This year’s roundup of Oscar nominations is very exciting! You may remember my article last March regarding the Oscars, and this whole notion of the “animation ghetto” (see: http://blogs.pavaline.com/dgonzalez/post.cfm/the-oscars-and-animation#comments). It was based on a somewhat widespread belief that members of the academy segregated animation to separate but equal treatment in the animated film category, and that, therefore, an animated film would never be nominated for Best Picture. This belief, expressed on various industry blogs and even from a few friends, seemed misguided to me, and my article sought to debunk this myth with a thorough analysis of the issues at hand. I won’t reiterate those points here, but it is wonderful to note what a difference a year makes.

This year, has seen, not one but two, animated features, UP and Avatar, nominated for Best Picture! Now whether or not you agree with the Academy’s choices of nominees is up to you, and I’ll leave it all the other industry blogs to have a spirited debate on that one. I will say, though, I do believe Avatar is an animated feature, regardless of its own director’s beliefs on animation. It’s interesting to note the amount of disagreement over this issue, and how much of it comes directly from the animation community. Regardless of what I think of the film itself (I did happen to enjoy it), I am very supportive of the animators’ work on the film and don’t discredit all the hard work they put into it. I’m not a big fan of divisions within the animation community, and often seek to bring together animators of all types on both a personal and professional level. This includes all mediums, motion graphics artists, special effects artists, game animators, everyone. Arguing over who’s a real animator and isolating oneself to a specific community always seemed misguided at best, and potentially harmful to the animation community at large.

With that said, may I offer congratulations to all this year’s nominees. Best of luck to all of you!

BEST PICTURE: UP Avatar

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Coraline - Henry Selick The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson The Princess And The Frog - John Musker, Ron Clements The Secret of Kells - Tomm Moore UP - Pete Docter

SOUND EDITING: UP: (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

ORIGINAL SCORE: UP: (Michael Giacchino) The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Alexandre Desplat

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: UP: (Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy)

BEST SONG: “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog were nominated for (Music and Lyric by Randy Newman).

Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: French Roast - Fabrice O. Joubert, director (Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films). Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty - Nicky Phelan, director, and Darragh O’Connell, producer (Brown Bag Films) The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) - Javier Recio Gracia, director (Kandor Graphics and Green Moon). Logorama - Nicolas Schmerkin, producer (Autour de Minuit). A Matter of Loaf and Death - Nick Park, director (Aardman Animations Ltd.)

The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday March 7th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.