Surprises in the Oscar animation categories are not unheard of, but tonight’s outcomes were truly unprecedented. Both the feature and short animation awards were claimed by small films that lacked the backing of substantial budgets, star power, or industry clout.
Groundbreaking Wins
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature went to Gints Zilbalodis’ dialogue-free Flow. Despite receiving numerous accolades throughout the awards season, this Latvia/France/Belgium co-production was still considered an underdog against heavyweight contenders like DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out 2, and Aardman Animation’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
Key Highlights from the Award:
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- Young Talent: At just 30 years old, Gints Zilbalodis is the youngest director to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
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- European Milestone: Flow is the first film fully produced and funded in Europe to take home the feature animation Oscar.
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- Dialogue-Free Achievement: Flow is also the first dialogue-less film to win this prestigious award.
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- Budget Breakthrough: With a production cost of under $4 million, it is the lowest-budget film ever to win in this category.
A Surprising Short
Equally astonishing was the winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short: the Iranian film In the Shadow of the Cypress, directed by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani.
This victory challenges much of the conventional wisdom surrounding Oscar wins. Typically, filmmakers engage in extensive campaigning to sway Academy voters once nominated. However, the Iranian duo faced significant barriers, as they were unable to travel from Iran to the U.S. due to strained political relations, causing them to miss the entire Oscar season.
In a remarkable turn of events, they were granted a visa at the last minute and arrived in Los Angeles this morning after a grueling 25-hour flight. Sohani humorously noted in an Instagram story that they might be the only nominees in Oscar history to “go directly from the airport to the Oscars without any stop or rest.”
Significant Milestones:
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- This win marks the first Oscar for an animated short from Iran and the first from the Middle East.
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- It is only the second time an Iranian film has received a nomination, following last year’s Our Uniform.
Stay tuned for more updates…
Persons
Gints Zilbalodis, Hossein Molayemi, Shirin Sohani
Company Names
Dreamworks Animation, Disney-Pixar, Aardman Animation
Titles
Flow, The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, In the Shadow of the Cypress, Our Uniform
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