Kiwi's Dream Best VFX at HEI Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won Best VFX at the Heart of Europe International Film Festival (HEI).

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, Kiwi's Dream was based on an original concept by Freddie Belsom about an origami kiwi who dreams of flying in the clouds.

"Kiwi's Dream" - Final Film

Kiwi's Dream from Daniel Rowe on Vimeo.

Module PR6001

Still frame from "Kiwi's Dream"

Kiwi's Dream was completed as part of 3rd year animation Module PR6001, in which our animation and VFX students join forces to produce a short animated visual effects project, with three months to take the project from initial pitch to final render.  

Kiwi's Dream was based on an original concept by Freddie Belsom about an origami kiwi who dreams of flying in the clouds.

Student collaboration
Working with a team of ten students from both the VFX and animation departments, Kiwi's Dream was filmed on location in London, with animation and VFX completed at Escape Studios.  Cinematography was by DOP Clement Gharini. 

"Kiwi's Dream" Software

Paloma Zhu

Animation was done in Autodesk Maya; compositing was done in Nuke and the shots were rendered in Arnold.  Editing was done in DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro.  "Kiwi's Dream" is the second short film directed by Paloma Zhu at Escape Studios.  

"Kiwi's Dream" Credits

• Paloma Zhu - Writer, Director, Storyboards, Animation lead
• Daniel Rowe - Producer, 3D artist
• Clement Gharini - Director of Photography
• Benjamín Števuliak - Editor and 3D Lead
• Simone Costa - Editor, animator 
• Ján Števuliak - Original Music Composition
• Lewys Rhodes - 3D Artist
• Michael Nguyen - 3D Artist
• Freddie Belsom - Story, 2D Lead
• Ben Noone - 2D Artist
• Zacharias Allouane - 2D Artist
• Mikhail Magnaye - animator
• Morgan Mda - animator
• Flynn Smith - animator

Festival success

Kiwi's Dream wins "Excellence Award" at The Rookies

"Kiwi's Dream" has won many festival awards:

• Best VFX at Genesis Film Fest
• Best Anim at the "Deux Cans" Festival
• Best VFX at the Tokyo International Film Festival
• "People's Choice Award" at The Rookies, in the category of Best Visual Effects.
• Excellence in Animation Award at The Rookies
• "CSV award" at the Cactus Film Festival, worth €1,000
• "Best Super Short" at the UK Monthly Film Festival
• "Best Micro Short" at Vesuvius Film Fest 
• Four festival awards at the British International Amateur Film Festival (BIAFF). Best Animation, Best Entry by a Film-Maker Aged 16-21, Best British Young Film-Maker and also a Five Star Award
• Honourable Mention "Best Visual Effects" at the Athens International Art Film Fest.
• "Best Director" in the category of "Super Short Film" at the Lisbon New Cinema Festival
• "Best Animation" at the Flicks Film Festival in London 
• "Best No Budget Film" at the Dreamer's Short Film Festival. 
• "Honourable Mention" at the London International Monthly Film Festival (LIMFF)
• "Best Director" at the Prague Film Festival. 

"Kiwi's Dream" at IMDB

Kiwi's Dream won Best Director at the PIMFF

You can find "Kiwi's Dream" at the IMDB here. 

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2021, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.