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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.

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Version française ici.

Media Relations

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

  • About the NFB

    Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 7,000 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.