Mar 10, 2024

"Shonen and Heron" is a hand-drawn animation that won an Oscar for the first time in 21 years.

Hayao Miyazaki came out to the top tonight in a very competitive Oscar race for the best animation features.

The boy and Heron of Miyazaki, along with Spider-Man, were one of the two frontrunners in this category: Beyond Spider-Man, it was not a natural conclusion that yet the introspective and philosophical narrative of a Japanese filmmaker would emerge above. In addition to the fact that the film is not very suitable for this often downplayed category, Miyazaki himself did not make zero effort to participate in the award campaign, which generally hurts the chances of the film.

But tonight proved to be a rare moment when the Academy didn't base its animation awards on external factors such as the director's personality, the buzz surrounding the project and the celebrities that come with it.This was a year when I was really honored with the quality of the film production itself. And that's what it should be – an honor that deserves abundance for the living masters of our art form.

Some Important Notes About Awards:

* Boy and Heron mark the second time in the history of this category that the hand-drawn 2d film won the honor. It was 21 years ago that Miyazaki won with Spirited Away.

*This marks only the second time in the history of this category that a fully foreign production won an Oscar. The first time, again, was 21 years ago, when Spirited Away won.

*At the age of 83, Miyazaki is the oldest person to win an animated feature Oscar. The oldest person before was also Miyazaki, who was 62 when he won the Spirited Away.

*Boy and Heron is the first PG-13 rated film to win an animated feature Oscar. All previous winners were rated either G or PG.

*This is the lucky number 13 for US distributor GKIDS. The company has been nominated a staggering 13 times in the feature animation category, but it hasn't won an award until tonight.

Neither Miyazaki nor producer Toshio Suzuki attended the awards ceremony. Miyazaki did not attend the Academy Awards for his first win. He later told the LA Times that the reason he didn't attend in 2003 was against the American attack on Iraq:

The reason I wasn't here for the Academy Awards was because I didn't want to visit the country that was bombing Iraq. At the time, my producer shut me up and didn't allow me to say it, but I don't see him today. By the way, my producer also shared that feeling.

Miyazaki has not publicly made a statement about whether he did not attend this year's ceremony for special reasons.

As a boy and heron producer, I am very honored to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Academy. I would also like to thank the people involved in the production of this film, and all those who distributed this film to the world. The film began when director Hayao Miyazaki withdrew his retirement announcement. After that, I spent 7 years in the production of this work. It has been 10 years since Hayao Miyazaki's previous film, "The Wind Rises," and the environment surrounding the film has changed dramatically. It was really difficult to complete this film. I am very grateful that the works created after overcoming these difficulties have been seen and appreciated by many people around the world. Hayao Miyazaki and I have matured a significant amount. I am grateful for this honor, and I hope to do more in the future as a message to continue my work.

In the Animated Short category, Dave Mullins's war is over. Inspired by the music of John and Yoko, it won the top prize. No major studio has produced any of this year's nominees, but the war is over. As well as celebrity back from Sean Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono, it provided the value of big studio production.

Mullins himself was previously nominated Pixar Short Lou. The war is over. It was the first production from Electroleague, a studio he co-founded with Brad Booker, who made the film. The cg production of this work is W of New Zealand.t.FX was in charge.

Capping off the animation category, Godzilla Minus One pulled off an underdog victory in the Visual Effects category. Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima were awarded the prize. One of them, Yamazaki, is also a director, making him the first filmmaker to win Vfx honors since Stanley Kubrick directed the 2001 Space Odyssey in 1969. The low-budget Japanese film was made by a small group of about thirty people, with Vfx breaking the tent pole with hundreds of vfx workers, including Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One.