Cardboard Wins VIEW Conference 2025 Jury Prize | DNEG Animation

The animated short film Cardboard has received the Jury Prize at the VIEW Conference 2025, a prestigious international event focusing on animation, VFX, games, and AI. The award, announced on February 5, 2025, recognizes the film’s excellence in story, direction, technical proficiency, sound, and originality.

Directed and written by J.P. Vine, and produced by Michaela Manas Malina, Cardboard is a production of Locksmith Animation and Ritzy Animation. The award acknowledges the collaborative efforts of the creative team and the animation crew at DNEG, who brought the project to life.

VIEW Conference’s jury, comprised of nine international members, selected Cardboard from a competitive field of short animated films. The conference itself is considered a premiere event in Italy for the animation industry, and the VIEW Award reflects its commitment to showcasing diverse and innovative animation techniques.

The 2025 VIEW Award saw a particularly strong showing of films addressing impactful environmental, social themes, and gender identity, according to Maria Elena Gutierrez, Jury Chair and CEO of VIEW Conference. Gutierrez noted the “strong and diverse range of animated films spanning a wide spectrum of artistic styles, techniques, and mediums.”

Dylan Sisson, Jury President and Artist/Designer at Pixar Renderman, highlighted the quality of the winning films as a group, emphasizing the celebration of work from both professional studios and independent productions. He commented on the depth of the lineup and the engaged discussions among the jury members.

The recognition for Cardboard comes amidst a vibrant period for animated shorts. The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, held from June 8 to June 14, 2025, notably opened with a selection of five short films – 9 Million Colours by Bára Anna, Carcassonne-Acapulco by Marjorie Caup & Olivier Heraud, La Vie avec un Idiot by Theodore Ushev, Black (from Star Wars: Visions) by Shinya Ohira, and The Girl Who Cried Pearls by Chris Lavis & Maciek Sczcerbowski – marking a departure from previous years’ single feature film openings.

The Annecy festival awarded its Cristal for Best Feature Film to Arco, directed by Ugo Bienvenu, and the Contrechamp Grand Prix to Endless Cookie, directed by Seth Scriver and Peter Scriver. These awards, alongside the VIEW Award for Cardboard, underscore the continued vitality and artistic innovation within the short-form animation landscape.

Notably, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Sczcerbowski, also received the Grand Prize at the VIEW 2025 Award, a testament to the high caliber of work coming from the National Film Board of Canada. The film is described as a haunting fable about sorrow, love, and the corrupting influence of greed.

The VIEW Award competition also recognized Amanda Strong’s Įk’ǫǫ̀: Inkwo for When the Starving Return with the Grand Prize, highlighting the increasing representation of diverse voices and storytelling within the animation community. The film, backed by the NFB, employs multiple animation techniques and adapts a story by First Nation descendant Richard Van Camp.

The announcement of Cardboard‘s Jury Prize at VIEW Conference adds to the momentum for Locksmith Animation and Ritzy Animation, and further solidifies DNEG’s reputation as a leading animation studio. As of today, February 4, 2026, details regarding future projects for the team involved remain unconfirmed, but the award serves as a significant achievement and a promising sign for their continued creative output.

The full list of VIEW Award 2025 winners is available on the VIEW Conference website.