Today the Annie Awards nominations were announced. These Awards recognize the best in the field of animation and have been given by the Animated Film Association since 1972 with this year’s edition will marking their 50th Anniversary.
The films leading the nominations this year have in common that they are animated through the stop-motion technique. The acclaimed Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, produced by Netflix, has been nominated for 9 awards including Best Feature and Best Director. On the other hand, the independent feature Marcel The Shell with Shoes, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, is also nominated for best director and has 8 nominations for the awards. The feature is a hybrid film that mixes stop-motion animation and live-action, produced by A24. Another strong contender this year is Pixar’s Turning Red, despite not having a theater release, the feature has been nominated for 7 awards.
The Annie Awards’ categories are variated and recognize diversity among animation, which is not seen often in other awards. The categories include Feature films, short films, student films, TV, video games, and music videos. This year they created a new category named Best TV/Media Limited Series where the nominees are: Baymax!, El Deafo, HouseBroken, Oni: Thunder God’s Tale, and Undone.
The Annie Awards have a separate category for independent features where Marcel The Shell With Shoes On will compete against Charlotte, Inu-Oh, Happy As Can Be, and My Father’s Dragon. The films in this category are variated in style and include productions from different countries such as Canada, France, and Japan.
As for the Best Feature category, Netflix has nominated three productions: Pinocchio, The Sea Beast, and Wendell & Wild. Turning Red and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is also competing in this category.
The ceremony will be held on February 25 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
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