The National Media Museum is delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Bradford Animation Festival Awards. The awards were presented at a ceremony hosted by legendary stop-frame animator Barry Purves (King Kong and Mars Attacks!) on Saturday night at the museum in Bradford which culminated the hugely successful four-day festival.

Grand Prix: "The Pearce Sisters"
Dir. Luis Cook / UK / 2007 / 9mins 27secs
The Pearce Sisters is a bleak tale of love, loneliness, guts, gore, nudity, violence, smoking and cups of tea.

Special Jury Prize: "Their Circumstances"
Dir. Ji Hyun Ahn / USA / 2007 / 10mins 6secs
This is an experimental animation which introduces a new way to watch animation. There are five storylines from four characters' viewpoints. Stories are seemingly random yet vitally connected with the tale of a set of incidents in one day. The animation starts with the end of the story and then the viewer can find the clue to the story by watching each character's viewpoint like fitting the pieces of a puzzle. It adds layers and events to the intriguing story until the final shot, where everything is made clear.

Best Professional Film: "Down the Road"
Dir. Rune Christensen / Denmark / 2006 / 15mins 56secs
Down the Road is a dark thriller that revolves around the vicar Henry, who picks up a mysterious hitchhiker late in the evening. The hitchhiker claims to possess psychic powers and discloses a surprising knowledge of Henry’s innermost thoughts and secrets. The scene is set for a seemingly casual encounter to turn into a game of life and death.

Best Student Film: "Administrators"
Dir. Roman Klochkov / Belgium / 2006 / 6mins 37secs
The administrative forest. Rabbit Egor’s house is burning down. Egor asks for a fire extinguisher. He is sent from pillar to post…

Best Independent Film: "The Old, Old, Very Old Man"
Dir. Elizabeth Hobbs / UK / 2007 / 6mins 38secs
The 152-year-old Thomas Parr is taken to meet King Charles I, who orders an immediate celebration of his longevity - with fatal consequences.

Best Music Video: "The Hours – Ali in the Jungle"
Dir. Jonas Odell / UK / 2007 / 4mins 10secs
This promo is in essence a theatrical show of clockwork machines and skull headed chorus lines. Odell captures a perfect mix between old-fashioned stage trickery and contemporary graphic design to change scenes, using both the sense of moving sets pushed in and out or emerging from trapdoors as well as pure animation transitions. Odell has also incorporated Hirst’s use of skulls, clocks and colour in the band’s artwork, mixing it up with dancers and singers. As the track grows, so the visual imagery and colour are expanded until by the end of the track, the stage is far more crowded and visually arresting than at the beginning.

Best Commercial: "Cravendale – The Last Glass"
Dir. Pic Pic Andre / UK/ 2007/ 40 secs
In Last Glass the three house-mates realise that they only have enough milk to fill one glass so organize an impromptu game of musical statues to see who should win this last glass. The wily cyclist wins by replacing himself with a cardboard cut-out and the other two shriek in horror as he drinks the milk with a moustachioed grin.

Best TV Series: Shaun the Sheep – "Still Life"
Dir. Chris Sadler / UK / 2006 / 8mins
The farmer takes up oil painting and is determined to paint a masterpiece but, when his back is turned, Shaun and Co. decide to have a go.

Best Film for Children: "Zhiharka"
Dir. Oleg Uzinov/ Russia / 2006 / 13mins
Based on a Urals Fairytale. A fox is trying to steal a little girl named Zhiharka in order to eat her.

Best Film Produced By Children: "The Great Hat Heist"
Dir. Lewi Firth Bolton / UK / 2007 / 7mins 55secs
Mr. Hater Bugleperp, a great lover of hats, has fallen on hard times and is forced to plan the ultimate hat heist to feed his habit. Things are going well - until his dim-witted manservant Homburg gets involved...

SPECIALLY COMMENDED: "Matrimonioids"
Dir. Signals Media Arts / UK / 2006 / 4mins 50secs
Accompanied by a cutting edge soundtrack, this visually stunning black-and-white line animation depicts a couple's fantastical car journey.

AWARDED AT BAF KIDS: CHILDREN’S AWARDS Audience Award: "The Pearce Sisters"
Dir. Luis Cook / UK / 2007 / 9mins 27secs The Pearce Sisters is a bleak tale of love, loneliness, guts, gore, nudity, violence, smoking and cups of tea. As voted for by festival goers