Four awards, two films, one festival: Animated short films from Glenna Burmer continue to garner international recognition on the film festival circuit.
Recently, judges with the Amsterdam Underground Cinefest selected Nana korobi, Ya oki, for top awards in two categories: Best Action, Sci-Fi or Fantasy film and Best 2D Animation.
Bippy the Little Robot took top honors at the same festival, signaled out for Best Created Environment and Best Original Animation Style. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, and was one of nine films highlighted by judges on the festival’s website.
Films entries for the Amsterdam Underground Cinefest came from around the globe, from Norway to New Zealand.
Nana korobi, Ya oki, or Seven Falls, tells the inspirational story of a young girl who undergoes seven challenges to save a dear friend from the cold. The film’s title is from a Japanese proverb which says: “Seven times you may fall, but get up the eighth.”
Bippy the Little Robot is set in the future, after the humans are gone and all that remains are broken and forgotten machines. The bleak landscape does not deter Bippy, a perky little trashcan, who sets out with his android-cat sidekick on a journey to find out what other machines are still out there.
Both films were created by classical composer and award-wining concert and filmmaker Glenna Burmer, and produced and animated by Deep Sky. Burmer’s newest film, Yokaitopia, released in 2025, tells the story of a boy who unexpectedly enters the world of Yokai, mysterious Japanese spirits ranging from benign to malevolent that inhabit all people, objects and places.