The Judges
We’d like to introduce our exceptional panel of four judges. This committee of professionals from the animated film industry reflects the strength of animation in Quebec.
Picture: Peter Putz
Pierre Hébert has been pursuing a career as a filmmaker and visual artist for more than sixty years. He specializes in film etching and live animation performances in front of an audience. His work is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach that blends various art forms, such as poetry, writing, painting, music, and dance. His films are distinguished by their experimental nature, their social and political commitment, and their formal boldness. His work has been shown all over the world; he has won prestigious awards and received numerous honors, including the Cristal d’honneur for sixty years of innovation in animated film, awarded by the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (2024).
We recommend the excellent documentary Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert by Loïc Darses.
To watch his films produced by the NFB, click here.
Janice Nadeau is a professor at the École de design at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where she teaches drawing and illustration. Janice is an artist who specializes in drawing, illustration, and animated film. She has illustrated more than a dozen books—including Un herbier de Montréal (2017) and HARVEY (2008)—and has won the prestigious Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature (Illustration) three times (2004, 2008, 2009). She has also co-directed and directed three animated films (HARVEY 2023, Mamie 2016, “No Fish Where to Go” 2014), which were selected for the official competition at more than 130 international film festivals and have won more than 17 awards and honors.
To watch Janice Nadeau’s films, click here.
Patrick Bouchard is originally from Saguenay and works in Montreal. He has been using stop-motion animation since 1999 to tell unsettling stories that explore the meaning of human life and its absurdities. Recognized as one of the masters of this technique, Patrick has won 16 awards and nominations for the five films he directed at the NFB. The Anim sur le Lac festival presented a retrospective of his work in 2025.
To watch Patrick Bouchard’s films, click here.
Mélanie Saint-Germain lives and works in Lac-Saint-Jean. A multidisciplinary artist, she specializes in animated film. She is committed to addressing taboo and socially conscious topics in her films, which she tackles with sensitivity and without inhibition. Her first film, ELLES (2021), was screened in 11 countries and selected for 20 film festivals. In 2023, in partnership with Télé-Québec, she created the animated web series Bon…, which humorously explains a wide range of topics, including the pro-choice movement, rape culture, and the female orgasm. In 2026, she released the documentary film Au cœur du Remous, which combines live-action footage and animation. She is currently working on her animated short film Les Femmes Savent Danser, in which she gives a voice to 14 women who have been victims of psychological, physical, or sexual abuse.
Prices
During the second edition of Anim sur le Lac, animation filmmakers have the chance to win five high-quality prizes. These awards are made possible by the generosity of our partners, who believe in us and in animated film.
The praxi-trophées are created by Éric Villeneuve.
