The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony was held this weekend, and it was a bit different than in previous years. The ceremony proceeded smoothly, however, still several months after the original date of February 28 and broadcast from two venues (Los Angeles Union Station and Dolby Theater) with audience participation. The film by Pixar Animation Studio Soul won the Oscar for the best full-length animated film, beating other nominees: Onward, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and Wolfwalkers. This is the first time two Pixar films have been nominated in this category in the same year.
Director Pete Docter explains why this production was made:
This movie started out as a love letter to jazz, but we had no idea how much jazz would teach us about life. We have no influence on what is happening, but we can, like a jazz musician, turn what is happening into something valuable and beautiful.
The main character in the film is Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a high school band teacher whose passion is jazz. A premature accident causes Gardner’s soul to be separated from his body and, instead of entering the posthumous life, reaches a place beyond the realm of the living where new souls prepare to descend to Earth, getting their personalities, interests and quirks. There, Gardner has to work with souls like 22 (Tina Fey) to return to Earth before his body dies.
The image is produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar, and distributed worldwide by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. If you haven’t seen Soul yet, check out the trailer below and see how writers Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers managed to create an animation about a passion for music with elements of fantasy.
