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The short film Swing to the Moon, directed by students from French digital arts school ESMA, has won the Best Student Project award at SIGGRAPH!
This announcement is yet another proof of the strength of French schools such as ESMA.
Swing to the Moon is the winner of the SIGGRAPH’s Best Student Project award
The film Swing to the Moon (2022), directed by Marie Bordessoule, Chloé Lauzu, Adriana Bouissié, Vincent Levrero, Nadine De Boer, Solenne Moreau and Elisa Drique, won the Best Student Project award at the SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater. This prize, awarded to the most successful student project, is a real acknowledgement both for the directors and for ESMA. The school explains that they see this award as a new recognition of the quality of their training.
As a reminder, the SIGGRAPH international conference is the leading event worldwide for all animation and computer graphics professionals. Gathering each year over ten thousand participants, SIGGRAPH organizes on this occasion the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater, entirely dedicated to animation, special effects and digital creation.
ESMA for the 3rd consecutive year in the SIGGRAPH prize list
This is not the first time that a film from the school has won a prestigious award at the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater. Indeed, Amir & Amira had paved the way in a remarkable way, winning the very prestigious Jury Prize in 2015. This was followed by awards for Je suis un caillou (Best Student Project 2021 – read our interview with the team) and Mésozoïque Alternatif (Audience Choice Award 2022). With this new award for Swing to the Moon, ESMA appears for the third year in a row on the SIGGRAPH list. A first in the school’s history !
It should be noted that France as a whole has is always prominently featured during the Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater. Back in 2021, the animated short film Migrants from Pôle 3D received the Best Student Project award, for example. We also interviewed the team at the time.
Swing to the Moon, a moving fable
Produced in 2022, Swing to the Moon follows the adventures of a little spider, Témi, who tries by all means to reach the moon. The scenario, the animation, the sensitivity with which the subject is treated, touched the members of the SIGGRAPH jury. Congratulations to the directors of the short film! Four of the directors, as well as the teacher how oversaw the project (Yann Pannetier) will fly to Los Angeles this summer. They will be awarded the Best Student Project prize at SIGGRAPH 2023, which will be held this year in Los Angeles from August 6th to 10th.
Watch the teaser:
And here is our video of the ESMA 2022 graduation ceremony. It includes an interview of the directors of Swing to the Moon at the 2’20” mark.
