SIGGRAPH names the winners of the 2022 Computer Animation Festival, with “The Seine’s Tears” receiving the Best in Show Award. This year’s Electronic Theater segment of the festival will have both an in-person and virtual showing.

One of the enduring highlights of the SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition is the Computer Animation Festival, particularly the prestigious Electronic Theater component, a showcase featuring amazing works illustrating advances in computer graphics spanning film, cinematics, animated shorts, scientific visualizations, visual effects breakdowns, and more.

This year, there were more than 325 submissions, 25 of which were selected for the theater by a jury. Of those, 16 came from those at professional studios, while nine were from students. These pieces illustrate the powerful use of computer graphics as a medium for storytelling around the globe. This year, the Electronic Theater contains work from creators across 10 countries, including the US, Sweden, Taiwan, France, and China. In addition, there will be two world premiere shorts (one from Marza Animation Planet and the other from Tsinghua University) included in the theater presentation.

The 2022 SIGGRAPH conference will be an in-person and virtual event. Likewise, the Electronic Theater will have both onsite and online showings—this follows virtual-only presentations for the past two years due to COVID.

“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.”

As usual, a theater ticket is required (and included with a Full Conference and Full Conference Supporter registration).

Starting in 1999, the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival’s Electronic Theater has been recognized as a qualifying festival by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Electronic Theater jurist Michela Ledwidge, of Mod, said, “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.”

The jury also selected Computer Animation Festival award winners. They are as follows.

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)