Animated Thoughts: The 47th Annie Awards

Well, the 47th Annie Awards ceremony has come and gone. Time for the yearly "random thoughts" I had during the broadcast:

• Opened by honoring Richard Williams. Nice. Very touching words from his daughters and colleague.
• I immediately put Shadowmachine's Kaiju Confidential on my list of animations to track down and watch.
• "Saving the polar bears" in... Antarctica... Um... whut?
• Please God, let Fox and the Pigeon win Best Student Film!
• YES!!!!! Congrats to Michelle Chua for such a beautiful film. One of my favorites from Ottawa the other year.
• Best Short Subject... Hrm. Haven't seen 'Uncle Thomas' yet. Was hoping that Acid Rain would win -- though I reserve the right to change my opinion once I see the others in that category.
• Hi Jerry! :)
• Oh please, Love, Death, and Robots (The Witness) is nominated for Best Production Design - TV/Media!!! Let an adult-themed animation win...
• Heh, the Clutch Cargo gag was pretty clever. Loved the mini history lesson.
• Love Death And Robots (Sonnie's Edge) wins again! This time in the category of Music TV Media. A great night for adult animation!
• Loved Charles Solomon's part on early CG animation honoring Dr. James Blinn with the Ub Iwerks award. Dr. Blinn sounded like a fascinating man. Wonder if there's a Ted talk or podcast out there with him.
• Oh please, let The Secret War win Best FX TV/Media... that would be just awesome!
• And another win for Love Death and Robots. This has got to be my favorite Annie Award ceremony ever!
• And the award for Editorial TV/Media goes to... Love Death and Robots (Alternate Histories)!
• Henry Selick wins the Winsor McCay award, and is well deserved. Would love to hang out with him at the OIAF picnic and listen to him tell stories about his career.
• Satoshi Kon posthumously awarded the Winsor McCay award. Very well deserved. A life and a career that ended far too soon.
• Y'know, as much as I like Patrick Warburton (we love you Brock Sampson), I'm really enjoying this new format where there are fewer monologues and they 'appear' to have given more time to the award recipients' speeches.
• Hrm... The Hospital by Amazon Studios... looks interesting. Time to take advantage of that Amazon Prime subscription.
• Love, Death & Robots missed out on the Best Storyboarding for T.V./Media award. Would have loved a full sweep but happy that they won at least four of the five categories they were nominated in.
• Kind of wished I'd watched I Lost My Body at Ottawa... honestly glad it won the award. Going to have to re-up my Netflix subscription and track it down.
• Lotta love for Netflix this year!

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. See you next year! :)

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Animated Events: 2020 Academy Awards Nominees

oscars.org

This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards.

The following are the films nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short Film. 

Best Animated Feature:

• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis, and Bonnie Arnold
• I Lost My Body - Jeremy Clapin and Marc Du Pontavice
• Klaus - Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh, and Marisa Roman
• Missing Link - Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner, and Travis Knight
• Toy Story 4 - Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen, and Jonas Rivera

Best Animated Short:

• Dcera (Daughter) - Daria Kascheeva
• Hair Love - Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
• Kitbull - Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
• Memorable - Bruno Collet and Jean-Francois le Corre
• Sister - Siqi Song

Additionally, the following two animated feature films had nominations in the category of Music (Original Song):

• 'I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away' from Toy Story 4; Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• 'Into The Unknown' from Frozen II; Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

As always, for those who would like to see these short films before the awards ceremony, they will be playing at the Detroit Institute of Arts' Detroit Film Theater in January and February.

The schedule from the DIA's website is as follows:

• Friday, January 31, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Saturday, February 1, 2020 - 2:00 PM
• Saturday, February 1, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Sunday, February 2, 2020 - 1:00 PM
• Sunday, February 2, 2020 - 6:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 5, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Friday, February 7, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Saturday, February 8, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Sunday, February 9, 2020 - 1:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Thursday, February 13, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Friday, February 14, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Saturday, February 15, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Sunday, February 16, 2020 - 1:00 PM

The Academy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, February 9, 2020.

Congratulations to all the nominees and to all the filmmakers who submitted their films for consideration.

* The Academy Awards and the Oscar are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Animated Events: 47th Annie Awards

On Saturday, January 25th at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST), ASIFA Hollywood will be streaming the annual Annie Awards, a celebration of the best our industry has to offer.

Both the Production and Individual Achievement categories are listed on the Nominees page, however some highlights are below:

Best Animated Feature

• Frozen 2 - Walt Disney Animation Studios
• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - DreamWorks Animation
• Klaus - Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
• Missing Link - LAIKA, LLC
• Toy Story 4 - Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Feature - Independent

• Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles - Sygnatia, Glow, Submarine, Hampa Animation Studio
• I Lost My Body - Xilam for Netflix
• Okko's Inn - Madhouse
• Promare - TRIGGER, XFLAG
• Weathering With You - Toho Co., LTD. / STORY Inc. / CoMix Wave Films

Best Animated Short Subject

• Acid Rain - Animoon
• DONT KNOW WHAT - Thomas Renoldner
• Je sors acheter des cigarettes - Miyu Productions
• Purpleboy - Bando à Parte, Rainbox Productions, Ambiances… asbl, Luna Blue Film
• Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days - Ciclope Filmes, National Film Board of Canada, Les Armateurs

In addition to the Production and Individual Achievement awards, they'll also be presenting the Juried Awards for the following:

• the Winsor McCay Award - 'for their career contributions to the art of animation',
• the Ub Iwerks Award - 'for technical advancement in the art of animation',
• the Special Achievement Award,
• the June Foray Award - 'for their significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation', and
• the Certificate of Merit.

You can watch the 47th Annie Awards ceremony live right 'here' on the Annie Awards website.

Congratulations to all the nominees!