Walt Disney Animation’s “Frozen” took top honors as Best Animated Feature at the 41st Annual Annie Awards held Saturday, February 1, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Often a predictor of the annual Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Annie Awards honor overall excellence as well as individual achievement in a total of 30 categories ranging from best feature, production design, character animation, and effects animation to storyboarding, writing, music, editing and voice acting.
The Best Animated Special Production was awarded to “Chipotle Scarecrow” (Chipotle Creative Department, Moonbot Studios); Best Animated Short Subject was “Get A Horse!” (Walt Disney Animation Studios); Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial was ‘Despicable Me 2’ (Cinemark-Illumination Entertainment/Universal); Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children distinction was earned by “Disney Sofia the First” (Disney Television Animation); Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Children’s Audience was “Adventure Time” (Cartoon Network Studios); the Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production honor went to “Futurama” (20th Century Fox Television); Best Animated Video Game was “The Last of Us” (Naughty Dog); and Best Student Film was ‘Wedding Cake’ (Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg – Viola Baier, Iris Frisch).
Honored with the Winsor McCay award were Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg, who made his video acceptance, and Phil Tippett. The Winsor McCay stands as one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry in recognition for career contributions to the art of animation.
Alice Davis was honored with the June Foray award for her significant and benevolent contributions to the art and industry of animation; Dragonframe received the Ub Iwerks award for technical advancements that made a significant impact on the art or industry of animation; and the Special Achievement award was presented to the CTN Animation eXpo. The Certificate of Merit award was presented to the documentary “I Know That Voice.”
Here’s a full rundown of Annie Award winners:
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More