The winners of this year’s Stoke Your Fires Film Festival awards have been announced ahead of Friday’s official opening.
 
Organisers were inundated with entries from all over the world, receiving more than 300 submissions across seven categories. Entries were double the amount received last year with a high standard of work in both the film and animation categories.
 
This year’s winners are:

Animation categories

Best International Animation – Reflection
Director Planktoon and Yoshimichi Tamura, France. 
Watch the trailer for Reflection.
 
Best UK Animation – Ctrl.
Director, Matt Waruszynski
 
Best Student Animation – Ride of Passage.
Director, Christian Bøving-Anderson, Denmark
Watch the trailer for Ride of Passage

Film categories

Best International Short Feature – Jacobo.
Director, David Del Águila, Spain
Watch the trailer for Jacobo
 
Best UK Short Feature – Inertia. 
Director, Will Herbert
Watch the trailer for Inertia

Best Student Short Feature – Ludzie Normalni.
Director, Piotr Zlotorowicz, Poland

Made in Staffordshire

The Craftsman.Director, Lee Murphy
Watch the trailer for The Craftsman

Councillor Mark Meredith, cabinet member for economic development, culture and sport, said: “The independent panel of judges had a very difficult job this year in deciding the winners of each category.
 
“The fact that we had double the amount of entries compared to last year shows how the festival’s reputation is growing not only at home but also abroad.
 
“It’s fantastic that we have people from countries such as Denmark, Spain and Poland entering our competition and wanting to be associated with it.
 
“We said we would make Stoke-on-Trent a great place to live in our Mandate for Change and the film festival is a brilliant example of putting that into practice.”
 
The winner of the Made in Staffordshire category was Stafford-based Sheringham Studios with its 28-minute love story The Craftsman, based on the book by acclaimed Irish author Stuart Neville. This category recognises films where at least one of the creative team lives in Stoke-on-Trent or the Staffordshire region.

Director Lee Murphy said: “We’re delighted to receive this award, even more so with it being a local film festival.

“A lot of hard work went into making the film and it’s nice to have it recognised in this way.”
 
The festival, which runs from March 1 to March 5, will open with the UK premiere of a new British comedy, Pulp. Produced by Stoke-on-Trent company Reels in Motion and Staffordshire-based Dare Productions, the film was shot on location in the city and the West Midlands and already has a huge following online with more than a million views on YouTube.
 
This year’s festival focuses on the best of British and organisers have put together a packed line-up, including film premieres, masterclass sessions from industry professionals and the region’s first film Marketplace.