“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” has picked up another award on its march to the Oscars, nabbing the feature prize at the 50th Annie Awards, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, on Saturday evening.
In addition to being named the top film by the animation industry, “Pinocchio” led the winners’ list with five trophies overall, including the award for best direction for del Toro and fellow director Mark Gustafson. The stop-motion movie also picked up wins for music (Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, del Toro and Patrick McHale), production design (Curt Enderle and Guy Davis) and character design (Tucker Barrie).
Del Toro, who came directly from the PGA Awards where he received the trophy for producing ‘Pinocchio,’ was thrilled to win the Annie for direction alongside Gustafson. “Can I say this? I wanted the fucking Annie so much. It’s the most gorgeous thing in the world!” He noted that the Annies ceremony was the one place that he didn’t have to point out that animation is a medium and not a genre. “What I can say is about ‘Pinocchio’ is that it was done by artists, and the animators were treated like cast and not technicians.”
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” also a stop-motion film, followed closely, picking up the Annie for indie feature as well as two other awards. Jenny Slate won the voice acting prize for her performance as Marcel while Slate, Dean Fleischer Camp, Nick Paley and Elizabeth Holm won for feature writing.
Apple TV+ and BBC picked up four Annies for their animated short “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” including best special production and direction for a TV/media project. The 34-minute film was directed by Peter Baynton and Charlie Mackesy, the author of the book upon which the film was based. Tim Watts won for TV/media character design and Daniel Budin picked up a golden zoetrope for editorial TV/media.
Netflix’s animation anthology series “Love Death + Robots” took home four awards: best FX for TV/media (Kirby Miller, Igor Zanic, Joseph H. Coleman, Steven Dupuy and Josh Schwartz), character design for TV/media (Alberto Mielgo), writing for TV/media (Andrew Kevin Walker) and storyboarding for TV/media (Emily Dean).
“Avatar: The Way of Water” scored two wins, one for best FX-feature (Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicholas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian and Alex Nowotny) and one for character animation-live action (Daniel Barrett, Stuart Adcock, Todd Labonte, Douglas McHale and Stephen Cullingford).
“Oni: Thunder God’s Tale” also picked up two awards, one for TV/media limited series and production design for TV/media (Robert Kondo, Rachel Tiep-Daniels, Lia Tin, Yohei Hashizume and Masa Inada). Another double winner was “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” for storyboarding for a feature (Anthony Holden) and editorial for a feature (James Ryan, Jacquelyn Karambelas, Natalla Cronembold, Joe Butler and Katie Parody).
Other winners include “The Tiny Chef Show” for best TV/media-preschool, “Abominable and the Invisible City” for TV/media-children, “Bob’s Burgers” for TV/media-mature, “Ice Merchants” for short subject, “The Soloists” for student film, “Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course” for character animation/video game (Chad Moldenhauer and Hanna Abi-Hanna), Taylor Krahenbuhl for character design-feature for “The Bad Guys,” “The Cuphead Show” for music-TV/media (Ego Plum, Dave Wasson and Cosmo Segurson), and Maurice LaMarche for voice acting-TV/media, for his performance as Mr. Big in “Zootopia+.”
During the ceremony, held at UCLA’s Royce Hall, ASIFA-Hollywood celebrated its 50th year. Interspersed throughout the show were clips from the likes of Amy Poehler, Billy Crystal, Patton Oswalt, William Shatner, Josh Gad and Weird “Al” Yankovic congratulating the Annies on its 50th anniversary.
Writer-director and Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter, prolific TV series creator Craig McCracken and the late Evelyn Lambart, known for her short films, were each honored with the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime or career achievement.
In accepting his honor, McCracken thanked all the collaborators he’s worked with over the last 30 years. “Thank you for your talent. Thank you for your passion, for your time, for your inspiration, for your friendship and for helping turn these crazy ideas in my head into a reality.”
Disney CEO Robert Iger presented the Winsor McCay Award to Pete Docter. Iger called Docter “one of the greatest animation filmmakers of his generation. It’s hard to think of anyone who has left a bigger mark, both literally and figuratively, on animation over the past three decades.”
Docter reflected on his long career with Pixar, saying “This has put me in a strange state of mind because when I look back at the work I’ve done, I can’t quite figure out where it came from. I was there for every major decision (at Pixar), and yet, somehow, the work kind of has a life of its own. I don’t know if that is familiar to any of yo,u but it’s a strange effect. However it worked out, I’m very grateful that those ideas chose me.”
Author, historian and educator Mindy Johnson was given the June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the animation industry. The Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement went to Visual Effects Reference Platform, initially developed by Nick Cannon and Francois Chardavoine to eliminate incompatibilities between digital content creation software. The Certificate of Merit Award for service to the art and industry was presented to voice actor John Omohundro.
See the complete list of winners below.
FEATURE
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company
INDIE FEATURE
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC
SPECIAL PRODUCTION
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” NoneMore Productions and Bad Robot Productions
SHORT SUBJECT
“Ice Merchants,” COLA Animation production & Wild Stream
SPONSORED
“Save Ralph,” Arch Model Studio
TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL
“The Tiny Chef Show,” Episode: [Pancakes], Tiny Chef Productions LLC/Imagine Entertainment
TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN
“Abominable and the Invisible City,” Episode: [Everest Returns], DreamWorks Animation
TV/MEDIA – MATURE
“Bob’s Burgers,” Episode: [Some Like It Bot Part 1: Eighth Grade Runner], 20th Television/Bento Box Entertainment
TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES
“Oni: Thunder God’s Tale,” Episode: [The Demon Moon Rises], A Netflix Series/A Tonko House Production
STUDENT FILM
“The Soloists,” Student director: Mehrnaz Abdollahinia, Feben Elias Woldehawariat, Razahk Issaka, Celeste Jamneck & Yi Liu, School: Gobelins, l’école de l’image
FX – TV/MEDIA
“Love Death + Robots,” Episode: [Bad Traveling], Blur Studio for Netflix, FX Production Company: Blur Studio; Kirby Miller, Igor Zanic, Joseph H. Coleman, Steven Dupuy, Josh Schwartz
FX – FEATURE
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” 20th Century Studios/Disney Studios, FX Production Company: Weta FX; Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicholas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian, Alex Nowotny
CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Episode: [special production], NoneMore
CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Tucker Barrie
CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Production Company: 20th Century Studios/Disney Studios, FX Production Company: Weta FX; Daniel Barrett, Stuart Adcock, Todd Labonte, Douglas McHale, Stephen Cullingford
CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME
“Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course,” Weta Studio MDHR; Chad Moldenhauer, Hanna Abi-Hanna
CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
“Love Death + Robots,” Episode: [Jibaro], Blur Studio for Netflix; Alberto Mielgo
CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE
“The Bad Guys,” DreamWorks Animation; Taylor Krahenbuhl
DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Episode: [special production], NoneMore Productions and Bad Robot Productions; Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy
DIRECTION – FEATURE
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Guillermo Del Toro, Mark Gustafson
MUSIC – TV/MEDIA
“The Cuphead Show!,” Episode: [Carn-Evil], Netflix Animation; Ego Plum
MUSIC – FEATURE
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale
PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
“Oni: Thunder God’s Tale,” Episode: [The Demon Moon Rises], A Netflix Series/A Tonko House Production; Robert Kondo, Rachel Tiep-Daniels, Lia Tin, Yohei Hashizume, Masa Inada
PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Curt Enderle, Guy Davis
STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA
“Love Death + Robots,” Episode: [The Very Pulse of the Machine], Blur Studio for Netflix; Emily Dean
STORYBOARDING – FEATURE
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation; Anthony Holden
VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA
“Zootopia+,” Episode: [The Godfather of the Bride], Walt Disney Animation Studios; Maurice LaMarche (Character: Mr.Big)
VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC; Jenny Slate (character: Marcel)
WRITING – TV/MEDIA
“Love Death + Robots,” Episode: [Bad Traveling], Blur Studio for Netflix; Andrew Kevin Walker
WRITING – FEATURE
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC; Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley, Elisabeth Holm
EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Episode: [special production], NoneMore Productions and Bad Robot Productions; Daniel Budin
EDITORIAL – FEATURE
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation; James Ryan, ACE, Jacquelyn Karambelas, Natalla Cronembold, Joe Butler, Katie Parody
