The big corporate studios may have a lock on Academy Awards for best animated features, but in recent years we can usually count on the award for best animated short to go to a strapping independent feature. ASIFA-SF member Eihway Su wonders is the voters haven’t taken it a step further: With this year’s curmudgeonly winner The Lost Thing (Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann) and last year’s vicious corporate critique Logorama (H5, Autour de Minuit Productions – Nicolas Schmerkin) maybe people are appreciating creative, thoughtful animation over the cutesy, easy-to-digest animations that get corporate funding. Any thoughts?
Well, the days when Hanna-Barbera could win seven Oscars for remaking the same Tom and Jerry short may be behind us, but it’s only been 9 years since a pandering piece of you-know-what could win the award (see 2002’s The Chubb Chubbs.) So I guess it’s better now—how long can the streak last?
It might be prudent to reward *some* artful creations from time to time … perhaps the powers-that-be can gain some credibility by tossing some bones to integrity by the short film and documentary creators, while buttering up the big money in their awards to the biggest blockbusters in the main feature categories. I’m glad to see “The Lost Thing” win. With all due respect to the excellent work displayed by the other contenders, their market-friendly concepts will likely attract backing regardless of where they place in the awards.
The Oscars have often honored indie work for the last 20 years or so, which validates the Oscar is some respects. Day & Night was made by a big company and The Grufalo a medium sized company. The Lost Thing is connected to Passion Pictures a medium sized company. Madagascar, a Journey Diary felt like an indie production but the creators are connected to a company called Sacrebleu Productions. The Bay Area’s own Geefwee Boedoe created Let’s Pollute by himself.
I don’t mind Pixar or Disney winning if they create a truly original film, but those usually come from the indies.