'Huge day for our Wolfpack': Wolfwalkers nominated for Oscar, no nod for Arracht
Wolfwalkers. Picture: Cartoon Saloon.
An animated film co-produced by an Irish studio has been nominated for an Oscar.
Actor Priyanka Chopra and her husband, singer Nick Jonas announced the nominations for the 93rd Oscars at a live-streamed ceremony this afternoon.
Wolfwalkers received a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2021 ceremony. It is up against Onward, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, and Soul for the award.
The critically acclaimed film has also been nominated for a Bafta but it missed out on a Golden Globe award earlier this month, with Pixar’s Soul getting the nod in that instance.
Director Tomm Moore said the nomination was a “huge day for our Wolfpack in Kilkenny, Paris, Luxembourg and beyond.”
The Cartoon Saloon team thanked the Academy for the nomination and offered congratulations to directors Moore and Ross Stewart plus “the whole team involved in the production and our co-production partners Melusine/Studio 352.”
Set in 17th-century Ireland, Wolfwalkers tells of Robyn, the daughter of an Englishman sent to Ireland both to rule over the locals and wipe out the wolf population. But when Robyn meets feisty Mebh, who walks and lives with the wolves, she begins to question her family’s intentions.
The fantasy film was made by Melusine Productions and Cartoon Saloon, which is based in Co Kilkenny and received previous Oscar nominations for The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea.
This is the third nomination in this category for Tomm Moore of Cartoon Saloon and the second nomination for Paul Young.
Arracht missed out on a nomination for Best International Feature Film. The highly-rated Irish-language thriller set in the pre-Famine era was considered a strong contender for a nomination after it was submitted as Ireland's entry for the award.
A record number of women received nominations for this year’s awards, with 70 women receiving 76 nominations. Chloé Zhao is the first woman to receive four nominations in a single year as well as the first woman of colour to be nominated for Directing. It is the first time more than one woman has been nominated for Directing in the same year, with Zhao and Emerald Fennell competing in the category against Thomas Vinterberg, David Fincher and Lee Isaac Chung.
Frances McDormand, who was nominated for her role in Nomadland, is the third woman after Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey to have both an acting and a Best Picture nomination.
Chadwick Boseman was nominated for a posthumous Oscar for his last film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. His co-star, Viola Davis, was nominated for Best Actress, her fourth Oscar nomination. She is now the most-nominated black actress ever, and the only black woman with two Best Actress nominations.
The Oscars significantly expanded its voting body over the past year, inviting more than 800 new members, after it faced criticism for the lack of diversity in its nominations in last year’s ceremony.
The Academy Awards, which were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, are scheduled to take place on April 25.
