Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
THE ANGELS – Mexican Guillermo del Toro already has three Oscars. As expected, his interpretation of the Italian classic “Pinocchio” won in the category of Best Animated Film. The 58-year-old filmmaker repeats the success of the 2017 Oscars, in which he won two golden statuettes –Best Picture and Best Director– for “The Shape of Water”.
“Animation is not a genre. Animation is cinema. Animation is ready to be taken to the next level. Help us keep animation in the conversation.”Del Toro said on stage as soon as he received the statuette from Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.
“I dedicate this award to the love of my life, my wife Kim, my children and my parents, who are no longer here,” concluded the man from Guadalajara.
This version of Pinocchio has surprised the public and critics for being darker and for deviating from the traditional interpretation, but also for the “stop motion” technique used. For two decades, all the winning films in this category used only digital animation. And although “Pinocchio” also uses the computer, the base starts with dolls developed at El Taller de Chucho, an animation studio in Guadalajara.
“In Latin America we can compete with anyone in creativity and passion”Del Toro said shortly after in the press room.
The films directed by del Toro, among which are also “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Nightmare Alley”, add 25 nominations and 8 Oscars.
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” –the official name of the film– had already won the same category at the Golden Globes, at the British BAFTA Awards and at the Critics Choice Awards.
“Argentina 1985” could not with “All Quiet on the Western Front”
The story of the trial of the Military Juntas of the dictatorship, “Argentina 1985”, starring Ricardo Darín, failed to repeat the success of “El Secreto de sus Ojos” in 2010, the last South American film to win the award.
Darín attended the gala with the director of the film, Santiago Mitre. It was the fourth film with Darín as the protagonist that had obtained the nomination for Best International Film in the last two decades.
But the prize went this time to “All Quiet on the Western Front”, a pacifist German film about the unreasonableness of war that places us in the trenches of World War I.
Alfonso Cuarón failed to win with “Le Pupille”
The one who did not win his fifth Oscar was Alfonso Cuarón. The 61-year-old Mexican filmmaker was nominated for Best Short Film for “Le Pupille,” the story of a girl in a strict Catholic boarding school in Italy during World War II. But the award went to “An Irish Goodbye.”
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