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:
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More