2008 IFFF Winner Best Feature Animation Screenplay          
ESCAPE FROM BIOLOGY                      
SCREENWRITER:  Joanne Watson
SYNOPSIS: When Oscar, a spider who can’t spin webs, tries to prove he is nonetheless hero material, he gets captured by a grade-nine biology teacher.  To escape dissection and to save his family, Oscar must do something no spider has done before: take on a human and win.

FINALIST!
TRASH                                             
SCREENWRITER: Timothy Armstrong
SYNOPSIS: A boy falls into a cavernous world beneath the city dump where he encounters strange thrown-away creatures that are plotting to blow up the town above that is debating about building a New Recycling Plant.

BEYOND THE RIVER
SCREENWRITER: Mark Sage
SYNOPSIS: If you had a love that could turn a small mole burrow into an amazing underground world and that love disappeared, would you go and search for it? When “Owl” disappears one night, the crestfallen “Mole” sets out in search of his lost love. Threatened by the “Congregation of Owls” and ridiculed by his own kind, Mole does the unthinkable by going “Beyond the River.” Traveling on instinct from a dream, he encounters unlikely allies, new friends, and never before seen dangers.

CHILLY WONTON WILLY
SCREENWRITER:  Dennis Fallon
SYNOPSIS: Chilly is the finest porcelain bowl ever made. However, he has forgotten who he is and how special he is as he bides his time at Schlomo’s Sit and Eat, a bustling old greasy spoon nestled under The Brooklyn Bridge. With the help of his friends – Schlomo’s other kitchen utensils (cutlery, pots and pans, dishes, even the George Foreman Grill), he attempts to overcome his fears and realize his true potential.

INSTRUMENTS
SCREENWRITERS: Jonathan Allmett, Adam Boyer
SYNOPSIS: In a world where instruments are every bit as alive as people and music is more precious than gold, Frangan, the asthmatic set of bagpipes, plots to ruin the sound of music forever. Only Victor, the violin, and his “band” of misfits have the power to stop him.

THE MESSENGERS (Canada)
SCREENWRITER: Julie Austin
SYNOPSIS: Someone must be chosen to go on a perilous journey of discovery. As two young birds overcome their terror, they materialize and connect with two children who become kindred spirits. Together they set out to discover and deal with the forces that put their world in peril. 

PEN DRAGON
SCREENWRITER: Christopher Canole
SYNOPSIS: What happens when a young high-school student receives a drawing kit once owned by Leonardo DaVinci?  Follow our hero, Leo, as he experiments with the drawing kit’s powers.  The power of the pen is apparent as it brings to life anything that he draws – but only for other people!  What Leo discovers is that the power of the pen is as uncontrollable as young King Arthur found when trying to wield the sword Excalibur.

SECRET ISLAND OF TORTUGA
SCREENWRITER: Patricia Rust
SYNOPSIS: A dog and a dolphin form an unlikely friendship and partnership when modern day pirates blow up the dog’s family’s research vessel. Accompanied by a young brother and sister who also need to learn to cooperate, the dog and dolphin embark on a perilous action-packed journey, overcoming all obstacles to seek safety and try to find their remaining family members.