It’s a wrap! Animation Magazine hosted another successful edition of the World Animation Summit at the charming Garland hotel in N. Hollywood last week (Nov. 1-3). The star-studded event brought together some of the most talented creatives of the animation industry for three days of keynotes, panels and networking parties. Among the big highlights was this year’s star-studded Hall of Fame awards gala, which was hosted by the brilliant, Emmy-winning actor Eric Bauza (voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Woody Woodpecker and many others) on Wednesday, Nov. 1st.
This year’s Animation Magazine’s Hall of Fame Honorees were:
Lifetime Achievement Award: Hayao Miyazaki. The universally acclaimed and iconic co-founder of Studio Ghibli, artist and director of many animation classics, including My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and this year’s astonishing career-capper, The Boy and the Heron. (Award was presented by Eric Bauza, and accepted by GKIDS president David Jesteadt and founder Eric Beckman.)
Jennifer Lee. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Chief Creative Officer, who is best known as the writer and one of the directors of Frozen and its sequel Frozen II, the former which won her an Academy Award. She is the first female director of a Disney animated feature film, and the first female director of a feature that earned over $1 billion at the box office. She also co-wrote the screenplay for the studio’s 100th Anniversary animated movie, Wish. (Presented by Oscar-winning Frozen and Wish co-director Chris Buck)
New Vision Award: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson. The directors of Sony Pictures Animation’s bold and hugely popular Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are lauded for upping the ante artistically in this summer’s block- buster sequel and pushing the medium to new visual heights. (Presented by Spider-Verse’s award-winning composer Daniel Pemberton)
Sam Fell. The talented animation director, whose impressive credits include popular films such as Aardman Animations’ Flushed Away and LAIKA’s ParaNorman, returns to Aardman this year with the charming sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which premieres on Netflix this December. (Presented by Flushed Away co-producer Maryann Garger)
Floyd Norman. With over 60 years in the industry, Floyd Norman has become an animation legend, working with such giants as Walt Disney, William Hanna, Joe Barbera, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and the creative teams at Sesame Street and Pixar. He has served in nearly every department of animation, from cel painter to story director. Of course, he’s also an animator. (Presented by Marlon West, award-winning animator and head of effects).
Gina Shay. With over 25 years of experience producing animated films, which includes a full decade of films and specials for Dream- Works Animation, Gina’s many credits include this year’s highly anticipated Trolls Band Together, as well as the first two Trolls movies. She also produced the box-office hit Shrek Forever After, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and co-produced Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, the first CG Oscar-nominated animated feature. (Presented by Walt Dohrn, the popular director of the Trolls trilogy)
Shuzo John Shiota. The president and CEO of Japan’s innovative animation studio Polygon Pictures for over 20 years, Shuzo has spear- headed efforts to cultivate Polygon’s overseas presence, helping the studio to become a leading developer of TV series and content targeted at the foreign market. Recent projects include Star Wars Resistance, Stillwater, The Very Pulse of the Machine and Mech Cadets. (Presented by Transformers Prime producer Jeff Kline)
Tara Sorensen. As Apple TV+ head of creative development, children’s media, Tara has been instrumental in shepherding a slate of award-winning, enlightening and inspiring shows to audiences worldwide, including Jane, Frog and Toad, El Deafo, Wolfboy and the Every- thing Factory, Interrupting Chicken, Pinecone & Pony, Shape Island, Slumberkins, Stillwater, The Snoopy Show and several Peanuts specials. (Presented by Emmy-winning founder of Sinking Ship Entertainment, J. J. Johnson)
International Studio of the Year: Mediawan Kids & Family. One of the European leaders in animation that produces premium TV shows, high-end feature films, and digital content targeting preschool, kids, tweens, young adults, and families. Mediawan Kids & Family houses: Method Animation, Mediawan Kids & Family Cinema, Joann Sfar’s Magical Society, along with the brand-new 2D animation TV label for kids Somewhere Animation, and tweens studio Elliott Studio. Palomar Animation (Italy), Wildseed Studios (U.K.) and Submarine Animation (Netherlands) also joined the group recently. (Awarded to Studio President Julien Borde by acclaimed producer Fred Seibert.)
Check out some of the photos from this year’s edition of the Hall of Fame awards gala, and inspiring panels, screenings and fun parties below: (Photos courtesy of Dana Fineman, Will Thoren and Tanita Ross-Cady.) We’ll have more photos from day two and three of the Summit tomorrow. A huge thanks to event director Kim Derevlany who made everything run so smoothly after many, many weeks of hard work and very long days!
