Following on from their recent Golden Globe & Oscar nominations, Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner picked up another award at the 45th Annie Awards on Saturday 3rd February. The Irish animation, which was directed by Nora Twomey and executive produced by Angelina Jolie was awarded ‘Best Animated Feature – Independent’. The award marks the first time a solo female director has won in this category.
Brown Bag Films’ Octonauts was also awarded an Annie for – ‘Best Animated Television Production of Preschool Children’. The show has been nominated for a BAFTA and an International EMMY award, as well as winning an IFTA.
Octonauts is directed by Darragh O’Connell, produced by Gillian Higgins and Karen Lalacci, Executive produced by Cathal Gaffney, Kurt Mueller, Michael Murphy, Vicki Wong, Darragh O’Connell, and Stephanie Simpson. Art directors on the show are Stephen Robinson and Stephan O’Connor, animation director is Nicky Phelan and Declan Doyle. CG supervisor is James Stacey, music by Darren Hendley, and the show is written by Stephanie Simpson.
The Breadwinner, which is Cartoon Saloon’s third Oscar nominated feature film follows Parvana, a girl growing up in Afghanistan in 2001. Following her father’s arrest, she dresses as a boy in order to work and provide for her family. Together with her best friend Shauzia, she risks discovery to try to find out if her father is still alive.
The film was produced by Anthony Leo (‘What’s up Warthogs!’), Tomm Moore (‘Song of the Sea’) and Paul Young (‘Puffin Rock’). Executive producers are Angelina Jolie, Mimi Polk Gitlin, Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim and Gerry Shirren.
The Lesser Blessed writer/director Anita Doron co-wrote the screenplay with Deborah Ellis, based on Ellis’ own novel of the same name, which was published in 2000.
The Academy Awards will take place on March 4th, with Cartoon Saloon and Pixar’s film Coco set to challenge for the ‘Best Animated Feature’ Award.
Source: IFTN news & IFB news.