CONGRATS TO ANNIE AWARD WINNERS

The ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards ceremony and party Saturday evening was an unqualified success. The award show has been growing and growing for several years and yesterday’s event certainly hit a new high – with a sold out theatre, Hollywood celebrities and animators from both out of state and out of the U.S. It felt more like an international festival than our usual local shindig.Seemed like everyone was there, and there were many memorable moments – John Canemaker giving Tyrus Wong his Winsor McCay Award, June Foray awarding Mark Kausler a special achievement honor, Tom Kenny’s hilarious ad libs, the touching tribute to Joe Ranft, and Nick Park and Steve Box’s numerous (and deserved) returns to the stage. I even enjoyed Seth MacFarlane and Jason Alexander’s on-stage schtick. William Shatner, Patrick Warburton, Brad Bird and Craig T. Nelson were hilarious as presenters.I especially felt good about the non-Wallace & Gromit winners: i.e. best short, THE FAN AND THE FLOWER by Bill Plympton and Dan O’Shannon; Ernie Gilbert’s character designs, and Acme Filmworks’ United Airlines commercial. Congratulations to all winners and nominees – and thank you ASIFA-Hollywood for a night to remember.