"Runaway," Cordell Barker's third cartoon for the National Film Board of Canada, was named best animated film Monday night at the Genie Awards, Canada's equivalent of the Oscars.
Last year, the Winnipeg animator's tale won the Jury's Special Award for Short Films at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, along with the Small Golden Rail at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Runaway, happy passengers are having a great time on a crowded train, oblivious to the unknown fate that awaits them around the bend. The ensuing crisis leads to a class struggle that is as amusing as it is merciless. Naturally, there are victims, but in the end, everyone is equal.
Barker also directed The Cat Came Back and Strange Invaders for the NFB. Set to the music of Ben Charest (composer of The Triplets of Belleville), Runaway takes you on a journey that is both funny and disastrous.
Losing to Runaway (Train en folie) for best animated film were two other NFB shorts: The Spine (L'échine), by Steven Hoban, Chris Landreth and Marcy Page; and Vive la rose, by Michael Fukushima, Bruce Alcock, Annette Clarke and Tina Ouellette.
Denis Villeneuve's Polytechnique, about the 1989 Montreal Massacre, won nine awards at the Genies in Toronto, including best film. Villeneuve was named best director, while screenwriter Jacques Davidts won for best original screenplay.
Monday's televised gala marked the Genies' 30th anniversary. A video tribute was included in a retrospective of the awards.
The Genies were broadcast on the Independent Film Channel and Webcast on CBC.ca. They are scheduled to be reaired May 9 on MFEST and Movie Central.
