Zootopia 2, Two Black Boys In Paradise win BAFTAs

This year's award season is in full swing. Somewhere between The Golden Globes and The Oscars we find the BAFTA Film Awards- otherwise known as simply the BAFTAs. Voted on by the members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, they are essentially the UK's equivalent of The Academy Awards.

Animation was nominated for three categories this year. Most obviously in the Best Animated Film category (which was again relegated to "awards presented earlier" in the TV broadcast). Only three films were nominated this year. K-Pop Demon Hunters was conspicuous by its absence, due to it not having met the qualifying criteria in the UK. BAFTA made up for it by having the first live performance of the film's lead banger Golden outside of North America.

The three nominated films were: Disney's Zootroplis 2 (a.k.a. Zootopia 2), Pixar's Elio and Little Amelie also known as Little Amelie or the Character of Rain. And the ultimate winner on the night was... Zootroplis. This marks the third win for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Opening it up to the wider Disney family, Pixar have won the award eight times (so far).

It feels a bit like the safe choice, but Zootroplis/Zootopia is a crowd-pleaser so who's to say it's the wrong one?  Elio feels a bit like it's been nominated because it's Pixar rather than for its quality. Little Amelie faced the uphill struggle that independent and international films always do.

Zootropolis 2 also scored a second nomination in the new Best Children and Family Film. it was only awarded for the first time last year, when Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl won it. Zootropolis was nominated alongside Ugo Bienvenu's animated Arco, the live-action Lilo and Stitch and Indian feature Boong. Unfortunatley, there was no animated winner this year, and the BAFTA went to Boong.

The winner of the Special Visual Effects award was Avatar: Fire and Ash, overcoming competition from F1, The Lost Bus, Frankenstein and How To Train Your Dragon. 

Last, but by no means least, we come to the British Short Animation award. The nominees were JP Vine's Cardboard, Luke Angus's Solstice and Baz Sells' Two Black Boys in Paradise. On the night,the ultimate victor was Two Black Boys In Paradise.

The stop-motion animated film was based on the poem by Dean Atta, narrated by Jordan Stephens and directed by Baz Sells.

Poet and co-wriiter Dean Atta said of their win: ""I feel incredibly proud of our whole team. I'm glad we could bring so many people with us today to celebrate this journey which has been the ride of a lifetime and I'm really grateful to Baz and Ben for taking me on this journey with them.”

Producer Ben Jackson said "This means absolutely everything beyond my wildest dreams. Obviously, when we set out to make it, it wasn't with that in mind. We made the absolute best film we could and so many people gave so much to it over five years. So for everyone involved, I'm just really proud and really happy."

Director Baz Sells added "The recognition is incredibly welcome because so many people worked so hard. There were a lot of tough challenges that were only overcome because we had such an extraordinary crew. I'm so proud of Ben and Dean for bringing their stories to the screen and allowing us collectively to share it with the world."

The victory rounds up a very impressive two years for the nine-minute film, which took over five years to produce. It has screened at over 60 international festivals and has racked up a tally of 22 presigious prizes and awards including Portland Festival of Cinema, Big Fridge International Film Festival, Hollywood Queer Short Film Festival, Ealing Film Festival, the Oscar-qualifying Woodstock Film Festival, London Breeze Film Festival, Thessaloniki Animation Festival, Encounters Film Festival and Manchester Animation Festival.  

Produced by One6th Animation in Manchester, the film stars the two titular black boys, Edan and Dula. Together, they explore their love for one another, which transports them to a paradise free from shame and judgement.  Inspired by Atta's poem from his anthology There Is (Still) Love Here, the film explores the intersection of race, sexuality and indentity, tackling the realaities of racism and homophobia through a hopeful lense.

The film is currently available to view in the UK on Channel 4. You can also listen to our interview with Baz Sells and fellow nominee JP Vine as part of our Manchester Animation Festival  Special podcast.