A BOURNEMOUTH University student has scooped a top prize at an animation festival in Miami.

Leo Crane, who graduated with a distinction from the MA 3D Computer Animation course, won the accolade at industry conference the MIA Animation Festival, for the best student film, for his project The Library, which was created for his final Master’s project.

Among those who gave masterclasses at the festival, and made up the judges – were animators who had worked on films ranging from Disney’s The Little Mermaid to Mar-vel’s recent Avengers film.

Leo, 32, managed to attend the festival, which took place in South Beach, Miami, last month.

He said: “It was great to win and totally unexpected, as there were a couple of other films which were much more technically proficient that mine was, and films that had been made by teams of people when I created mine on my own.

“I spoke to the jury and they said it was more about storytelling and narrative, and the characters that I created.

“All of the speakers at the conference are senior people from the industry, so I made some amazing contacts.”

The Library, which Leo, who lives in London, created in around 10 weeks, is based in private member’s library London Library and features two characters – Theo and Annie – who are sitting opposite each other doing research into Renaissance Italian art.

He received a graphic tablet as a prize, and is now using that to work on his second film, which will build on The Library.