Former UP student wins Best Short Subject at the 47th Annie Awards
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Regina Pessoa won the Best Short Subject at the 47th edition of the Annie Awards, the most influential prize in American animation.
The film "Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days" (Tio Tomás - A Contabilidade dos Dias), by the director and former student of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP), Regina Pessoa, was awarded the Best Short Subject of the 47th edition of the Annie Awards.
Produced by Ciclope Filmes and the National Film Board of Canada, Les Armateurs, the short film is inspired by the director's own childhood, whose key players are a man and his daily routine, and a little girl to whom the man teaches how to draw with a burnt piece of wood.
"The film is an homage to my uncle Tomás; he taught me how to draw with a chip of charcoal on my grandmother's walls. Somehow, now I am doing animated films", stated Regina Pessoa, on her acceptance speech.
"He was an ordinary man, he was not really important to anyone, but he was important to me and I wanted to show that on my film, that we don't have to do anything extraordinary in life to be important in someone's life", the director concluded.
Born in Coimbra, Regina Pessoa graduated in Painting at FBAUP, in 1988. Four years later, in 1992, she takes her first steps in animation film at the Filmógrafo - Animated Film Studio in Porto, and works as animator in several films by Abi Feijó.
As of 1996, Regina starts directing and producing her own films, including numerous short films and trilogy devoted to the theme of childhood: "A Noite", "História Trágica Com Final Feliz" and "Kali, o pequeno Vampiro".
Her work was acknowledged with over 80 awards and recognitions all over the world. She won the Special Jury Prize and the Best Composition Prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, also the Anima Mundi - International Animation Festival of Brazil, the Hiroshima Prize 2012, and several nominations for the Annie Awards and the prizes Cartoon D'Or.
Regina Pessoa is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Hollywood, since 2018.