Irish short film ‘Somewhere Down the Line’ was the winner of the Best Animation award in the International Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival on February 8th.
The award is notable as the festival, which takes place in the city of Clermont-Ferrand, France, is regarded as the world's leading film festival dedicated to short films. It is France's second-largest film festival in terms of attendance, coming only after Cannes.
‘Somewhere Down the Line’ was directed by Julien Regnard and examines a man's life, loves and losses which are shown through the exchanges he has with the passengers in his car.
The film was made using a combination of 2D and 3D animation effects and music was supplied by Matthew Nolan, Cameron Doyle and Lioba Petrie of Dublin-based collective 3epkano. The short was produced by Jonathan Clarke for Academy Award-nominated animation studio Cartoon Saloon, based in Kilkenny.
Nora Twomey, Creative Director Cartoon Saloon said: 'Julien Regnard and a small, amazing team of talented artists have created a truly beautiful piece of work. The film’s ability to immediately convey a space and time neither fully real nor imagined, is quite special. We are all so proud of Somewhere Down the Line here at Cartoon Saloon.'
The film was produced under the Frameworks short-film scheme, which is co-financed by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Arts Council.
At the 2014 Galway Film Fleadh the film received a special mention in the Best Animation Sequence in a Short Film category. It also screened at the Cork Film Festival in November.
The award represents another significant coup for Cartoon Saloon who have also seen their feature film ‘Song of the Sea’ get nominated for Cesar and Oscars this month.