The 50th Annie Awards, the most important in animated cinema in the United States, took place on Saturday night (dawn in Europe today) in Los Angeles, California, and also featured “Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro” in the Best Character categories. Best Animation, Best Direction, Best Music, and Best Production Design.
“Ice Merchants” was nominated for Best Short Film along with “Amok” by Hungarian Balázs Turai, “Black Slide” by Israeli Uri Lotan, “Love, Dad” by Czech Diana Cam Van Nguyen and “The Flying”. Sailor ”by Canadians Amanda Forbes and Wendy Tilby.
João Gonzalez’s film also in the running for the Academy Awards, due for delivery on March 12, has been nominated for Best Animated Short Film, in an unprecedented nomination for a Portuguese production.
“Ice Merchants”, João Gonzalez’s third film, is about loss and family bonds between father and son, and its starting point is the image of a house on a mountain perched on the edge of an abyss.
This short film, narrated without a narrator or dialogues, just drawn pictures and music, was co-produced by Cola Animation with UK and France.
“Ice Merchants” had its world premiere in 2022 at Cannes Critics’ Week in France, where it was honored. Since then, he has added several other awards in the context of festivals.
The film is currently showing in Portuguese cinemas.
Considered the “Oscars” of animated cinema, the Annie Awards recognize animated productions in short and feature films and are awarded annually by the International Motion Picture Association.
In the Best Picture category, in addition to the winner “Pinocchio de Guillermo del Toro,” “Turning Red – Strange Red,” from Pixar Studios, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” from Dreamworks, “The Sea. Netflix, and “Wendell & Wild”, produced by Monkeypaw and Gotham for Netflix.
Winners in 32 categories of the 50th Annie Awards include Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Marcel the Movie LLC) for Best Independent Feature and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (There’s No More Bad Robot) for Best Special Production .
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