On October 4, the Khabarovsk International Animation Film Festival “Animur” announced its 2026 award winners. Hi, Lucky!, a work by Huang Ritong, Huang Huiyue, Chen Kaiting, and Wang Xiangying—undergraduate Animation students, Class of 2020, at CUC’s School of Animation and Digital Arts—won the Grand Prix. Interviewphobia, by Chen Yihan, Zou Yicen, Xie Yingying, and Liao Xinyu, undergraduate Animation students, Class of 2021, won the Best Director Award.
Screenshot of the award list on the official website of the Khabarovsk International Animation Film Festival
Hi, Lucky! is the undergraduate thesis project of Huang Ritong, Huang Huiyue, Chen Kaiting, and Wang Xiangying, supervised by faculty member Duan Wenkai. It tells the story of a young man who has lost his joy in life; after rescuing a puppy trapped in a garbage bag, he is healed by the puppy’s warm and endearing ways and decides to adopt it and start a new life.
Award certificate for Hi, Lucky!
Poster for Hi, Lucky!
Interviewphobia is a collaborative course project by Chen Yihan, Zou Yicen, Xie Yingying, and Liao Xinyu, supervised jointly by faculty members Liu Dayu and Gao Weihua. It follows a young woman who encounters a series of absurd setbacks in job interviews, before finally adjusting her mindset and facing her anxiety head-on.
Award certificate for Interviewphobia
Poster for Interviewphobia
The Khabarovsk International Animation Film Festival is a well-known animation event in the Russian Far East. It aims to provide a gathering and exchange platform for audiences, creators, experts, and animation industry representatives from Russia, the Asia-Pacific, and Southeast Asia, and serves as a window for Russian animation into Asia. In 2026, the festival received 2,970 entries from 111 countries worldwide, with only 14 works winning awards; the Grand Prix is the festival’s highest honor.
The awards for Hi, Lucky! and Interviewphobia are another outcome of the School of Animation and Digital Arts’ long-standing educational philosophy of “promoting teaching through creation and learning through competition.” They reflect CUC’s comprehensive strength in training animation talent and further enhance the university’s visibility and influence in international animation education and industry.
This article was translated with AI assistance.
Editor:Li Jalu
