ASIFA-Hollywood, the international animated film society, has announced the nominees for their 35th annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation. The awards cermony, where they’ll be announcing the winners, will be held on Friday 8 February 2008 at UCLA’s Royce Hall (Los Angeles, California), starting at 5PM. The Annies honor excellence in animation in many media, and though they’re not all sf/f/h productions, there’s a lot of cross-over on this list, so we’ve decided to include them all.
The nominees, in a wide variety of categories, are:
Best Animated Feature:
Bee Movie DreamWorks Animation
Persepolis Sony Pictures Classics
Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
The Simpsons Movie Twentieth Century Fox
Best Home Entertainment Production:
Doctor Strange MLG Productions
Futurama “Bender’s Big Score” The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television
Best Animated Short Subject:
Everything Will Be OK Bitter Films
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater Walt Disney Feature Animation
Shorty McShorts’ Shorts “Mascot Prep” Walt Disney Television Animation
The Chestnut Tree Picnic Pictures
Your Friend the Rat Pixar Animation Studios
Best Animated Television Commercial:
CVS Watering Can Acme Filmworks
Esurance Homeowners Wild Brain
Idaho Lottery: Twister Acme Filmworks
Oregon Lottery Alaska Laika/house
Power Shares Escape Average Acme Filmworks
Best Animated Television Production:Jane and the Dragon Weta Productions Limited & Nelvana Limited
Creature Comforts America Aardman Animations
Moral Orel ShadowMachine
Robot Chicken Star Wars ShadowMachine
Kim Possible Walt Disney Television Animation
Best Animated Television Production for Children:
Chowder Cartoon Network Studios
El Tigre Nickelodeon
Little Einsteins Disney Channel
Peep and the Big Wide World Discovery Kids
The Backyardigans Nickelodeon
Best Animated Video Game:
Avatar: The Last Airbender “The Burning Earth” THQ, Inc.
Bee Movie Game Activision
Ratatouille THQ, Inc.
Transformers: The Game Blur Studios
Animated Effects:
Gary Bruins for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Deborah Carlson for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Ryan Laney for Spider-Man 3 Sony Pictures Imageworks
James Mansfield for How to Hook Up Your Home Theater Walt Disney Feature Animation
Jon Reisch for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Animation Production Artist:
John Clark for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Michael Isaak for Bee Movie DreamWorks Animation
Hyun-Min Lee for The Chestnut Tree Picnic Pictures
Natasha Liberman for Growing Up Creepie “Creepie & The Candy Factory” Taffy Entertainment LLC, Telegrael Teoranta, Discovery Communications Inc., SunWoo Entertainment, Peach Blossom Media
Jim Worthy for My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “Meet the Spidermonkeys” Cartoon Network Studios
Character Animation in a Feature Production:
Dave Hardin for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Alan Hawkins for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Michal Makarewicz for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Character Animation in a Television Production:
Elizabeth Harvatine for Moral Orel “Nature 2” ShadowMachine
Monica Kennedy for El Tigre Nickelodeon
Eric Towner for Robot Chicken ShadowMachine
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production:
Sylvain Deboissy for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Carter Goodrich for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Character Design in an Animated Television Production:
Jorge R. Gutierrez for El Tigre “Fistful of Collars” Nickelodeon
Directing in an Animated Feature Production:
Brad Bird for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Ash Brannon & Chris Buck for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Chris Miller & Raman Hui for Shrek The Third DreamWorks Animation
Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi for Persepolis Sony Pictures Classics
David Silverman for The Simpsons Movie Twentieth Century Fox
Directing in an Animated Television Production:
Seth Green for Robot Chicken Star Wars ShadowMachine
David Hartman for Tigger & Pooh “Turtle’s Need for Speed” Walt Disney Television Animation
Raymie Muzquiz for Squirrel Boy “Gumfight at the S’Okay Corral” Cartoon Network Studios
Howy Parkins for The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” Walt Disney Television Animation
Gary Trousdale for Shrek The Halls DreamWorks Animation
Music in an Animated Feature Production:
Olivier Bernet for Persepolis Sony Pictures Classics
Danny Elfman, Rufus Wainwright, & Rob Thomas for Meet The Robinsons Walt Disney Feature Animation
Michael Giacchino for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Rupert Gregson-Williams for Bee Movie DreamWorks Animation
Amy Powers, Russ DeSalvo, & Jeff Danna for Disney Princess Enchanted Tales DisneyToon Studios/Walt Disney Video/Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Music in an Animated Television Production:
Alf Clausen & Michael Price for The Simpsons “Yokel Chords” Gracie Films in association with 20th Century Fox
Evan Lurie, Robert Scull, & Steven Bernstein for The Backyardigans “International Super Spy” Nickelodeon
Drew Neumann & Gregory Hinde for Billy & Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure Cartoon Network Studios
Shawn Patterson for El Tigre “Yellow Pantera” Nickelodeon
James L. Venable & Jennifer Kes Remington for Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends “The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato Power” Cartoon Network Studios
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production:
Doug Chiang for Beowulf Paramount Pictures
Harley Jessup for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Marcelo Vignali for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production:
Don Hall for Meet The Robinsons Walt Disney Feature Animation
Denise Koyama for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Ted Mathot for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Sean Song for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IMAGI Animation Studios
Nassos Vakalis for Bee Movie DreamWorks Animation
Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production:
Ben Balistreri for Danny Phantom “Torrent of Terror” Nickelodeon
Aldin Baroza for The Replacements “London Calling” Walt Disney Television Animation
Dave Bennett for Tom and Jerry Tales Warner Bros. Animation
Steve Fonti for Family Guy “No Chris Left Behind” Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions
Roy Meurin for My Friends Tigger and Pooh “Good Night to Pooh” Walt Disney Television Animation
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production:
Janeane Garofalo as the Voice of Collette in Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Ian Holm as the Voice of Skinner in Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Julie Kavner as the Voice of Marge Simpson in The Simpsons Movie Twentieth Century Fox
Patton Oswalt as the Voice of Remy in Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
Patrick Warburton as the Voice of Ken in Bee Movie DreamWorks Animation
Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production:
Scott Adsit as the Voice of Clay Puppington in Moral Orel ShadowMachine
Madison Davenport as the Voice of Sophianna in Christmas is Here Again! Easy To Dream Entertainment
Tom Kenny as the Voice of SpongeBob in SpongeBob SquarePants “Spy Buddies” Nickelodeon
Eartha Kitt as the Voice of Yzma in The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” Walt Disney Television Animation
Eddie Murphy as the Voice of Donkey in Shrek The Halls DreamWorks Animation
Writing in an Animated Feature Production:
Brad Bird for Ratatouille Pixar Animation Studios
James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, & Jon Vitti for The Simpsons Movie Twentieth Century Fox
Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck & Christopher Jenkins for Surf’s Up Sony Pictures Animation
Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud for Persepolis Sony Pictures Classics
Writing in an Animated Television Production:
C.H. Greenblatt & William Reiss for Chowder “Burple Nurples” Cartoon Network Studios
Gene Grillo for Back at the Barnyard “Cowman and Ratboy” Nickelodeon
Ian Maxtone-Graham & Billy Kimball for The Simpsons “24 Minutes” Gracie Films
Christopher Painter for Squirrel Boy “I Only Have Eye For You” Cartoon Network Studios
Tom Sheppard for My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “The Butt of the Jake” Cartoon Network Studios
Winsor McCay Award Winners (for career contributions to the art of animation):
John Canemaker
Glen Keane
John Kricfalusi
June Foray Award (for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation):
Jerry Beck
Ub Iwerks Award (for technical achievement):
Jonathan Gay, Gary Grossman, and Robert Tatsumi—the creators of FLASH computer software
Special Achievement Annie Award:
Edwin R. Leonard for leading the adopton of Linux as the primary computer operating system for use in feature animated film prodution.
Certificate of Merit:
Marcus Adams
Jo Jo Batista
Steve Gattuso
Jon Reeves
Gemma Ross
Woodbury University
For more information on the awards, including purchasing tickets for the awards cermony, see www.annieawards.org.