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The animated category seemed at first glance to be wide open, with Hayao Miyazaki’s critically acclaimed film The Boy and The Heron leading the pack by only the tiniest of margins. Miyazaki faced strong competition on home turf from the local entry Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the latest and only the second stop-motion in the popular franchise from Bristol’s much-loved Aardman Animations.
Both films were up against the might of Hollywood, in the shape of Pixar’s not-much-loved family film Elemental , which premiered at Cannes, and Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, believed to be the most likely winner, furthering the studio’s commitment to cutting-edge animation and proving an unlikely franchise of its own with is use of myriad styles to reflect the kaleidoscopic nature of the multiverse.
That Miyazaki won bodes well for the Japanese auteur’s Oscar chances, ending an 18-year streak of US-funded productions winning Best Animated Film at the BAFTAs that began in 2006 with Happy Feet, and making it the first Japanese production ever to win the title. Surprisingly, it’s also also the first win for 83-year-old Miyazaki, who has a loyal following in the UK.
Less surprisingly, and in synch with his apparent determination to make this his last film as director, the enigmatic auteur declined to appear to collect his award, making no comment and leaving it in the capable hands of presenters Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, stars of All of Us Strangers. The Boy and The Heron, in a which a young boy, in typical magical Miyazaki style, befriends a talking bird, premiered in its homeland in July before rolling out internationally in December.
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