LOS ANGELES — Nominees for the 45th Annual Annie Awards were recently announced by The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. The gala awards ceremony announcing the winners will take place on Saturday, February 3, 2018, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles. This year’s event will present awards in 36 categories, including Best Animated Feature.
The nominations in the Best Animated Feature category include: Captain Underpants (DreamWorks Animation), Cars 3 (Pixar Animation Studios), Coco (Pixar Animation Studios), Despicable Me 3 (Illumination) and The Boss Baby (DreamWorks Animation).
The Best Animated Feature-Independent category spotlights features with a much smaller distribution footprint than major studio releases. The nominees in this category include: In This Corner of the World (Taro Maki, GENCO, Inc. and Masao Maruyama, Mappa Co., Ltd), Loving Vincent (BreakThru Films, Production Company Trademark Films, Co-Production Company), Napping Princess (Nippon TV), The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales (Folivari/Panique!/Studiocanal) and The Breadwinner (Cartoon Saloon/Aircraft Pictures/Melusine Productions).
“The Annies continue to grow in the number of submissions again this year, pointing out animation’s diversity in both style and storytelling, not only from our local community, but from the industry worldwide,“ says ASIFA-Hollywood's executive director, Frank Gladstone. “That the Annies are now an established and important part of the ‘Award Season’ is enormously gratifying for all of us who tell our stories frame by frame.”
The Annie Awards cover 36 categories, including Special Productions, Commercials, Short Subjects, Student Films and Outstanding Individual Achievements. They are also honorary Juried Awards.
For the complete list of categories and nominees, visit: http://annieawards.org/nominees.