‘Flee’ Makes Oscar History With Nominations For Animated Feature, Documentary, And International Feature

The nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards have been announced, and it’s a banner year for the animation art form.

Animation was nominated in seven different categories: the standard three (animated feature, animated short, visual effects), as well as documentary feature (Flee), international feature (Flee, representing Denmark), original score (Encanto), and original song (“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto).

Flee is easily the most remarkable story this morning. In addition to its other categories, it earned a third nomination in the animated feature category. No animated film has ever come close to pulling off this hat trick of key film category nominations. It’s a powerful statement about animation’s power as a storytelling medium and its ability to transcend even the Academy’s self-ghettoization of the art form.

Stay tuned to Cartoon Brew all morning for further in-depth analysis of all of the nominees, as well as reactions from the nominees. For now, here are all the nominees in the animation categories:

Animated Feature

• Encanto
  Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, Clark Spencer
• Flee
  Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte de La Gournerie
• Luca
  Enrico Casarosa, Andrea Warren
• The Mitchells vs The Machines
  Michael Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kurt Albrecht
• Raya and the Last Dragon
  Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer, Peter Del Vecho

Animated Short Film

• Affairs of the Art
  Joanna Quinn, Les Mills (U.K./Canada)
• Bestia
  Hugo Covarrubias, Tevo Díaz (Chile)
• Boxballet
  Anton Dyakov (Russia)
• Robin Robin
  Dan Ojari, Mikey Please (UK)
• Windshield Wiper
  Albert Mielgo, Leo Sanchez (U.S./Spain)

Visual Effects

• Dune
  Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, Gerd Nefzer
• Free Guy
  Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis, Dan Sudick
• No Time to Die
  Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner, Chris Corbould
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker, Dan Oliver
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
  Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scot Edelstein, Dan Sudick

Pictured at top: “Bestia,” “Flee,” “Affairs of the Art,” “Encanto”