‘Inside Out’ Wins BAFTA for Best Animated Film

Pixar’s Inside Out has won the 69th BAFTA (British Academy Film Television Awards) for Best Animated Film. The BAFTA for Best British Animated Short was presented to Nina Gantz for Edmond.

Comedian Eddie Izzard presented the award for Best Animated Film and announced the nominees, including Shaun the Sheep Movie and Minions, but it was Inside Out that took the award home. Director Pete Docter was present to receive the award and began his speech by announcing his gratitude and surprise that a “charming domestic farm animal” was not the one standing where he was. He was, of course, referring to British stop-motion film Shaun the Sheep.

Docter explained in his acceptance speech that the movie is set “inside the mind of an eleven-year-old girl” and how this was difficult but not as difficult as “being eleven”. He continues to discuss how, at such a young age, it’s “Okay to feel scared or angry or sad. But please, do us a favor, and express yourself. Sing, write, draw. The world will be a better place for it”. After receiving a heartfelt applause from the audience for this, he takes the opportunity to thank his team and everyone at Pixar and Disney for supporting the film. Lastly, he thanks his wife, who was present at the ceremony, who he explains “kept the family together even as the film was falling apart”.

Dutch Director Nina Gantz and producer Emilie Jouffroy were also both present to collect the BAFTA for Edmond. Gantz mentioned in her speech how she thought about the central character a year ago and how people could “empathize” with him. Edmond is a stop-motion animated short about an oddball character who explores the past and the deepest parts of his psyche in pursuit of self-understanding. Gantz is now currently working in the UK on her first feature film.

What do you think of the BAFTA winners? Who would you have picked?

Edited by: Morgan Stradling