Oscar Nominees for Animation

Oscar Nominees for Animation

January 13th, 2020

Jerry Beck

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that nominations for its 92st Annual Academy Awards. The biggest surprise: Frozen 2 was shut out in the Best Animated Feature category – but was nominated for Best Song. The 5 films nominated for Best Animated Feature are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their directors:

Best Animated Feature nominees are:

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD – Dreamworks (Universal) – Director: Dean DeBlois

I LOST MY BODY – Netflix – Director Jeremy Clapin

KLAUS – Netflix – Director: Sergio Pablos.

MISSING LINK – Laika Studios – Director: Chris Butler

TOY STORY 4 – Pixar (Disney) – Director: Josh Cooley

Best Animated Short nominees are:

DCERA – Director: Daria Kashcheeva

HAIR LOVE – Directors: Matthew A. Cherry, Everett Downing Jr., Bruce W. Smith

KITBULL – Director: Rosana Sullivan

MEMMORABLE – Director: Bruno Collet

SISTER – Director: Siqi Song

“Hair Love”

In addition, we note that THE LION KING was nominated for Best Visual Effects – and in the category of BEST SONG, “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman, and “Into The Unknown” from Frozen II, Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, were nominated.

What is your opinion of the nominees? What was snubbed – and what else should have made the cut?

Reactions from Filmmakers:

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD

“Great news for the Dragon cast and crew! The Academy has been very kind to us over the past decade, honoring us with nominations for each installment of our trilogy. It’s been a labor of love and we greatly appreciate the acknowledgment.”

– Dean DeBlois, Writer / Director

“We are immensely proud and honored to receive this nomination from The Academy. The story of Hiccup and Toothless has been a story of a life-changing friendship and a world that so many artists have brought their heart and immense talents to. We congratulate our fellow nominees and all who have given so much in the making of Dragon.”

– Bonnie Arnold, Producer

“I’m excited, honored, and so thankful to the Academy to be nominated and so proud and happy for our amazing crew that put every ounce of their energy into this film, and a cast that brought such memorable performances to life.”

– Brad Lewis, Producer

I LOST MY BODY

“What a dream come true for myself and the whole crew! Who would have thought that an adult animated film, a bit weird and melancholic, about a severed hand and titled ‘I Lost My Body’ could one day be Oscar nominated? It’s proof that a film made with limited funds and not playing by the usual rules can still achieve the highest artistic recognition. What an honor! Thank you to Guillaume Laurant who wrote the book this film is based on. Thank you to my producer Marc du Pontavice who never ceased to believe in me. Thank you to my voice cast, my composer Dan Levy and the whole crew at Xilam Studio.”

JEREMY CLAPIN (DIRECTOR/WRITER), NOMINEE – I LOST MY BODY, BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

“I feel extremely proud and grateful for this nomination. Proud because this is celebrating an immense effort to cross the boundaries that are usually assigned to animation, to claim the right to draw adult stories that are complex and demanding. And grateful to the academy for demonstrating its love for diversity. It’s never been so urgent that the heart of the world entertainment industry encourages different voices, different art of storytelling. My admiration and thanks goes to the brilliant vision of film director Jeremy Clapin and to the talent and devotion of the artists at Xilam Animation Studio.”

MARC DU PONTAVICE (PRODUCER), NOMINEE – I LOST MY BODY, BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

KLAUS

“We are extremely honored to be nominated for an Oscar. Many thanks to the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science. Klaus would not be here without our relentless crew of 260-plus talented artists and technicians representing 22 countries, and of course without ATRESMedia and Netflix, who believed in our vision to take traditional animation forward. We hope others will continue to innovate and diversify the animation medium.”

SERGIO PABLOS (DIRECTOR/WRITER), JINKO GOTOH & MARISA ROMAN (PRODUCER) NOMINEE – KLAUS, BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

HAIR LOVE

“We are so very grateful to The Academy for this recognition. We set out on this journey to tell the story of a young black father whose love for his daughter takes him into uncharted territory – doing her hair for the first time. The story was incredibly personal to us because it allowed us to tackle the negative societal stereotypes around natural hair and black fathers, and to normalize the depiction of a loving black family that we know so well and yet have seen so little of in media. We are grateful for the overwhelming reception. It’s a testament to how much representation matters and how it can empower all of us to see ourselves in a more positive light. We humbly thank Sony Pictures Animation and everyone who played a part in getting HAIR LOVE out to the world.”

— Matthew A. Cherry, director, and Karen Rupert Toliver, producer, HAIR LOVE

SISTER

“SISTER is a very special and personal film for me. When I started to make this film, I simply wanted to make a film to reflect on my childhood and tell the story of our generation that nobody has ever told before, never really thinking about how the film would eventually be received. It has been a fantastic journey to create SISTER and to see her being embraced by audiences around the world. And today I’m extremely grateful to see SISTER being nominated for an Oscar among this group of amazing films! I want to share the joy with my CalArts mentors and student volunteers who helped on the production, I could not have created this film without their guidance and support. And thank you to the Academy for this nomination, it means the world to us! When I left China six years ago to pursue my dream as a filmmaker, my parents told me: “ Go explore the world.” They probably didn’t see this coming.”

– Siqi Song, Writer/Director, “Sister”

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.