SIGGRAPH 2022 has announced the award winners and lineup of 25 short films, cinematics, scientific visualizations, visual effects breakdowns, and more set to appear in the first hybrid edition of the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater this August. Highlighting the best in computer graphics storytelling, the Electronic Theater will premiere in-person at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Monday, August 8, and is available via separate ticket. Virtual access to the show will open on Tuesday, August 9.

A qualifying festival for the Academy Awards®, the SIGGRAPH 2022 Electronic Theater received over 325 submissions, which the expert jury whittled down to a lineup that spotlights work from 10 countries--including Sweden, Taiwan, France, the United States, and China. For the first time ever, the show will premiere in person and also offer a separate virtual ticket. In addition to juried selections, the festival will showcase a mixture of curated bonus content.

“The Electronic Theater is back,” exclaimed SIGGRAPH 2022 Electronic Theater director Darin Kyoichi Grant, of Animal Logic. “I am thrilled to be bringing back the in-person show this year and am even more thrilled to introduce the jury’s incredible selections to our global audience, which offer an incredibly diverse array of content types and storytelling perspectives. For virtual viewers, don’t worry: We have not forgotten about you and are committed to upgrading the virtual viewing experience with more ways to watch and more time to watch.”

SIGGRAPH 2022 Electronic Theater juror Michela Ledwidge, of Mod, added, “The variety of submissions my fellow jurors and I reviewed was awe-inspiring, whether that was pandemic-era visualizations or deep, heartfelt stories. It was extremely difficult to make our final decisions--all who submitted should be proud of what they presented.”

From a pool of nine student and 16 professional studio productions, including world premiere short films from Marza Animation Planet Inc. and Tsinghua University, the 2022 award winners are:

Best in Show
“The Seine’s Tears”
Pôle 3D
Yanis Belaid
(France)

Jury’s Choice
“The end of war”
Tsinghua University
Lei Chen
(China)

Best Student Project
“Yallah!”
Rubika
Nayla Nassar
(France)

For more on the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater lineup, click here.