Feb 8, 2022

"Flee" makes Oscar history with nominations for animated feature, documentary and international feature

The nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards have been announced, and it's a banner year for the animation art form.

Animation was nominated in seven different categories: the standard three (animated feature, animated short, visual effects), as well as documentary feature (Flee), international feature (Flee, representing Denmark), original score (Encanto), and original song (“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto).

Flee is easily the most remarkable story this morning. In addition to its other categories, it earned a third nomination in the animated feature category. No animated film has ever come close to pulling off this hat trick of key film category nominations. It's a powerful statement about animation's power as a storytelling medium and its ability to transcend even the Academy's self-ghettoization of the art form.

Stay tuned to Cartoon Brew all morning for further in-depth analysis of all of the nominees, as well as reactions from the nominees. For now, here are all the nominees in the animation categories:

Pictured at top: “Bestia,” “Flee,” “Affairs of the Art,” “Encanto”