Wolfwalkers, the new animated adventure from Kilkenny’s Cartoon Saloon, has won five prizes at the Annie Awards in the US, with the Irish company also honoured for its work on another production, There’s a Monster in my Kitchen.
A co-production with Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions, Wolfwalkers won the Best Direction Annie Award for its Irish filmmakers Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart and also took home Best Indie Feature, Voice Acting (Eva Whittaker), Production Design (María Pareja, Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore) and Character Design (Federico Pirovano).
There was another win for Cartoon Saloon in the Best Sponsored category for its collaboration with creative company Mother London on Greenpeace’s There’s a Monster in my Kitchen.
Pixar’s existential odyssey Soul was the biggest winner at the Annie Awards, winning Best Feature, Effects for Feature, Character Animation, Music, Storyboarding, Writing and Editorial.
Wolfwalkers has already won a slew of awards in the US, including from the American Film Institute’s AFI Fest and the National Board of Review. Both Wolfwalkers and Soul will compete for the Best Animated Feature Oscar at next weekend’s Academy Awards.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment last month, Wolfwalkers‘Ross Stewart said he and co-director Tomm Moore will continue exploring Irish myths and legends in their next film.
“We’ll keep it Irish,” he said. “Tomm and myself have always been interested in Irish folklore and I think the stories that I’ve been really interested in have been some of the old Irish myths and legends that have a darkness to them, this darker, macabre tone to them.”
“I think we’re seeing now that family-friendly animated films don’t have to be all sugar and sweetness and light,” he added. “They can have a darkness to them, because I think kids respond well to that.”