1. Media Space

  2. Press Releases

Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls wins the CFI Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival

PRESS RELEASE
27/09/2025

September 27, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s National Film Board of Canada (NFB) stop-motion animated short The Girl Who Cried Pearls has received the CFI Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). The award was announced on Saturday, September 27, 2025.

It’s the latest award for the film, which won the Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film during its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

Jury’s statement

“For its extraordinary animation and its startling fairy tale narrative, which combines a searing, astute critique of human greed with a plea for love and personal integrity, the Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation goes to The Girl Who Cried Pearls, by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski.”

The Girl Who Cried Pearls by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (17 min)
Produced for the NFB by Julie Roy, Marc Bertrand and Christine Noël
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-girl-who-cried-pearls

  • The OIAF award is the latest distinction for the acclaimed Montreal-based animation duo, who were Oscar nominees for their 2007 NFB stop-motion short Madame Tutli-Putli. 

    The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a haunting fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds.

  • The 17-minute short features a star-studded creative team, including Colm Feore (voice), Polaris Music Prize winner Patrick Watson (music) and Olivier Calvert (sound design), with Brigitte Henry as artistic director.
  • The Girl Who Cried Pearls had its world premiere on the opening night of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France.

– 30 –

Version française ici.

Media Relations

  • Nadine Viau
    NFB Publicist – Montreal
    C.: 514-458-9745
    n.viau@nfb.ca

  • About the NFB

    For more than 80 years, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has produced, distributed and preserved those stories, which now form a vast audiovisual collection—an important part of our cultural heritage that represents all Canadians.

    To tell these stories, the NFB works with filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds, from across the country. It harnesses their creativity to produce relevant and groundbreaking content for curious, engaged and diverse audiences. The NFB also collaborates with industry experts to foster innovation in every aspect of storytelling, from formats to distribution models.

    Every year, another 50 or so powerful new animated and documentary films are added to the NFB’s extensive collection of more than 14,000 titles, half of which are available to watch for free on nfb.ca.

    Through its mandate, its stature and its productions, the NFB contributes to Canada’s cultural identity and is helping to build the Canada of tomorrow.