The SIGGRAPH 2025 international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques has announced the award-winning films in this year’s Academy Award-qualifying Computer Animation Festival. This year, all three top honors went to student projects, highlighting the bright promise of CG animation’s future. SIGGRPAH attendees can catch these films and the full Animation Theater offering at the Vancouver event, running August 10-14.
“These projects don’t just meet professional standards, they redefine them,” said Dawn Fidrick, SIGGRAPH 2025 Computer Animation Festival Director. “It’s inspiring to see student filmmakers leading the charge in both storytelling and innovation. This year’s winners reflect a global future of animation that is fearless, inventive, and deeply human.”
Best in Show: Trash
Maxime Crançon, Fanny Vecchie, Margaux Lutz, Romain Fleischer, Alexis Le Ral, Grégory Bouzid, Robin Delaporte, and Mattéo Durant with École Supérieure Des Métiers Artistiques (ESMA)
In a dark alley, a scrawny rat has no choice but to fight with a pigeon for a small slice of pizza. Without a second thought, they throw themselves in a vertiginous chase from the top to the bottom of the street.
Best Student Project: The Mooning
Mason Klesch and Vivian Osness with Ringling College of Art and Design
The Mooning is an animated mockumentary that reveals the truth behind the 1969 Moon Landing.
Jury’s Choice: Jour de vent
Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Elise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, and Camille Truding with École des Nouvelles Images (ENSI)
Wind appears in a park. People fly away.
The Computer Animation Festival includes screenings of the Electronic Theater and Animation Theater, giving attendees multiple ways to experience emerging trends in animation from across the globe. Several of the top films will also be included in SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival Traveling Show, a touring collection that brings the Electronic Theater to campuses, festivals, and local communities worldwide.
Complementing the creative showcase of the Computer Animation Festival, the SIGGRAPH 2025 Production Sessions invite attendees behind the scenes of some of the world’s most ambitious entertainment projects, offering a rare look at the artistry and innovation behind today’s blockbuster films, immersive rides and cutting-edge games. Notable sessions will cover the VFX of The Last of Us with DNEG and Wētā FX, the real-time animation pipeline of Nickelodeon’s Max & the Midknights, the stylized visuals of DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot and the creation of stop-motion hybrid video game South of Midnight with Compulsion Games.
Pick up the July/August ’25 issue of Animation Magazine to read more about the prize-winning shorts and more highlights of SIGGRAPH 2025.
Visit s2025.siggraph.org for full programming details and to register.
