Final Oscar Ballots Mailed & Upcoming Awards

BALLOTS

Final ballots for the 84th Academy Awards® have been mailed to the 5,783 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Completed ballots must be returned to PwC* by 5 p.m. Tuesday, February 21.  Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted!

Listed on the ballots are nominees in 19 Awards categories.  Separate ballots for five categories (Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film) will be distributed after verification of mandatory member attendance at screenings.

Following the tabulation of the votes, the winners’ names will be placed in sealed envelopes to be opened on Oscar Sunday, February 26.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

* Accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

UPCOMING AWARDS

1. Saturday, February 4, 2012   ASIFA - The International Animated Film Society, (ANNIE AWARDS), Hollywood.
at UCLA's Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA. Website


2. Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 26th Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Awards, in the Grand Ballroom at the Hollywood and Highland Grand Ballroom.

Harrison Ford, the actor known for the characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones, will receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) 2012 Board of Governors Award. He will be honored during the 26th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards gala. The nominees are:

For feature film: Guillaume Schiffman, AFC (The Artist),
Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo),
Robert Richardson, ASC (Hugo),
Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy),
and Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (The Tree of Life).
have been nominated in the feature film category of the 26th Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards. The winner will be announced at the ASC Awards celebration at the Hollywood and Highland Grand Ballroom on February 12.

Guillaume Schiffman and Hoyte van Hoytema are both first-time ASC nominees, while this is the 10th nomination for Robert Richardson, and the second consecutive ASC Award nomination for Jeff Cronenweth who was recognized last year for The Social Network. Website

3. Sunday, February 12, 2012 - British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA®), presented at the Royal Opera House, London, England. The BAFTA Orange Awards are considered another indicator of the way the Academy Awards may go. Members cannot vote for a film unless they are certified as having seen it, and there is a voting branch in Los Angeles.

Website

5. Saturday, February 18, 2012 -  The 62nd Annual American Cinema Editors' (ACE) Eddie Awards will be presented at the Beverly Hilton. The Eddie Awards honor editors working in motion pictures and television. Website

UP Wins Annie Award

Actor William Shatner hosted the 37th Annual Annie Awards on Saturday, 6 February 2010, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA. The awards are sponsored by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA - Hollywood, and this year they honored the best in animation in 2009. With only two exceptions, the Annie winner for Best Animated Feature has also won the Best Animated Motion Picture Oscar® for the same year.

Last year and 2007 were exceptions. Last year, the Society went with a sweep for KUNG FU PANDA, but WALL-E was the member-favorite of AMPAS® and it took home the Oscar. In 2007, the Annie went to CARS, but AMPAS members preferred HAPPY FEET.

 Last night, UP won the top two awards, Best Animated Feature and Best Director for Pete Docter, another feather in the cap of Pixar Animation Studios and, perhaps, a portend of an Oscar win in both categories. Laika's CORALINE and Disney's THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG each won three awards. Disney also won three for its television series, PREP AND LANDING. The Annie Awards ceremony will also be Webcast on www.annieawards.org beginning Tuesday, 9 February.

The list of awards not only includes movies, but television and some specialized technical awards. I'm taking a shortcut here sticking with motion pictures. If you do not see the category that interests you, click the title of this post to go to their Official Website to see the entire list.

Here are the nominees for selected categories with winners in red:

Best Animated Feature Film
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Sony Pictures Animation
Coraline - Laika
Fantastic Mr. Fox - 20th Century Fox
The Princess and the Frog - Walt Disney Animation Studios
The Secret of Kells - Cartoon Saloon
Up - Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Christopher Miller, Phil Lord "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation
Hayao Miyazaki "Ponyo" - Studio Ghibli
Henry Selick "Coraline" - Laika

Character Design in a Feature Production
Daniel Lopez Munoz "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Shane Prigmore "Coraline" - Laika
Shannon Tindle "Coraline" - Laika

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Andreas Deja "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Eric Goldberg "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Travis Knight "Coraline" - Laika
Daniel Nguyen "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Bruce Smith "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Music in a Feature Production
Bruno Coulais "Coraline" - Laika
Michael Giacchino "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Joe Hisaishi "Ponyo" - Studio Ghibli
John Powell "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" - Blue Sky Studios

Production Design in a Feature Production
Christopher Appelhans "Coraline" - Laika
Ian Gooding "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tadahiro Uesugi "Coraline" - Laika
Christophe Vacher "9" - 9 L.L.C.

Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Jen Cody - Voice of Charlotte - "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Dawn French - Voice of Miss Forcible - "Coraline" - Laika
Hugh Laurie - Voice of Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. - "Monsters vs. Aliens" - DreamWorks Animation
John Leguizamo - Voice of Sid - "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" - Blue Sky Studios
Jenifer Lewis - Voice of Mama Odie - "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Writing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach - "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy - "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers - "Astro Boy" - Imagi Studios
Christopher Miller and Phil Lord - "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation

Animated Effects
Scott Cegielski "Monsters vs. Aliens" - DreamWorks Animation
Alexander Feigin "9" - 9 L.L.C.
Eric Froemling "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Tom Kluyskens "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation
James Mansfield "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

ASIFA is a non-profit organization, founded by a group of animators in 1957, and chartered by UNESCO in 1960. ASIFA encourages the art of animation and furthers international understanding and goodwill through the medium. Today, there are about thirty chapters of ASIFA all over the globe. ASIFA is a French acronym,  "Association Internationale du Film D'Animation".

The Year of the Oscar® Rat?

In this Year of the Rat in Chinese astrology, it is may be only fitting that the Academy Awards honor Remy, the young rodent chef wannabe. The Academy members may, or may not, but the Annie Award, which is almost as important to animators as the golden statuette, did.

Pixar Animation Studios' RATATOUILLE dominated the 35th annual Annie Awards Thursday night. The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA, Hollywood) honors the best in animated features.

The Chinese consider the Year of the Rat lucky, and the Chinese lunar year 4705 (06) began 7 February, the day before the Annie Awards. The determined charismatic rodent not only took the top prize for the best animated feature movie, but the top directing and screenwriting awards for Brad Bird as well, a total of nine overall, which included character animation, character design, music, production design, storyboarding and voice acting.

RATATOUILLE is nominated for an Oscar in the best animated feature category along with PERSEPOLIS and SURF'S UP. The latter received Annies for animated effects and animated production artist, but the other ASIFA nominees, PERSEPOLIS and THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, came up empty handed.

The Annie Award has become one of those "predictors" for winning an Academy Award® in the best animated feature category. However, last year ASIFA gave CARS the Annie, and the dancing penguins won (HAPPY FEET). Win some. Lose some.

PERSEPOLIS was submitted by France to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF) Oscar category instead of submitting THE DIVING BELL and the BUTTERFLY. The irony? PERSEPOLIS missed the Oscar BFLF nod, but is nominated in the best animated feature category.

Well, what about people born in the Year of the Rat? They are noted for their charm and attraction for the opposite sex. They work hard to achieve their goals, acquire possessions and are likely to be perfectionists. They are basically thrifty with money. Rat people are easily angered and love to gossip. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful.

Are you a "rat person?" You are if you was born in 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, or 1996. If so, this could be your lucky year, too. Uh, oh. Time to stir the Sauce Béarnaise. See my Chinese New Year Page.