The Ottawa International Animation Festival is one of the most important festivals of animation in the world. The festival was held Sept, 23 – Oct, 4, however, in online format.

The Virtual Reality competition included five VR projects, with Veljko and Milivoj Popović’s Dislocation taking home the award. “This powerful and timely narrative captures the fear and desperation experienced by many refugees. Having the narrative be driven by the physical act of stepping into this person’s experience and fragmenting memories of home, made the experience feel that much more potent, especially at a time where many countries are becoming increasingly hostile and antipathetic towards refugees and immigrants,” said the jury statement.

Other projects competing in the same category were Canaria (dir: Kazuki Yuhara) from Japan, The Book of Distance (dir: Randall Okita) from Canada, The Hangman at Home (dir. Michelle and Uri Kranot) from Denmark, and The Orchid and the Bee (dir. Frances Adair McKenzie) also from Canada.

The VR project Dislocation problematizes the very current theme of the state of fear. Dislocation refers to the forceful removal of people from their homes and daily lives due to cataclysmic events, while the film offers an experience of the emotions that take hold of us when we find ourselves in such unwanted extreme circumstances. The film follows the protagonist around various locations, from a beach on the coast of Greece, or a desert on the border between Mexico and the US, to a forest in the Balkans.   

Dislocation was created using 2D and 3D animation and motion capture technology, in collaboration with dancer Alen Čelić and choreographer Nikolina Dolfić.