Oscar winner Kunio Kato poses with Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway.

For Kunio Kato, the Oscars were a whirlwind experience. Here are some exclusive pics from his big night.

Every year the day before the big event offers two annual events that allow the nominees to take a chance to relax with fellow members of the animation community. Check out this year's pics.

Olivier Delabarre (c) enjoys a piece of cake with fellow Oktapodi directors Francois-Xavier Chanioux (r) and Thierry Marchand.

Each year Acme Filmworks and AWN host a party, bringing the animation community together to meet the nominees. This year it was an intimate affair at tour host Ron Diamond's home. Check out the festivities.

A group shot in front of the doors of Sony.

Sony was the second stop on the L.A. leg of the Oscar Showcase tour this year. See the day in pics.

This Way Up's producer Charlotte Bavasso, writer/producer Chris O’Reilly, director Adam Foulkes, and director Alan Smith.

One of the highlights of the tour is always the public screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. This year the Academy not only hosted a night highlighting the shorts, but also the animated features. Check out the pics for both events.

The Oktapodi crew poses for a pic with their fan, legendary animator Eric Goldberg.

The tour's stop at Disney has an exciting day. This gallery shares some of the highlights.

Boba Fett and Darth Vader join the filmmakers in the ILM lobby for a photo op.

ILM had a photographer follow the Oscar tour around their facilities and we'd like to share some of the great pics.

I was lucky enough to be included in part of the Oscar Showcase tour this year. Every year the nominees for animated short films are given a tour and luncheon at some of the animation studios here in the Los Angeles area. The organizer of these celebrations, Ron Diamond, invited me to join them at DreamWorks on the last day of the tour. Ron and I are on the Executive Committee of the Short Films/Animation Branch of the Academy, and see scores of animated shorts every year. There is always a wide range of styles and ideas presented in various mediums. It’s always interesting to see which ones will make the final cut for the Oscar nominations. This year the field was exceptionally strong, with every film being quite unique and different from the rest. Meeting the filmmakers and hearing about their thought process and methods of getting it on the screen was extremely interesting and inspiring.

The tour members are welcomed to PDI by Eric Darnell and Gail Curry and some champagne.

Check a few shots from the stop at PDI/DreamWorks in Northern California.

Kunio Kato (l) with Robot Communications Taki Tsuyoshi.

Congratulations to Oscar winner Kunio Kato, as well as everyone at Robot Communications, especially Taki Tsuyoshi. I’d also like to congratulate all the nominees on their wonderful films. Even though I only had a chance to follow the filmmakers on the L.A. leg this year, I believe the overall tour was again a success.