'Guillermo del Toro's Pinnochio' triumphs at Annie Awards

The Mexican filmmaker's feature film won five of the nine awards it was nominated for, including Best Film and Best Director.

The 50th edition of the Annie Awards was held on Saturday, February 25. The ceremony recognizes the most important animated films. Guillermo Toro was the star of the night.

The Mexican filmmaker's film won five of the nine awards it was up for at the Annie Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Del Toro's streak continues. His film, Guillermo del Toro's Pinnochio, was one of the winners in the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards and the BAFTAs and is the overwhelming favorite to win Best Animated Feature at the 95th edition of the Oscars to be held on March 12.

The Annie Awards have a special meaning for Del Toro. It was one of the few awards ceremonies that had done everything to avoid recognizing his work. Until now. For this reason, the Mexican filmmaker wanted to celebrate in style by winning this award. He said so in the speech he gave when he took the stage at the ceremony organized by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA): "Can I say this? I wanted the fuc**** Annie so much. It’s the most gorgeous thing in the world! What I can say is about ‘Pinocchio’ is that it was done by artists, and the animators were treated like cast and not technicians," he said in statements reported by Variety. He also said that working in the field of animation has pleasantly surprised him:

I have been fortunate to share trenches with many of you and I must say, I have been directing for almost 33 years and the animation field is the most creative and fantastic field I have ever worked in.

The second big winner at these awards, which honor both the big screen and the small screen, was Marcell the Shell With Shoes On, a film that tells the story of a shell who is searching for his family. This film won Best Independent Screenplay, Best Screenplay and Jenny Slate won Best Voice Acting for her voice over of little Marcel.

Film categories

The winners (highlighted in bold) in the film categories of the 50th Annie Awards are as follows:

Best Feature

  • Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • The Sea Beast
  • Wendell & Wild

Best Indie Feature

  • Charlotte
  • Inu-Oh
  • Little Nicholas, Happy As Can Be
  • Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
  • My Father's Dragon

Best Direction

  • Domee Shi - Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Guillermo Del Toro & Mark Gustafson - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Dean Fleischer Camp, Kirsten Lepore & Stephen Chiodo - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
  • Nora Twomey - My Father's Dragon
  • Henry Selick - Wendell & Wild

Best Short Subject

  • Amok
  • Black Slide
  • Ice Merchants
  • Love, Dad
  • The Flying Sailor

Best Student Film

  • Au revoir Jérôme!
  • Birdsong
  • Synchronie Passagère
  • The Most Boring Granny in the Whole World
  • The Soloists

Best FX - Feature

  • Avatar: The Way of Water
  • Disney and Pixar's Lightyear
  • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
  • The Sea Beast

Best Writing

  • Jason Loftus - Eternal Spring
  • Domee Shi & Julia Cho - Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Akiko Nogi - Inu-Oh
  • Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley & Elisabeth Holm - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Best Character Animation

  • Teresa Falcone - Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Eric Anderson - Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Tucker Barrie - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Jorge Capote - The Bad Guys
  • Min Hong - The Bad Guys

Best Character Animation - Live-Action

  • Daniel Barrett, Stuart Adcock, Todd Labonte, Douglas McHale & Stephen Cullingford - Avatar: The Way of Water
  • Alvise Avati, Chris McGaw, Bora Şahin, Krzysztof Boyoko & Laurent Benhamo - Beast
  • Simon Allen, Harinarayan Rajeev, Paul Nelson & Matthias Schoenegger - Finch
  • Jance Rubinchik, Alexander Lee, Rich Bentley, Antonione Verney Carron, Sally Wilson - Jurassic World Dominion
  • Michael Cozens, Mark Smith, Kai-Hua Lan, Selene McLean & Richard John Moore - Peacemaker

Best Character Design

  • Massimiliano Narciso - Luck
  • Jesús Alonso Iglesias - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • Ida Hem - Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
  • Taylor Krahenbuhl - The Bad Guys
  • Pablo Lobato - Wendell & Wild

Best Music

  • Ludwig Göransson, Billie Eilish & Finneas O'Connell - Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro & Patrick McHale - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Dan Wool - Mad God
  • Daniel Pemberton - The Bad Guys
  • Mark Mancia, Nell Benjamin, Laurence O'Keefe - The Sea Beast

Best Production Design

  • Curt Enderle & Guy Davis - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Phil Tippett - Mad God
  • Nate Wragg, Joseph Feinsilver, Claire Keane, Wayne Tsay, Naveen Selvanathan - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • Luc Desmarchelier & Floriane Marchix - The Bad Guys
  • Matthias Lechner & Jung Woonyoung - The Sea Beast

Best Storyboarding

  • Nima Azarba - Minions: The Rise of Gru
  • Dave Feiss - Minions: The Rise of Gru
  • Anthony Holden - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • Jeff Snow - Strange World
  • Javier Ledesma Barboll - Strange World

Best Voice Acting

  • David Bradley (character: Geppetto) - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Gregory Mann (character: Pinocchio) - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • Jenny Slate (character: Marcel) - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
  • Wagner Moura (character: Wolf) - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • Zaris-Angel Hator (character: Maisie Brumble) - The Sea Beast

Best Editorial

  • Tony Greenberg, Katie Bishop, Chloe, Kloezeman, Alex Geddes & Tim Fox - Disney and Pixar's Lightyear
  • Nicholas Smith, Steve Bloom, David Suther, Anna Wolitzky & Christopher Zuber - Disney and Pixar's Turning Red
  • Ken Schretzmann, Holly Klein, Emily Chiu & Hamilton Barrett - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
  • James Ryan, ACE, Jacquelyn Karambelas, Natalla Cronembold, Joe Bulter, Katie Parody - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • Joyce Arrastica, ACE, Will Erokan, Vivek Sharma, Michael Hugh O'Donnell & Daniel Ortiz - The Sea Beast

Television categories

The winners (highlighted in bold) in the television categories of the 50th Annie Awards are as follows:

Best Direction

  • Lissa Treiman - Baymax!: "Sofia"
  • Yûzô Satô - Exception: "Misprint"
  • Amy Bench & Maya Edelman - More Than I Want to Remember
  • Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi - Oni: Thunder God's Tale: "The Demon Moon Rises"
  • Peter Baynton & Charlie Mackesy - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Best Special Production

  • Prehistoric Planet
  • Superworm
  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  • The House
  • The Sandman

Best Sponsored

  • Save Ralph
  • Can't Negotiate the Melting Point of Ice
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru / The Office
  • Ted Lasso: The Missing Christmas Mustache
  • Today's Holiday Moments are Tomorrow's Memories

Best TV/Media - Preschool

  • The Tiny Chef Show: "Pancakes"
  • Elinor Wonders Why: "Rest is Best"
  • Gabby's Dollhouse: "Cakey's Cupcake Cousins"
  • Rise Up, Sing Out: "Name Tag"
  • Spirit Rangers: "Thunder Mountain

Best TV/Media - Children

  • Abominable and the Invisible City: "Everest Returns"
  • Big Nate: "The Legend of the Gunting"
  • Moominvalley: "Lonely Mountain"
  • The Owl House: "King's Tide"
  • We Baby Bears: "The Real Crayon"

Best TV/Media - Mature

  • Bob's Burgers: "Some Like it Bot Part 1: Eighth Grade Runner"
  • Harley Quinn: "Batman Begins Forever"
  • Rick and Morty: "Night Family"
  • The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII"
  • Tuca & Bertie: "The Pain Garden"

Best TV/Media - Limited Series

  • Baymax!: "Sofia".
  • El Deafo: "Eveybody Sounds So Weird".
  • House Broken: "Who's having happy crap?"
  • Oni: Thunder God¡s Tale: "The Demon Moon Rises"
  • Undone: "Rectify".

Best TV/Media - FX

  • Cars on the Road: "Road Rumblers"
  • Love Death + Robots: "Bad Traveling"
  • Prehistoric Planet: "Coasts"
  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  • The House

Best Character Animation

  • Entergalactic
  • Oni: Thunder God's Tale
  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  • The House
  • StoryBots: Answer Time

Best Character Design

  • Amphibia: "The Hardest Thing"
  • Love Death+ Robots: "Jibaro"
  • Entergalactic
  • Oni: Thunder God's Tale: "The Demon Moon Rises"
  • Spirit Rangers: "Belly of the Beast"

Best Editorial

  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  • Amphibia: "All In"
  • Green Eggs and Ham: "The Sam Who Came In From the Cold"
  • Karma's World: "Keys, The Inventor"
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: "The Least Dangerous Game"

Best Music

  • The Cuphead Show: "Carn-Evil"
  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  • The House
  • Love Death + Robots: "The Very Pulse of the Machine"
  • Oni: Thunder God's Tale: "Onari's Kushi Power"

Best Production Design

  • Mall Stories - Atilla the Grilla
  • Primal, by Genndy Tartakovsky: "Echoes of Eternity"
  • Oni: Thunder God's Tale: "The Demon Moon Rises"
  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  • The House

Best Storyboarding

  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: "Let You Down"
  • Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight: "The Knight's Code"
  • Looney Tunes Cartoons: "Hex Appeal"
  • Love Death + Robots: "The Very Pulse of the Machine"
  • The Cuphead Show: "A Very Devil Christmas"

Best Voice Acting

  • Candi Milo (character: Witch Hazel) - Looney Tunes Cartoons
  • Fred Tatasciore (character: Bang) - StoryBots: Answer Time
  • Karen Malina White (character: Dijonay Jones) - The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder
  • Tara Strong (characters: Harley Quinn & Raven) - Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse
  • Maurice LaMarche (character: Mr. Big) - Zootopia+

Best Writing

  • Cirocco Dunlap - Baymax!: "Sofia"
  • Mitch Watson, Emily Brundige, Ben Lapides & Sarah Allan - Big Nate: "The Legend of the Gunting"
  • Andrew Kevin Walker - Love Death + Robots: "Bad Traveling"
  • Enda Walsh - The House
  • Lisa Hanawalt - Tuca & Bertie: "The Pain Garden"

Best Character Animation - Video Game

  • Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • Moss: Book II
  • Potionomics