The Black-led, existential fantasy “Soul” took best feature, writing (Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers), music (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste), character animation, FX, storyboarding, and editorial. The hand-drawn Irish folk tale “Wolfwalkers” (co-produced by Apple Original Films) countered with best indie feature, direction (Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart), production design, character design, and voice acting (Eva Whittaker as Mebh). Before sweeping the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and PGAs, “Soul” was already in a good position to win the Oscar. Now, after winning the top Annie prize, “Soul” is in a very comfortable position, with six of the last nine Annie winners agreeing with the Academy. This would mark Pixar’s 11th Oscar win for animated feature, and Docter’s third, (following “Up” and “Inside Out”). However, as Pixar’s chief creative officer, Docter will step away from directing to guide the next generation of animators and directors at the studio with the same stylistic boldness and personal vision that he’s displayed in his movies.
Other Annie awards went to Disney’s “The Mandalorian” (live action character animation); Bastien Dubois’ “Souvenir Souvenir” (best short) about a filmmaker struggling to make a movie about his grandfather’s Algerian war souvenirs; and Max Lang and Daniel Snaddon’s “The Snail and the Whale” (special production) about making a difference no matter how small you are, which captured special production. AppleTV, GKIDS The Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation are being presented to Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera animation designer Willie Ito; posthumously to Sue Nichols, one of the few women who had a voice in the development of such Disney classics as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Mulan,” and “Brave”; and Bruce Smith, the influential character animator, director, and producer (the Oscar winning “Hair Love” and “The Proud Family”). The June Foray Award will be awarded to animator and art director Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi for his work initiating the Totoro Forest Project as well as Sketchtravel, a sketchbook passed from one artist to another through 12 countries throughout four years.
The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement will be presented to Epic Games for its Unreal game engine. The Special Achievement Award will be presented to “Howard,” the documentary about the late musical genius, Howard Ashman (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Aladdin”). BEST FEATURE “Soul” Pixar Animation Studios BEST INDIE FEATURE “Wolfwalkers” Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION “The Snail and the Whale” Magic Light Pictures BEST SHORT SUBJECT “Souvenir Souvenir” Blast Production BEST SPONSORED “There’s a Monster in My Kitchen” Cartoon Saloon, Mother BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL “The Adventures of Paddington” Episode: Paddington Digs a Tunnel to Peru Blue-Zoo Animation Studio and Nickelodeon Animation Studio BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN “Hilda” Episode: Chapter 9: The Deerfox Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks BEST TV/MEDIA – GENERAL AUDIENCE “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal” Episode: Coven Of The Damned Cartoon Network Studios BEST STUDENT FILM “La Bestia” School: Gobelins, l’école de l’image Student directors: Marlijn Van Nuenen, Ram Tamez, Alfredo Gerard Kuttikatt BEST FX FOR TV/MEDIA “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” Episode: Welcome to Jurassic World Production Company: DreamWorks Animation FX Production Company: Dreamworks Animation and CGCG Inc. Emad Khalili, Ivan Wang, Chris Wombold, Kyle Goertz, Kathy D. Tran BEST FX FOR FEATURE “Soul” Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios FX Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios Tolga Göktekin, Carl Kaphan, Hiroaki Narita, Enrique Vila, Kylie Wijsmuller BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA “Hilda” Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks David Laliberté BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE “Soul” Pixar Animation Studios Michal Makarewicz BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION “The Mandalorian” Production Company: Lucasfilm FX Production Company: Image Engine Nathan Fitzgerald, Leo Ito, Chris Rogers, Eung Ho Lo, Emily Luk BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME “Marvels Spider-Man Miles Morales” Insomniac Games Brian Wyser, Michael Yosh, Danny Garnett, David Hancock BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA “Amphibia” Episode: The Shut-In! Disney TV Animation Joe Sparrow BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE “Wolfwalkers” Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS Federico Pirovano BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal” Episode: Plague Of Madness Cartoon Network Studios Genndy Tartakovsky BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE “Wolfwalkers” Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Episode: Victory and Death Lucasfilm Animation Kevin Kiner BEST MUSIC – FEATURE “Soul” Pixar Animation Studios Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA “Shooom’s Odyssey” Picolo Pictures Julien Bisaro
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE “Wolfwalkers” Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS María Pareja, Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA “Looney Tunes Cartoons” Episode: Big League Beast / Firehouse Frenzy Warner Bros. Animation Andrew Dickman BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE “Soul” Pixar Animation Studios Trevor Jimenez BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA “Tales of Arcadia: Wizards” Episode: Our Final Act DreamWorks Animation David Bradley (Merlin) BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE “Wolfwalkers” Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS Eva Whittaker (Mebh Óg MacTíre) BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA “Big Mouth” Episode: The New Me Netflix Andrew Goldberg, Patti Harrison BEST WRITING – FEATURE “Soul” Pixar Animation Studios Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA “Hilda” Episode: Chapter 9: The Deerfox Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks John McKinnon BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE “Soul” Pixar Animation Studios Kevin Nolting, Gregory Amundson, Robert Grahamjones, Amera Rizk Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
