An American animated short following the journey of restaurant-escaping sushi has snapped up the $1,500 winning prize at the CFC’s year-round Shortsnonstop Mobile Movie Festival.

Festival director Eileen Arandiga tells Playback Daily that more than 100 shorts were submitted for this round. She’s pleased to see increasing submissions from other countries such as England and Austria, who are also competing for the quarterly cash prizes.  She hopes to expand the fest’s global reach. “It’s a great adjunct to the Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF),” she says.

Annie Yia Tien Tu from the U.S. was selected from 10 finalists for her animated comedy short Irasshai. Along with her cash prizes, Tu’s film will also be available to Telus clients as well as at the CFC’s WSFF awards pre-show next June.

The newly announced audience choice award kicks off for the next prize period, in which viewers can vote online for their favorite short, with those winners taking home an iPad.

Shortsnonstop accepts entries on an ongoing basis at www.shortsnonstop.com. Meanwhile, the CFC has also brought on four new jury members, including Ian Birnie, director of the Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Jonathan Ford, EVP of digital acquisitions and distribution for Content Film; Cynthia Kane, programming manager of ITVS and ITVS International, and Damon Smith, head of programming for film and animation at Babelgum USA.