Search form

The 95th Academy Awards: Animation Nominees React

Oscar nominees named this morning for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short share their reactions.

Following this morning’s announcement of the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards (set for March 12), filmmakers involved with all 10 nominated animated films – for Best Animation Feature and Best Animated Short - have been writing and phoning in with their reactions.

Let’s have a look at how some of the industry’s leading artists are taking the great news…

Netflix’s Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

We are so grateful to the Academy and humbled to be honored alongside such other great nominees. The diversity of the year's animation is a reminder that it's a medium that can paint any type of story. We made this film to reaffirm what it means to be human and to share a fable about life, love, and loss. We thank all of our collaborators, our amazing cast, and dedicated family of crew & animators who have painstakingly given their all throughout the many years it took to bring our Pinocchio to life.

-- Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, directors

A24’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

I am deeply flattered and beside myself, and holy sh*t, just a pile on the floor. Thank you to the Academy for championing new voices and recognizing all our hard work over the last decade. This film is all about family and community, and this honor belongs most of all to the one that helped me make this film.

-- Dean Fleischer Camp, director

DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is about appreciating your life and the people you choose to spend it with.  To have our film nominated for an Oscar is a testament to the work of an enormously talented and passionate family of cast and crew that never stopped striving to tell the most heartfelt, poignant story possible and I truly appreciate each and every one of them.  Thank you so much to the members of the Academy for recognizing our work.  To be in the company alongside filmmakers that I hold in such high regard is truly humbling and a moment I'll treasure.

-- Joel Crawford, director

What a truly amazing honor for our cast and crew.  It's been over a decade since our fearless hero graced the big screen and over 400 dedicated people worked tirelessly with great care to make sure we got his story just right.  I’ve been lucky to work on animated movies for over 30 years and this film is incredibly special to me. It has been wonderful to see how it has connected with audiences in such a meaningful way.  I’m so proud of the team that brought this to the big screen and on behalf of them my heartfelt thanks to the Academy for nominating our film.

-- Mark Swift, producer

Netflix’s The Sea Beast

I'm especially grateful that The Sea Beast was nominated, given that it was an incredible year for animation.  There were so many great films that were nominated, and many more that easily could have been.

Our intrepid crew poured their hearts into this film and gave it everything they had.  They deserve this recognition, and I'm so proud of them."

-- Chris Williams, director

Disney/Pixar’s Turning Red

Thank you to the Academy for this incredible honor. While Turning Red is a very personal story, inspired by my life as a Chinese-Canadian tween struggling with the messiness of adolescence, it also represents a universal struggle of what it means to come into your own person. For me, that meant an entire feature film dedicated to figuring out my own relationship with my own mother - but making it relatable to everyone else. And though I realize not everyone out there is exactly like me, my hope is that people can realize that growing up is weird for EVERYBODY! So, I share this nomination with my entire cast and crew at Pixar, and with all the kids out there who are full of so much angst while finding their own way to being an adult - magical puberty not required!

-- Domee Shi, director

Apple TV+’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Director Charles Mackesy sent the following graphic note:

The National Film Board of Canada’s The Flying Sailor

We are absolutely blown away by this fabulous news and, like our sailor, we’re flying high! The National Film Board of Canada has our endless gratitude for their unwavering support, and for making films like ours possible in the first place. We share this honour with our stellar creative team, especially producer David Christensen and sound designer Luigi Allemano.

-- Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, directors

Congratulations to Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, to producer David Christensen and to the crew who helped bring The Flying Sailor to life. NFB excellence in animation goes back to pioneers Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart, and the tradition of innovation and experimentation they established. Today, we’re proud to be the creative home for visionary animators and storytellers from across the country and around the world.

-- Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson

COLA Animation’s Ice Merchants

Making Ice Merchants brought us so much joy; it was a safe harbour in the crazy times we all went through in these last few years and it gave us purpose as well as a sense of accomplishment that filled our hearts, a feeling that can only be rivalled by the amazing feedback we have been getting by its audience worldwide.  The short has now the distinct honor to be the first ever Portuguese film nominated for the Academy Awards, and our small independent cooperative, COLA Animation, couldn't be more humbled by this.

-- the entire team

My Year of Dicks

If just announcing our title can get that level of giggles (Thanks, Riz and Allison!), we can’t wait to see what’ll happen when you watch the film. We are so grateful for the nomination from our animation community, and for this chance to share such a personal story of awkward teenage wonder with a worldwide audience. Thank you, thank you.

-- the entire team

Thank you for all the love and support and joyous cheers that this nomination has brought to our film that celebrates young hearts and minds. My phone is basically a vibrator now. May it never stop.

-- Pamela Ribon, producer

Our film, My Year of Dicks, has been nominated for an Oscar!!! It's thrilling! I'm so proud of us all, every single artist that lent us their magic to this film. High five for teenage girls, young and old. Sincerely THANK YOU

-- Sara Gunnarsdóttir, director

My Year of Dicks got nominated for Best Animated Short! I’m so proud of our team. It has been such an incredible experience to work alongside Pam and Sara. Thanks to everyone that was a part of this and thank you to the Animation Showcase for all of your support. And thank you FX for letting us make this crazy film! We can’t wait to see what happens in the next stage.

-- Jeanette Jeannene, producer

An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

I was really blown away. It’s a miraculous achievement. I’m just super happy to be representing Australia in the animated shorts category.

-- Lachlan Pendragon, producer and director

Dan Sarto's picture

Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.