Oscars Accepts That Animated Films Are Animated

Three of the year's most critically acclaimed and visually stunning animated movies - including Austin-made Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood by Boyhood director Richard Linklater - are actually animated films, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Woo, thanks for telling us, we weren't sure for a moment.

The academy's previous position, unmoored from reality as it was, was based on their Special Rules for the Animated Feature Film Award, most specifically that "in an animated film, animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time." Less than 75% of the run time, they said, and it's not really an animated feature, just a feature with animation.

Under this arcane definition, the selection committee responsible for deciding what is and isn't an animated film announced in October that it had excluded three titles that surprised everyone: stop motion gem Marcel the Shell With Shoes On; Canada's entry into the Best International Film category, Chinese political documentary Eternal Spring; and Linklater's latest.

Why did the Academy decide that that clearly animated Apollo 10 1/2 wasn't animated? They argued that it was basically Rotoscoping - one of the oldest forms of animation, involving tracing over and building upon live action footage - and that didn't count. This was, of course, absurd. The teams at Submarine and Austin's Minnow Mountain used the live-action footage shot on a green screen set as the basis for the animation, but the artistry and creativity was in the images they extrapolated, and the decisions they made outside of and relating to the original image. Basically, the filmmakers didn't actually send young star Milo Coy to the Moon and draw over the footage.

Yesterday, after weeks of incredulous responses and outrage, the Academy announced that the three films would be eligible for consideration after all.

Explaining the reversal, an Academy spokesperson told Indiewire, "Upon review of relevant background materials provided by the filmmakers, the Academy’s Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Executive Committee deemed Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,’ and Eternal Spring eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards. The Academy is committed to recognizing the innovations within our industry."

On hearing the news, we reached out to Linklater, who told the Chronicle:

"We are very grateful that the Academy's animated branch now considers our animated film - that was released in April - an animated film. The hundreds of animators who worked on it will be especially thankful that their animation is being recognized as such, and we also appreciate the industry professionals who expressed their support for the film."

The Chronicle also received a statement from Eternal Spring director/producer Jason Loftus:

"Eternal Spring includes live-action footage because it shows an artist’s creative process playing out on screen. It is substantially animated, and we’re thrilled that the animation branch agreed. We believe the film adds a new dimension to the use of animation in documentary film, exploring how the artistic process can help us gain new understandings and, hopefully, healing.”

Now all three films are eligible for consideration for the the 95th Oscars, scheduled for Sunday, March 12.

Aside from highlighting the Oscars' arcane and arbitrary rules, the debate over their inclusion has also highlighted a long running concern that the Academy does not take animation seriously as an art form. Since the category was first launched in 2000, nominations have been dominated by kid-friendly fare, usually computer assisted, and from either Disney, Pixar, or Dreamworks. There has only been one stop motion winner (Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005), and one non-English language winner (Spirited Away, 2003). Insult was added to quiet injury at the 2022 ceremony when the three presenters of the Best Animated Feature award - Lily James, Naomi Scott, and Halle Bailey - all dismissed animated movies as being for children, while show cohost Amy Schumer said "the only [nominee] I've seen is Encanto because of my kid."