‘Zootopia,’ ‘Piper’ & ‘The Jungle Book’ Win Oscars at the 89th Academy Awards

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Zootopia, directed by Byron Howard & Rich Moore, was awarded the Oscar statuette for best animated feature on Sunday night at the televised live ceremony for the 89th Academy Awards, beating out LAIKA’s Kubo and the Two Strings, director Claude Barras’ My Life as a Zucchini, director Michael Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle, and fellow Disney feature Moana, directed by Ron Clements & John Musker.

“Wow, thank you guys so much. Thank you, Academy, this is an incredible honor,” Howard commented upon accepting the award. “About five years ago, almost six now, oh my god, we got this crazy idea to talk about humanity with talking animals in the hopes that when the film came out, it would make the world just a slightly better place.”

“And we are so grateful to the audiences all over the world who embraced this film with this story of tolerance being more powerful than fear of the other,” added Moore.

Zootopia producer Clark Spencer gave thanks to Bob Iger, Alan Horn, Alan Bergman, John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Andrew Millstein for “creating an amazing studio for us to work at. And every artist, technician and manager at Disney Animation who poured your heart and soul into this film, this award belongs to you.”

Director Alan Barillaro and producer Marc Sondheimer’s Piper, from Pixar Animation Studios, topped the animated short category, which also included Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj’s independently produced Borrowed Time, Robert Valley’s Pear, Cider and Cigarettes, produced by Passion Pictures, the NFB’s Blind Vaysha, directed by Theodore Ushev, and director Patrick Osborne’s Pearl, produced by Google Spotlight Stories.

“Honestly, we’re only here because of the kind support and mentorship of many,” Barillaro said from the stage. “I have to thank John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lindsey Collins, Jim Morris and Ed Catmull. My parents, my wife Nancy, my three little pipers at home who inspired this story: Theo, Cora, Marcello. I love you, and may you always have the courage to face your fears.”

“We share this award with everyone who worked on Piper,” Sondheimer added. “Thank you so much, especially in light of the great work of our fellow nominees. We are so deeply honored to take this award tonight, accept this award tonight. To my family and friends, I love you. To all of you who enjoyed Piper out there and wished us well throughout, thank you so much.”

On the visual effects side, Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon took home Oscar gold for Disney’s live-action remake of The Jungle Book, beating out the VFX teams from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Doctor Strange, Kubo and the Two Strings and Deepwater Horizon.

“Oh my god, thank you,” Legato, speaking for the team, said from the stage. “This never gets old, by the way. All great experiences start at the very top and I have to say that’s Alan Horn, who gave a fantastic job to Jon Favreau, a collaborative director, who is fantastic. Literally unprecedented support from all of the Disney brass, including Sean Bailey, Dave Taritero, Sam Dickerman, Pete Tobyansen and our producer, Brigham Taylor. And last but not least, these three gentleman geniuses behind me, who commandeered a thousand superb artists and contributed so greatly and made so many winning decisions that, you know, they actually got tired of winning. Like that’s a thing. I think I’m done. Thank you to all our artists. The next round of applause is for you, you deserve it as much as we do. Thank you so much.”

The full list of nominees and winners is shown below, with the winners marked in bold:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea -- WINNER
• Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
• Ryan Gosling in La La Land
• Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic
• Denzel Washington in Fences

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Mahershala Ali in Moonlight -- WINNER
• Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water
• Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea
• Dev Patel in Lion
• Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Isabelle Huppert in Elle
• Ruth Negga in Loving
• Natalie Portman in Jackie
• Emma Stone in La La Land -- WINNER
• Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Viola Davis in Fences -- WINNER
• Naomie Harris in Moonlight
• Nicole Kidman in Lion
• Octavia Spencer in Hidden Figures
• Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea

Best animated feature film of the year

• Kubo and the Two Strings – Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
• Moana – John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
• My Life as a Zucchini – Claude Barras and Max Karli
• The Red Turtle – Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
• Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer -- WINNER

Achievement in cinematography

• Arrival – Bradford Young
• La La Land – Linus Sandgren -- WINNER
• Lion Greig – Fraser
• Moonlight – James Laxton
• Silence – Rodrigo Prieto

Achievement in costume design

• Allied – Joanna Johnston
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood -- WINNER
• Florence Foster Jenkins – Consolata Boyle
• Jackie Madeline – Fontaine
• La La Land – Mary Zophres

Achievement in directing

• Arrival – Denis Villeneuve
• Hacksaw Ridge – Mel Gibson
• La La Land – Damien Chazelle -- WINNER
• Manchester – by the Sea Kenneth Lonergan
• Moonlight – Barry Jenkins

Best documentary feature

• Fire at Sea – Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
• I Am Not Your Negro – Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck
• Life, Animated – Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
• O.J.: Made in America – Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow -- WINNER
• 13th – Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish

Best documentary short subject

• Extremis – Dan Krauss
• 4.1 Miles – Daphne Matziaraki
• Joe’s Violin Kahane – Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
• Watani: My Homeland – Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
• The White Helmets – Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara -- WINNER

Achievement in film editing

• Arrival – Joe Walker
• Hacksaw Ridge – John Gilbert -- WINNER
• Hell or High Water – Jake Roberts
• La La Land – Tom Cross
• Moonlight – Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Best foreign language film of the year

• Land of Mine – Denmark
• A Man Called Ove – Sweden
• The Salesman – Iran -- WINNER
• Tanna – Australia
• Toni Erdmann – Germany

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

• A Man Called Ove – Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
• Star Trek Beyond – Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo
• Suicide Squad – Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson -- WINNER

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• Jackie Mica – Levi
• La La Land – Justin Hurwitz -- WINNER
• Lion – Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
• Moonlight – Nicholas Britell
• Passengers – Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• Audition (The Fools Who Dream) from La La Land, Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
• Can’t Stop The Feeling from Trolls, Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
• City Of Stars from La La Land, Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul -- WINNER
• The Empty Chair from Jim: The James Foley Story, Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
• How Far I’ll Go from Moana, Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Best motion picture of the year

• Arrival – Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde, Producers
• Fences – Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers
• Hacksaw Ridge – Bill Mechanic and David Permut, Producers
• Hell or High Water – Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers
• Hidden Figures – Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers
• La La Land – Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers
• Lion – Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers
• Manchester by the Sea – Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers
• Moonlight – Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers -- WINNER

Achievement in production design

• Arrival – Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Paul Hotte
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
• Hail, Caesar! – Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
• La La Land – Production Design: David Wasco; Set Decoration: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco -- WINNER
• Passengers – Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena

Best animated short film

• Blind Vaysha – Theodore Ushev
• Borrowed Time – Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Robert Valley and Cara Speller
• Pearl – Patrick Osborne
• Piper – Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer -- WINNER

Best live action short film

• Ennemis Intérieurs – Sélim Azzazi
• La Femme et le TGV – Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
• Silent Nights – Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
• Sing – Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy -- WINNER
• Timecode – Juanjo Giménez

Achievement in sound editing

• Arrival – Sylvain Bellemare -- WINNER
• Deepwater Horizon – Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli
• Hacksaw Ridge – Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
• La La Land – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
• Sully – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Achievement in sound mixing

• Arrival – Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye
• Hacksaw Ridge – Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace -- WINNER
• La La Land – Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth

Achievement in visual effects

• Deepwater Horizon – Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
• Doctor Strange – Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
• The Jungle Book – Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon -- WINNER
• Kubo and the Two Strings – Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Adapted screenplay

• Arrival – Screenplay by Eric Heisserer
• Fences – Screenplay by August Wilson
• Hidden Figures – Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
• Lion – Screenplay by Luke Davies
• Moonlight – Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney -- WINNER

Original screenplay

• Hell or High Water – Written by Taylor Sheridan
• La La Land – Written by Damien Chazelle
• The Lobster – Written by Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
• Manchester by the Sea – Written by Kenneth Lonergan -- WINNER
• 20th Century Women – Written by Mike Mills

Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.