Before going I had not fully seen any of the five films. Before the Oscars aired on Sunday I had watched 3 of the 5. Now, I will admit, I was on a plane and someone had rented The Boss Baby and while I didn’t have sound, I could tell the story just from the bits I had seen. Sure, this may be the joke of the Oscar season, but after hearing the filmmakers speak about it, I understand why it was nominated. I also haven’t seen Ferdinand.
From left: Host Byron Howard with Animated Feature Film nominees Carlos Saldanha, director, “Ferdinand”; Tom McGrath, director, “The Boss Baby”; Lori Forte, producer, “Ferdinand”; Anthony Leo, producer,“The Breadwinner”; Ramsey Naito, producer,“The Boss Baby”; Nora Twomey, director, “The Breadwinner”; Ivan Mactaggart, producer, “Loving Vincent”; Darla K. Anderson, producer, “Coco”; Dorota Kobiela, director, Hugh Welchman, director, “Loving Vincent”; prior to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Oscar Week: Animated Features” event on Thursday, February 29, 2018 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The five nominees include CG animation in Coco, Ferdinand and The Boss Baby. The Breadwinner is 2D and then Loving Vincent is the first fully hand-painted feature. The movies are diverse in the countries they represent. Coco takes place in Mexico, The Boss Baby in the US. Ferdinand about the bull fights in Spain. The Breadwinner takes place in Afghanistan and Loving Vincent takes place in France.
Winner
We know now that Coco has won. And long live, long love Pixar – and deservedly so – I purchased Coco without having seen it in the theaters. I know I know. I should have gone. It is a visually stunning and gorgeous story that I cried at. Almost everyone saw Coco in the theaters. It was a Disney/Pixar film that a marketing machine behind it.
I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/35VDbjLwi3
— REMEZCLA (@REMEZCLA) March 5, 2018
Now I’m not saying that Coco didn’t deserve to win, but I wanted to focus on two smaller features Loving Vincent and The Breadwinner.
The Breadwinner
This movie is about an 11-year old girl growing up in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan who disguises herself as a boy to help support her family. Here’s the trailer:
Host Byron Howard with Animated Feature Film nominees Nora Twomey, director, and Anthony Leo, producer, “The Breadwinner”; during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Oscar Week: Animated Features” event on Thursday, February 29, 2018 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Producer Anthony Leo spoke about how he was on a class trip with his daughter and someone there had the book and read a chapter aloud one night. At the end of the night the entire group had gathered around completely engrossed. Each night together as a group they took turns reading the book until it was done. The clip they showed was so moving I was crying. I immediately pulled out my phone, I know, faux pas, but I had to order the book ASAP. I ordered one for my best friend too. Get the Amazon Movie Tie-in
The movie is available on Netflix right now, I’m telling you, you should watch it. Perhaps it is more about the story than the animation but this is a film you’ll want to have in your collection or queue.
And if you want a look at bacha posh, the term for girls raised and dressing as boys in Afghanistan, here is a National Geographic feature on the subject.
Loving Vincent
Loving Vincent is not your typical animated film. And before we go any further, you must know, I love Van Gogh. I haven’t read all of the letters, but many of them. I love his famous paintings but also his orchards and wheat fields, the Almond Blossoms and The Red Vineyard. One of my FAVORITE episodes of Doctor Who featured The Church at Auvers.
But this film, Loving Vincent, stars Douglas Booth who was tasked with delivering Vincent’s final letter and ends up investigating his final days. Van Gogh died of a gunshot wound but this film explores the possibility and mystery of something more.
Watch the trailer:
Co-directors Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela are a husband and wife team who met many years ago. She read Vincent’s letters when she was 15. When they met, Hugh knew nothing about Vincent and she taught him over copious amounts of tequila. He went home and read everything he could get his hands on.
From left: Animated Feature Film nominees Hugh Welchman, director, Dorota Kobiela, director, and Ivan Mactaggart, producer, “Loving Vincent” prior to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Oscar Week: Animated Features” event on Thursday, February 29, 2018 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
They did a kickstarter for painter training and much of their film production came from kickstarter funders who believed in the film. They found 125 people who could paint like Van Gogh by holding auditions for painters in Poland. Their “recruitment video” had gone viral and people from all around the world applied to paint on the movie. In the end there were painters from 21 countries and 61% of them were female.
In a conversation about the film with the BBC, Dorota Kobiela shared that it too approximately 2 weeks to paint one second of the film. There were over 65,000 canvases used for the film and now only 10% of the paintings remaining after the filming process!
Here is a picture of the canvas I saw at the event that is now part of the Academy Museum. It doesn’t do the images justice but believe it me was stunning.
Photo of one of the canvases from Loving Vincent.
Added little bonus: I told you I loved Van Gogh, and here is a clip from my favorite Doctor Who where Bill Nighy explains where he rates as a painter.
