storytellingis too reliant on the dialogue, I appreciate the hard work and the challenge they face.
The story is a difficult one to film, very hard to understand, but still the director stillchose to do it. I can’t say it’s a perfect film, but I really can get the creative force
behind the work.

Wong:

Survival HK doesn’t look like a Gold Award film, it’s not logical.

Lo:

I like A Gong also. It’s quite a nice work.

Abbiss:It didn’t have much impact.

Lo:

It needs more build-up of the relationship between the child and the grandpa. I’ve
watched it three times and tried to get the emotional part, because that’s the mostimportant thing in this film, but I can’t. The painting, movement and color are really
nice, and quite professional.

Abbiss:I agree. It’s my favorite in terms of how it looks, but a lot of it has to do with personal
taste. When it reveals the dog resembles the grandpa, it makes sense and ishumorous. But I didn’t feel it, and that’s a failing of the work. I would put it very
high.

Tsui:

It’s hard for me to select the Gold at this moment. I want to move on to Special
Mention first. Someone mentioned that we are an independent award, but we arecomparing professional films with graduation and student works. We have to know
the background of the work, maybe their production scale, budget. Some works may
have government support or have big budget to support them. I’d like to nominate
the second film for Special Mention. It’s a student work and a first film, but it isvery well done. Getting an award will encourage them to continue to do a second
work.

Fan:

So, a nomination for Amaryllis for Special Mention?

Lo:

It’s ok for me.

Abbiss:I agree. But some works that I really like may not get anything.

Fan:

Are there any other nominations for Special Mention?

Abbiss:

I would put Survival HK in there. I thought it’s a good film, but I’m not going tofight for it.
9

Lo:

Maybe we can have two, because there is no trophy, just a certificate. For a student
film, it’s okay.

Mak:

I try to compare Another World with A Gong, and visually, I like A Gong, and theother one is too much Japanese style. But when you think about the difficulty inmaking it, although there are problems about the script, I think this work deserves
the Gold Award. Comparing Another World with A Gong, Another World is more
complicated. Although the director did not do so well in those parts…

Lo:

Another World is not perfect, but I can see the hard work behind it. Another Worldis a work that you can watch several times, and every time you watch it, you get
something new. With A Gong, you watch it once and you like the color, but Another
World is more sophisticated and deep. It’s a high-quality work.

Wong:

I agree with Vincent. Comparing Another World with A Gong, I prefer A Gong.

Lo:

A Gong is appealing and easy to get.

Wong:

Another World doesn’t tell the story very effectively.

Lo:

I know they rewrote the script many times to try to make it work, but still…

Fan:

There are two nominations for the Gold Award. One is A Gong, another is Another
World. Any third nominations? If not, we can focus on these two films and decide
the Gold Award first.

Tsui:

How do you compare A Gong with This Side, Other Side？

Lo:

For me, I prefer A Gong because the style, the drawing, character design and thestorytelling of This Side, Other Side is too familiar to me.

Abbiss:When I was watching it, I felt they were using clichés without acknowledging it.
When you use a child’s point of view, you depersonalize those soldiers, they havethose identical, angry appearance. I understand it’s a war and that’s how they all
look. The work didn’t feel fresh.

Wong:

The way I like it is that it destroys the cliché. The way I see it is it tells a clichéd
story, but at the end, they destroy the story. It is saying this is not real, it’s just a
fairytale. It destroys the cliché at the end, that’s the part I like the most. I don’t know
if it is intentional, but when I watched it, I get this meaning.

Mak:

My Gold Award nomination should be for Another World, not A Gong.

Abbiss:I like Another World, it just didn’t impact me. I wonder if I need to see it again.

Lo:

You should.

Abbiss:I am swaying towards A Gong because it does what it’s supposed to do. It grabbed
me and gave me a little treat at the end. It works and is a well-crafted film. Alongwith Petty Thing, these two are the best-crafted works. I don’t know if I’m
10confusing things by putting Petty Things back to the discussion. The film has an
impact due to the nature of the story, but we’ve seen that before, a lot. For a Gold
Award, it didn’t have that emotional punch, but Another World did. There were a
few moments when it broke through and hit me, but I wondered if I understood it
all. Maybe I should have watched it again.
Mak:

One work does something simple but does it very well, another does somethingdifficult and challenging, so they are hard to compare. My final decision is to go for
Another World because of its difficulty and the importance of this work in Hong
Kong.

Wong:

I’ll go with Another World in the end. In terms of the story, it has a more complete
story.

Lo:

You can watch Another World several times and find something new, this may not
be the case with A Gong. For the latter, maybe you watch it twice and that’s enough.

Fan:

So now there are 4 votes for Another World, right? The Gold Award goes to Another
World.

Lo:

A Gong will be Silver?

Fan:

Any objections to A Gong getting Silver?

Lo:

No objection. For me, it’s okay.

Fan:

A Gong gets Silver. For Special Mention? Haze already nominated Amaryllis. Mattmentioned Survival HK.

Wong:

I vote for Survival HK. This should be on our list.

Lo:

I have no objections.

Mak:

I won’t give too many comments for Amaryllis.

Lo:

We have two Special Mentions?

Fan:

One or two? Now there are 3 votes for Survival HK, one vote by Haze to Amaryllis.

Tsui:

I am not sure if Special Mention is an encouragement? It’s okay if Survival HK getsSpecial Mention, but I am wondering if Amaryllis can get one also? Technical-wise,
Amaryllis is the better work.

Lo:I enjoy the work.

Fan:

There are some reasons for having Special Mention prize. Literally, this award isfor works that have something special to mention, meaning that the overall
excellence may not be good enough for Gold or Silver awards, but maybe somecomponent in a film is worth mentioning, and you want to draw attention to it. Of
course, jurors like to give encouragement, but all awards in a competition are for11encouragement. So, if you really want to have two Special Mention prizes because
each film has something you want the audience to take note of, then it’s fine.
Mak:

I agree to have two Special Mentions. For Survival HK, it has a very unique
technique, while Amaryllis tries to recreate the vintage style of Wong Kar-wai. I
think both films are very special, so I nominate both films.

Abbiss:I don’t have a problem with that.

Lo:

Me, too.

Fan:This year, we have two Special Mentions, Survival HK and Amaryllis, both from
Hong Kong. I hope you are happy with the results.

25th ifva Awards Animation Category Award Winners
Gold Award
Another World
Ng Kai-chung Tommy (Hong Kong)
Silver Award
A GongLiu Yen-chen, Zozo Jhen, Chan Ka-yin, Marine Varguy, Tena Galovic (Taiwan)
Special Mention
Survival HK
Louise Pau (Hong Kong)
Amaryllis
Wong Ying-kwan, Ng Wing-kiu (Hong Kong)

12

The 25th ifva Awards Animation Category Juror’s Comment
Another World
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: Sophisticated technique and artform in this animation, but I think too
much content was described by dialogue. The background story is a little bit too heavy for ashort film animation.
Lo Che-ying: An ambitious work, well produced in every aspect.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Incredible style and production scale, good work of world background designand setting, would like to see more development of this fascinated story in future, I believe it
could be developed into a feature as well.
Matt Abbiss: Some very nice simple designs and animation. Clearly told story. Quite effective
horror.
Henri Wong: Good visual style, good music. But the context of the story is not showing very
effectively.
Amaryllis
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: This work able to recreate the vintage style in animation, but the
script writing and the dialogue could be improved in this work.
Lo Che-ying: The mood is there, but the character design can be better to match with the maturetheme, also, the voice acting is not that good.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Well done in motion, acting, framing and editing, with a Wong Ka-wai style,matching with the art direction of the artwork, romantic and lovely, yet this is only a student
graduation project.
Matt Abbiss: Similar to Another World in some ways, better visual storytelling and goodanimation here on the main character.
Henri Wong: The montage part is good.

13

Petty Thing
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: Inspiring script writing and dialogue mixing for this animation, butlack of animation element in this work.
Lo Che-ying: Just want to ask, why Hiroshima?
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Smart storytelling approach, good using of offscreen elements to build up
the world, rich layering of the flow, excellent voice acting.
Matt Abbiss: Very well told story and visually appealing. Loved the character design.
Henri Wong: Very effective, good interpretation of style into storytelling. Good theme. Playing
with violence is fun before you know what violence is.

My Father at Grandma’s Funeral
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: I like the ink paper drawing style in this animation. Good soundediting technique with music.
Lo Che-ying: Too rely on the texts, drawing is unique but animation in most scenes is loose.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Good at emotional treatment, mature film language presented, I like thecomparison between the depressing dad and the innocent kid, impressive mixture of musicstyle, loving it.
Matt Abbiss: Character animation very inconsistent in terms of quality. Sound design wasinteresting but not a good fit for the tone of the film, I thought. Intriguing at times and somegood animation on the boy and the plants. Clarity for me was possibly not helped by thesubtitles which I suspect were not great translations.
Henri Wong: No comments on this work.
Passerby
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: I appreciate the art style in this animation, but the story is too muchof a formula (Reality > Memories > Dream sequence).
Lo Che-ying: I like the whole art direction except the character design. The script can be betterto enhance the whole story.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Good metaphor set-up on afterlife tradition, there could be improvements inboth scriptwriting and acting.
Matt Abbiss: Enjoyably visual storytelling and some interesting shot choices. I don't think I
understood the relationship between the customer and the shop owner fully though, perhaps it
wasn't important? (I thought they were related for some reason but I guess they are not).
Henri Wong: Like its ending showing other public figures who passed away.

14

This Side, Other Side
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: Quite common story structure and content about war. Good animation
technique and art style.
Lo Che-ying: Nice drawing and animation, but the story is too weak and straight-forward.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Personally I'm moved by this lovely short film, and I have seen it not just an
animation but a story of blood and life, sad but touching.
Matt Abbiss: Fun idea with a darkness underneath the cartoony style but wasn't exploring thisdark / fun enough for me. The final shot helped but this could have had a lot more impact. Good
animation though.
Henri Wong: Good example to illustrate violence without showing violent image or plots. Also
good twist on ending; the happy ending is only a dream, human are stupid.
A GongVincent Mak Shing-fung: Impressive originality in art form and good sound editing techniquewith music. The story is simple, but I can feel deeply in this animation.
Lo Che-ying: Nicely painted, but the relationship between the boy and his grandpa is too
shallow.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Handling well of the character acting, great color and animation style.
Matt Abbiss: Very good visual design / animation /sound design. Clearly told story, beautiful
in places. Lovely final scene. Very good work.
Henri Wong: Good use of visual contrast, telling a sad mood with happy colour. Ending is good.
Lionverse
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: They did a lot of research in visual elements about Hong Kong andthe camera movement is very impressive. The content (story) is relatively too straight forwardin this work.
Lo Che-ying: Some fragments of the development of Hong Kong is well constructed in thisshort piece of work. Good combination of music and visual.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Fantastic technical skills, enjoyable visual style and recalled the history ofHong Kong.
Matt Abbiss: Not sure I understood this one but it looked great, not fond of the sound / music
but this was well made, visually.
Henri Wong: High level of finishing.

15

Survival HK
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: The director creates a unique animation style. The visual elements
are simplified in this animation, e.g. exam question paper, dialogue in listening exam and eraser
residue, but the usage of those elements is very accurate.
Lo Che-ying: The idea is interesting, naïve drawing also matches with the content, but I expect
more.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: Clever use of the audio track to remind candidates’ memories, skills could
be improved.
Matt Abbiss: Felt like a metaphorical / allegorical film about HK but I'm not sure I completely
understood this. I enjoyed it though, it built tension well.
Henri Wong: Very smart and hilarious, just captured the mood right with its style.
Do-ji-le?
Vincent Mak Shing-fung: I appreciate the arrangement between the story, character dialogue
and editing rhythm. The realism style in this work reminds me the animation films from Isao
Takahata.
Lo Che-ying: A nice example presenting some thoughts of modern people, good drawing as
well.
Haze Tsui Ka-hei: A lovely piece of daily life, enjoyed the subtle mood building, like a newform of animated poetry of a love story.
Matt Abbiss: Sweet story and well told. Reminded me of My Neighbors the Yamadas visuallyand in terms of tone. Very good animation and very good overall.
Henri Wong: Heartwarming.

16