‘The Red Turtle’ wins independent prize at Annie Awards

LOS ANGELES –Walt Disney Animation Studio’s “Zootopia” won the Best Animated Feature honor at the annual Annie Awards, while “The Red Turtle,” produced by Japan’s Studio Ghibli and others, took the Best Animated Feature-Independent award Saturday.

A film by Japanese director Makoto Shinkai, “Your Name.” went without an award despite it seeing success in Japan and many other countries. The film was nominated for the independent prize and for the outstanding achievement prize in directing in an animated feature.

The Red Turtle, directed by Dutch-British animator Michael Dudok de Wit, is the first film made by a non-Japanese director at the Studio Ghibli animation company best known for the works of award-winning Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki.

Independent award nominees come from a pool of animated films that have been shown in fewer than 1,000 theaters in the United States.

Mamoru Oshii, a Japanese director, as well as Dale Baer and animation pioneer Caroline Leaf were presented with the Winsor McCay Award for their contribution to the art of animation.