A five-minute film directed by a current student from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde wins the Southeast Asia Audience Award at this year’s CRAFT International Animation Festival.

Titled “IAMANNIKA,” the winning animated film dives into the experience of 10-year-old Annika as she works on a requirement for her online class amidst the pandemic. Centered around women, the assignment Annika completes leads her to discover stereotypes, expectations, and disparities women face alongside her mother.

The short film is directed by Tuklaw Films’ Dan Versoza, who is currently completing her degree in filmmaking. An effort in uncovering and challenging the societal imbalances of gender inequality, the advocacy film touches on the kind of discrimination and unrealistic expectations today’s women constantly experience.

Held annually since 2017, CRAFT International Animation Festival, colloquially known as CRAFT AnimFest, is “a celebration of craftsmanship and talent, but also to commune with authenticity, diversity, and physicality.” This year, the festival received over 1,800 entries from 97 countries for a variety of categories in animation and film.

Aside from the Southeast Asia Audience Award, IAMANNIKA previously won multiple awards at Realifilm, an inter-school filmmaking competition hosted by Adamson University’s Silip@Lente, and was part of the official selection lists of Brazilian International Student Animation Festival Anim!Arte and Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival.

Another Benilde student made it to the official selection list of CRAFT AnimFest’s SEA Audience Award. CITSALP by Jean Evangelista, who served as Versoza’s co-writer for IAMANNIKA, explores the negative impact, proper consumption, and responsible production of plastic.