LOS ANGELES—A Filipino-American and a Filipino-Canadian won nominations in the same category in the 91st Oscars. Both animators, the two men were among…
LOS ANGELES—A Filipino-American and a Filipino-Canadian won nominations in the same category in the 91st Oscars. Both animators, the two men were among the ecstatic talents who learned on Tuesday morning (Tuesday evening, Manila time) that they snagged nods in the Academy’s 24 categories and had a chance to win the famous golden trophy.
Trevor Jimenez’s “Weekends” and Bobby Pontillas’ “One Small Step” were nominated in the best animated short film field, along with Alison Snowden and David Fine’s “Animal Behaviour,” Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb’s “Bao” and Louise Bagnall and Nuria Gonzalez Blanco’s “Late Afternoon.”
Trevor, who grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, works as a story artist at Pixar in California.
Bobby, who was nominated with his codirector Andrew Chesworth, was originally from Bremerton, Washington, and lives in Los Angeles, where he is the cofounder of Taiko Studios.
With Matthew Libatique bagging his second Oscar cinematography nomination for “A Star Is Born,” that’s a record three nominees of Filipino heritage in this year’s Academy race. Matthew earned his first cinematography citation for Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” (which starred Natalie Portman) in 2011.
Actors Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross announced the nominations at the Academy’s headquarters in Beverly Hills.
The following are the reaction quotes of some of the nominees:
Trevor Jimenez, best animated short film nominee – “Weekends”
(Via Twitter) I still can’t believe it. Thanks to all the friends and family for blowing up my phone and filling my office with balloons. You all made this moment truly special.
Bobby Pontillas, best animated short film nominee – “One Small Step”
(Via Instagram, his caption to a video that recorded his reaction just before and after seeing his name during the nominations announcement) At the risk of my embarrassment at 5 a.m., I’ll put this (video) here because I couldn’t be prouder of the team that worked hard to make this film happen.
