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Ponyo's Miyazaki, Hisaishi Nominated for Annie Awards
posted on by Egan Loo
The nominations for the 37th Annual Annie Awards have been announced on Tuesday. Hayao Miyazaki received a nomination in the Directing in a Feature Production category for Studio Ghibli's Ponyo. Joe Hisaishi also received a nomination in the Music in a Feature Production category for the same film.
Sharon Bridgeman is vying for the Storyboarding in a Feature Production award for her work in IMAGI Studios' computer-animated film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga. The film also earned screenwriter Timothy Harris and director David Bowers a nod in the Writing in a Feature Production category.
Sony Pictures Animation's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Laika's Coraline, 20th Century Fox's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Walt Disney Animation Studios' The Princess and the Frog, Cartoon Saloon's The Secret of Kells, and Pixar Animation Studios' Up are competing for the top honor of Best Animated Feature.
Miyazaki was previously nominated for directing Howl's Moving Castle and writing it (with English-language adaptors Donald H. Hewitt and Cindy Davis Hewitt), and the film itself was nominated in the Best Animated Feature category. However, the film did not win any Annie Awards. Miyazaki's Spirited Away film did win in every category for which it was nominated: Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature, Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Miyazaki), Music in an Animated Feature Production (Hisaishi), and Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Miyazaki).
Other Japanese-animated films that have been nominated for Best Animated Feature or "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature" include Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress, Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and Hiroyuki Kitakubo's Blood: The Last Vampire. The staffers of Millennium Actress and Innocence, as well as Wolf's Rain composer Yoko Kanno, garnered individual nominations, but neither these Japanese animated works nor their staffers won awards.
The Animatrix did win the award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Entertainment Production at the 2003 awards. Batman: Gotham Knight was nominated in two categories — Best Animated Home Entertainment Production and Best Music in an Animated Feature Production for Kevin Manthei's score — last year.
Image © 2008 Nibariki, GNDHDDT
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© 2009 IMAGI Crystal Limited
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