In Animation, the Academy Remains US-Studio Dominated

Vassilis Kroustallis 27 June 2014

The latest invitation of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to 271 artists to join its ranks, at least in the field of animation, stills favors US studio animation artists over their European and US independent/Asian colleagues. Out of the 22 animators invited for a Academy membership (and deservedly so), only 6 participate in non-US studio productions.

And while Laura McMullan (Get A Horse! Wreck-It Ralph) has been invited to join the Academy, neither Dan Sousa (Feral), Shuhei Morita (Possessions) or Max Lang and Jan Langhauer (Room on the Broom), all of them nominated for Best Animation Short this year, received a similar invitation.

Only the Oscar recipient Laurent Witz (Mr. Hublot) is the indie name of this year's animation short race to feature in the Academy list. French producer Didier Brunner, the founder and former director of Les Armateurs gets an invitation, after the Oscar-nominated Ernest & Celestine, as well as the film's director, Benjamin Renner.

Amid Amidi reminds that Hayo Miyazaki (another name in the Academy's invitation list) has already been invited in the past to join the Academy, but he refused. His present attitude is uncertain. Miyazaki is invited along with his longtime Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki.

Aardman veteran Michael Rose, who produced the Oscar-nominated films Gruffalo's Child and Chico & Rita, is among the invitees.

One more French is invited for his work in a US film: Pierre Coffin, co-director of the Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 (an Illumination Entertainment production), along with his US co-director Chris Renaud.

This US-studio selective invitation practice will only result in more European and indie animation films being shut out of consideration even at the early pre-selection stage.

The complete invitation list:

Short Films (Live Action & Short Animation) and Feature Animation
Didier Brunner – "Ernest & Celestine," "The Triplets of Belleville"
Scott Clark – "Monsters University," "Up"
Pierre Coffin – "Despicable Me 2," "Despicable Me"
Esteban Crespo – "Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)," "Lala"
Peter Del Vecho – "Frozen," "The Princess and the Frog"
Kirk DeMicco – "The Croods," "Space Chimps"
Doug Frankel – "Brave," "WALL-E"
Mark Gill – "The Voorman Problem," "Full Time"
David A. S. James – "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," "Megamind"
Fabrice Joubert – "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," "French Roast"
Jean-Claude Kalache – "Up," "Cars"
Jason Katz – "Toy Story 3," "Finding Nemo"
Jennifer Lee – "Frozen," "Wreck-It Ralph"
Baldwin Li – "The Voorman Problem," "Full Time"
Nathan Loofbourrow – "Puss in Boots," "How to Train Your Dragon"
Lauren MacMullan – "Get a Horse!," "Wreck-It Ralph"
Tom McGrath – "Megamind," "Madagascar"
Dorothy McKim – "Get a Horse!," "Meet the Robinsons"
Hayao Miyazaki – "The Wind Rises," "Spirited Away"
Ricky Nierva – "Monsters University," "Up"
Chris Renaud – "Despicable Me 2," "Despicable Me"
Benjamin Renner – "Ernest & Celestine," "A Mouse's Tale (La Queue de la Souris)"
Michael Rose – "Chico & Rita," "The Gruffalo"
Toshio Suzuki – "The Wind Rises," "Howl's Moving Castle"
Selma Vilhunen – "Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitta? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?),"
"The Crossroads"
Anders Walter – "Helium," "9 Meter"
Laurent Witz – "Mr. Hublot," "Renart the Fox"

Visual Effects
Gary Brozenich – "The Lone Ranger," "Wrath of the Titans"
Everett Burrell – "Grudge Match," "Pan's Labyrinth"
Marc Chu – "Noah," "Marvel's The Avengers"
David Fletcher – "Sabotage," "Prisoners"
Swen Gillberg – "Ender's Game," "Jack the Giant Slayer"
Paul Graff – "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Identity Thief"
Alex Henning – "Star Trek Into Darkness," "Hugo"
Evan Jacobs – "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Olympus Has Fallen"
Chris Lawrence – "Edge of Tomorrow," "Gravity"
Eric Leven – "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2," "The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn Part 1"
Steven Messing – "Godzilla," "Oz The Great and Powerful"
Ben Matthew Morris – "Lincoln," "The Golden Compass"
Jake Morrison – "Thor: The Dark World," "Marvel's The Avengers"
Eric Reynolds – "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," "The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire"
David Shirk – "Gravity," "Elysium"
Patrick Tubach – "Star Trek Into Darkness," "Marvel's The Avengers"
Bruno Van Zeebroeck – "Lone Survivor," "Public Enemies"
Tim Webber – "Gravity," "The Dark Knight"
Harold Weed – "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," "Star Trek"