The Crocodiles took two awards back to Germany over the weekend following the wrap of the Sprockets film festival in Toronto.
The live-action film, based on a German young-adult novel by Max von der Grün, follows a wheelchair-ridden boy who’s new in town and wants to join the cool group of kids. Director Christian Ditter scored the audience choice award for best feature at the children’s festival, as well as the Golden Sprockets award, selected by a jury of kids ages 11 and 12.
Canuck and first-time director Gloria U.Y. Kim scored the second audience award for her short The Auction. The 17-minute film centers on a young girl whose immigrant parents can’t afford the doll she wants, so she saves her money in the hope of winning it in a neighborhood auction.
Other winners of the Golden Sprockets awards, which are juried by children themselves, were: best feature film for Carlitos and the Chance of a Lifetime, by Spain’s Jesús del Cerro; and best short for Ormie, directed by Canada’s Rob Silvestri and produced by Starz Animation Toronto. The three-minute animation follows the titular pig who goes to comedic measures to reach a cookie jar.
High school students attending the Sprockets school program handed the Student Choice award to Sweden’s Lisa Siwe for Glowing Stars, about a young teen coping with her mother’s terminal cancer.