Cartoon Saloon’s Apple Original Film Wolfwalkers has won five awards at this year’s Annie Awards in the US, with the Kilkenny based animation studio also picking another award in the Best Sponsored category.
One of the world's most prestigious animation industry honours, the Annie Awards bestowed Wolfwalkers with prizes for Best Indie Film, Best Direction for Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, Best Character Design (Federico Pirovano), Best Production Design (María Pareja, Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore), and Best Voice Acting for young, Kildare actress Eva Whittaker for her performance as Mebh Óg MacTír.
Wolfwalkers is the third animated feature from two-time Academy Award©-nominee Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea) and Ross Stewart (ParaNorman, Song of the Sea). The film is co-produced by Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon and Melusine Productions, and follows Moore’s two prior Oscar-nominated animated features, The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, as well as Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated The Breadwinner.
Read our interview with directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart.
Presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association to recognise excellence in animation, the Kilkenny studio has previously enjoyed major Annie Awards-hauls with Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner also garnered 10 nominations in 2018. The film took home Best Independent Animated Feature, which also marked the first time a solo female director had won in the category.
Cartoon Saloon also won the prize for Best Sponsored content for a short film There’s a Monster in my Kitchen for Greenpeace, which they made in collaboration with creative company Mother London.
Disney and Pixar’s Soul emerged as the biggest winner on the night however picking up Best Feature, Character Animation, Effects for Feature, Writing, Editorial, Music, and Storyboarding. Having also won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Animated Feature, Soul is the frontrunner for the Oscar ahead of next week’s ceremony where it will compete with Apple and Cartoon Saloon’s Wolkwalkers once more.
Screen Ireland Chief Executive, Désirée Finnegan entended her congratulations to the entire Cartoon Saloon team on their achievement, stating “Irish animation continues its remarkable story of growth and success, and Cartoon Saloon’s beautiful and visionary work is a huge piece of that story. We are exceptionally proud to have supported Wolfwalkers, a story immersed in Irish culture and folklore, as it makes an impact on audiences at home and around the world.”
Wolfwalkers is currently available to watch on Apple TV+.