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91st Academy Awards – Creative Awards (Part 2)

Continuing my roundup of this year’s Oscars, I will be discussing more of the Creative awards handed out on Sunday night. In my first blog I spoke about the acting awards (here) and the following posts looked at the creative awards (here). The array of topics from the winners and nominees show just how varied this year has been internationally. Without further ado, here’s my take on Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, Best Short Documentary, Best Documentary, Best Animated Feature and Best Foreign Film.

Best Animated Short Film

It was obvious that this gong would go to Pixar short Bao. The first Pixar short created by women, it tells the story of a mother-son relationship between a woman and a dumpling. It is a beautiful metaphor that shows the ups and downs of family life as Bao grows up and eventually starts to make questionable life choices. This film wasn’t for everyone and it’s understandable why but I loved it and thought it was a very touching and maternal piece of work. It brought something new to the table at Pixar, whose repertoire as of late has consisted of sequels and prequels and showed why audiences fell in love with it in the first place by injecting the passion and originality voiced by the animators and artists who work there.

Best Live Action Short

The winner of this award was Skin, a story of modern day racism in American which follows a Neo-Nazi who is kidnapped by a group of African Americans after organising a racial attack of his own and he is then tattooed completely black. The win in this category shows the importance to tell stories about the racial divide that still exists today.

Best Short Documentary

Nothing felt better for my feminist heart than seeing a crowd of women fill the stage to accept an Oscar for a film about menstruation. Period. End of Sentence explores women living in India whose education had been cut short due to their periods due to a lack of access to sanitary pads. A group of women team up and begin to manufacture sanitary pads so young girls and women can go to school and worship at temples. It is a brilliant insight into global inequality and puts to rest the patriarchal belief that gender equality exists. It also opens the gate for non-white female filmmakers to talk about subjects that are considered taboo in the same vein as Pakistani filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid whose film, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness that explores the so-called honour killings in her home country previously won an Oscar in the same category three years ago. The bravery that these women have to exploit these issues shows how powerful the medium of film is in communicating these topics to a society that tends to cover it’s ears to the problem.

Best Documentary

Free Solo follows rock climber Alex Honnold as he attempts to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The filming itself proved to be a challenge as the production team had to ensure that Honnold was in no way hindered by bulky microphones or other film equipment. To do this they had a sound technician who knew how to rock climb and climbed alongside him. This is shows real innovation in filmmaking and brings a unique angle on this story rather than just having cameras at the top and bottom of the mountain.

Best Animated Feature

This year saw a welcome departure from the usual Disney win with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse winning the gong. It proved to be hugely popular mainly due to its inclusiveness in narrative as well as the animation itself which differs from the usual large-eyed computer animation that we have become accustomed to. This year also saw Wes Anderson’s return to animation with Isle of Dogs which was absolutely brilliant. Although not as strong as Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of Dogs gave the most star-studded cast from any of this year’s films and injected it into a tale about the love between a young boy and his dog.

Best Foreign Film

This category was one of the big competitions of the night. The pundits rightly put their money on Mexico’s entry, Roma, but it would be wrong to ignore the ferociously strong competition from Poland’s Cold War and Japan’s Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters. This year was a tremendous year for international film and I think Roma’s popularity specifically proves that mainstream audiences want to see non-English language films. There’s been a lot of debate on whether Roma should even qualify for awards season given that it is a Netflix film but I personally feel that using streaming it on Netflix means that millions of people will have a chance to watch a film that they may not ordinarily watch. I do think this debate played apart to its loss in the Best Picture race as I feel that the Academy may have felt that the Best Foreign Film win would suffice; however, there is no doubt that Roma was one of the most discussed films of the year and it won’t easily be forgotten.

That’s it for my second Creative awards roundup. My next post will look at the last batch of Creative awards: best song, best score, best costume design, best makeup and best Production design.

What do you think of the winners? Do you agree? Let me know in the comments below!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

When it comes to Disney’s history as a pioneering animation studio, there are plenty of key films that helped to make the company the leader in the industry today. I would argue that few of their feature films hold as much significance as their debut feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Released in 1937 to international acclaim from critics and audiences, Snow White is still a very much loved installment in the Disney filmography. It remains my favourite Disney film for a variety of reasons that makes it a hugely important presence in my film journey as well as how I view the filmmaking process. As a child who grew up on the films of Disney and Don Bluth, no other film affected me than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This is thanks to the special edition VHS I received for my birthday that had a mini documentary at the end which explored the making of the film. Viewing this glimpse into the film industry, how it works and how hard all of the departments worked to get a feature length animation out made the film viewing experience so much more exciting.

For those who may not know the plot, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs follows the titular character who is forced to run away from the Evil Queen after the latter becomes jealous of the former’s beauty. Snow White finds sanctuary in a small cottage inhabited by seven dwarfs who then do what they can to protect Snow White and hide her from the Queen. Based on the fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, Disney’s interpretation takes away the horror from the source material such as the apple core getting stuck in Snow White’s throat and makes it accessible for all audiences while incorporating the iconic designs often associated with Snow White in succeeding adaptations. This remains the most iconic adaptation of the fairytale with the designs and songs recognised around the globe.

As mentioned earlier, the reason why I love Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs so much isn’t necessarily due to the character development or the script but the innovation and approach to creating the film. Tasked with making sure that audiences are going to be attentive enough to sit through 80 minutes of animation, Disney had to be extremely calculated when it came to the plot. This is one of the reasons why the plot and the script is simple and linear so as not to challenge the audience too much. It’s a film that is showing off the latest in animation rather than boasting in depth characterisation. The craftsmanship that went into creating every scene is above and beyond complex and this is what draws me in time and time again. Even against the latest Disney releases, Snow White holds its own thanks to the detail and beauty in every frame. I think it’s easy to forget that it was the first ever technicolour animated feature film. That’s a huge feat in film history.

One aspect that I love the most is the use of colour and the various palettes used throughout, particularly in the expressionist forest scene when she is running away from the Evil Queen. Despite this being Disney’s first feature film, he doesn’t play it safe as the forest transforms and becomes a culmination of nightmares. The trees have faces and logs become alligators as Snow White runs deeper and deeper into the forest. The green, grey and black palette than opens up to a brighter spectrum as the eyes that have been following her are revealed to be friendly woodland creatures. The visual style is designed to put the audience at a state of unease as we flit to and fro between the happy, joyful moments with the dwarfs and the plotting Evil Queen who transforms into the Old Hag in a bid to kill Snow White.

Another iconic aspect of this film is the music. Drawing inspiration from the woodland creature trills for “Whistle While You Work” to incorporating the sound of the mine digging into “Heigh Ho”. Even if you haven’t seen this film, chances are that you have heard the songs at some point which shows how Disney was already pioneering not only the animation field but also defining the musical genre.

Overall, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has earned its place in film history and deservedly so. The chances are that you have seen the films or are familiar with the characters and songs if you haven’t because it has become so iconic. Although there are issues in terms of how it’s female protagonist is portrayed, Disney are showing improvements on this ground with their latest Princess films that feature more assertive and explored in more detail but what makes Snow White such a brilliant film isn’t necessarily the story but the amount of time and work that went into its creation.

What do you think of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Let me know in the comments below!