What goes around in the Animation world will now be witnessed in the race for competition as illustrious Annie Awards are around the corner. And the race has become even tougher as The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations for its 43rd Annual Annie Awards.
This year there are 36 categories including a new category for Best Animated Feature-Independent. And, the winners will be announced at a ceremony on Saturday, 6 February, 2016 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
The Best Animated Feature nominees are Anomalisa, Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep Movie, The Good Dinosaur and The Peanuts Movie. So, Pixar may face some serious competition both by external features and also its own production as well. While, Aardman Animation’s Shaun the Sheep will have a hard time as Anomalisa and The Peanuts Movie have garnered several accolades in the course of time.
While the debut of the newly added category, the Best Animated Feature-Independent, includes nominees like Boy and the World, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, The Boy and The Beast, and When Marnie Was There. These features, though not backed by the big players in the animation industry, have showcased commendable creativity and crisp entertainment with the immense scripts, characters and animation on the whole. Annie Awards has added this category to appreciate this independent talent and encourage such endeavours in the future.
Another creative category which has seen some splendid work is the Best Animated Short Subject. The nominees for this are Carface, If I was God, On Ice, Dissonance, World of Tomorrow and Sanjay’s Super Team. These short films have had the power to captivate the audience in a short span of time and deliver a great zeal of entertainment. Moreover, the two shorts Carface and If I was God from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will also pose serious competition to Disney Pixar’s Sanjay’s Super Team which has delighted viewers across ages.
Also, there are other creative categories that recognise the innovations in the field of animation and provide a platform for fresh talent. These special categories and their nominations are declared on the official website of Annie Awards.
The Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature for the past four decades. And, the upcoming 43rd Annual Annie Awards aims to raise the stature by recognising and displaying spellbound work. So, let us wait for the dawn of the black tie ceremony on 6 February to witness who bags the eminence and what has the animation industry gained this year.
