CalArts Alum Bob Persichetti (Film/Video BFA 96) acceptance speech for Best Directing at the 46th Annie Awards. | Screenshot from Annie Awards’ live stream.
The 46th Annual Annie Awards were held last Saturday (Feb. 2) at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, and a number of CalArtians took home trophies for their achievements in animation.
Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse, directed by CalArts alum Bob Persichetti (Film/Video BFA 96), Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, won every category for which it was nominated — a total of seven awards — including Best Animated Feature and Best Directing. This marked the first Annie for Best Animated Feature for the Sony Pictures Animation studio.
In his acceptance speech for Best Directing, Persichetti said:
We are up here accepting this award for 800 people essentially. You guys all know how it takes a small army to make these movies. I think that the thing we really wanted to say is that we challenged them in a way to invent new ideas, new ways of doing this feature animated medium because we don’t believe it’s just a medium, we believe it’s film. And in that, there should be diversity, not only in the way it looks, and the stories we tell and the characters that are in it, but also in the way it’s made.
Among the nominees in the Best Directing category were three more CalArtians: Brad Bird (Film/Video BFA 76) for Pixar’s Incredibles 2; Rich Moore (Film/Video 87) for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Ralph Breaks The Internet; and Genndy Tartakovsky (Film/Video 92) for Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.
This year’s Winsor McCay Award, which honors lifetime contributions to the art of animation, was awarded to CalArts alum Ralph Eggleston (Film/Video 86). The veteran director, animator and art director is best known for his work on Monsters, Inc. (2001), Inside Out (2015) and Finding Nemo (2003). He won the 2002 Oscar for Best Short Film, Animated for For the Birds.
Below is a list of the CalArtian Annie Award winners:
- Best Animated Feature
Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, Columbia Pictures and Sony Picture Animations (directed by Persichetti, Ramsey and Rothman) - Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse (directed by Persichetti, Rothman and Ramsey) - Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sony Pictures Animation, Shiyoon Kim (Film/Video BFA 06) - Production Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Age of Sail, Google Spotlight Stories, Broad Reach Pictures, Jasmin Lai (Film/Video BFA 12) - Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Disney Mickey Mouse, Episode: “Carnaval,” Disney Television Animation, Ramirez Ramos Alonso (Film/Video BFA 10) - The June Foray Award for those who have made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact was presented to Adam Burke (Film/Video 93) posthumously
- A certificate of merit for service to the industry was presented to ASIFA volunteer Jason Jones (Film/Video BFA 01).
Shiyoon Kim (Film/Video BFA 06) accepting the award for Best Character Design in an Animated Feature at the 46th Annie Awards. | Photo courtesy of Maija Burnett.
The entire broadcast of the 46th Annie Awards can be streamed on their website.