French Animation, Chapitre 5 - The Illusionist

Previously: Ernest & Celestine

What is it? 
Helmed by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville), The Illusionist is based on a script written by French filmmaker/actor Jacques Tati. The famous director allegedly wrote the screenplay in an attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter, and intended to shoot a live-action film out of it. But he never did, and the script ended up many years later in Sylvain Chomet's hands, who chose to do it as an animated film, because the very idea of someone stepping into Tati's shoes for the role of the main character was absurd to him.
The story, set in Scotland, focuses on the relationship between an illusionist and a girl who thinks he really is a magician.

Oscar Results

Last night was the 83rd Annual Academy Awards and the biggest night of the year in terms of films was on full force. As predicted Toy Story 3 was unable to capture the Best Picture award that instead went to The King's Speech and it also lost the Best Adapted Screenplay award to The Social Network, however it did capture 2 Oscars.

Pixar's latest beat out DreamWorks' fantastic How to Train Your Dragon and Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist to win Best Animated Feature and also Randy Newman with his second win (and 20th nomination) won Best Song for "We Belong Together".

Congrats to all involved.

Oscar Nominations Revealed: 5 Nominations for Toy Story 3, 2 for How to Train Your Dragon

Last night, the nominations for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards were revealed and it was a big night for animated films.

The nominations for Best Animated Feature Film (note. there are 3 this year, not 5) are:

• How to Train Your Dragon - Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• The Illusionist - Sylvain Chomet
• Toy Story 3 - Lee Unkrich

Whilst I haven't seen the Illusionist, it is said to be fantastic and I know for a fact that Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon are. In light of this, How to Train Your Dragon was also nominated for Best Original Score, and Toy Story 3 was nominated for another 4 awards! These are:

• Adapted Screenplay (Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)

• Original Song ("We Belong Together"; music and lyrics by Randy Newman)

• Sound Editing (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers)

And... Wait for it...

• Best Picture - Darla K. Anderson

Needless to say, this is a fantastic achievement for the Pixar crew, not only being nominated, but being the second Pixar film in a row - and the third animated film ever, after Beauty and the Beast and Up - to be nominated for Best Picture. Congrats to the whole Pixar team on this monumental achievement and the best of luck.

Also of note, Teddy Newton's Toy Story 3 attached Short Film, Day & Night, is nominated for Best Animated Short Film.

Congrats to everyone nominated for all awards, best of luck to Toy Story 3 in the Best Picture category and stay tuned to see how things play out. The awards are on February, 27th.

Golden Globe Results

Last night was the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards and, similarly to the Critics' Choice Awards, Toy Story 3 overcame stiff competition to claim the award for Best Animated Motion Picture, the list of other nominees are below:

• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Tangled

It's interesting to note that it seems that these 5 films are the ones that seem to be nominated for every animated award at every awards ceremony this year. Pixar won the prestigious award for the fourth consecutive year and Lee Unkrich was on hand to accept the award, you can view his (humorous) acceptance speech below.

You can view the full list of nominees and winners here. Congrats to the whole team at Pixar for yet another prestigious win for Toy Story 3.

Golden Globe Nominations

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (or HFPA) has just announced their nominations for the Category of Best Animated Feature Film for the 68th Golden Globes Awards, due to take place on January 16th, 2011.
The nominations are pretty much as expected and are as follows:

• Despicable Me - Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures
• How to Train Your Dragon - DreamWorks Animation
• The Illusionist - Django Films
• Tangled - Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Toy Story 3 - Disney/Pixar

You can read this on the HFPA website here.

On the subject of awards remember to keep an eye out for more information concerning the 1st Annual A113Animation Awards coming late December.