Beaten by Beginners

On the fateful 1990 Oscars in animation.

A still from Balance (1989)

The Oscars are almost here again. They have a long history with animation — the Academy has handed out prizes in this medium every year since 1932. There’s no more prestigious award for an animated film to win.

There’s also none more contentious. As writer Alex Dudok de Wit noted in a recent newsletter, the Oscars’ selection process for animation has deep, deep flaws. It’s easy to write off the awards for this reason, and many do. Yet “the Oscars are also important,” de Wit wrote, “because they influence what gets made.” Winning one can change an artist’s career overnight.

So, despite the problems, an Oscar is still a kind of pinnacle for those in animation. The story of an artist’s journey to the win can be inspiring. Just look at The Old Man and the Sea (1999), that grand, paint-on-glass spectacle by Russia’s Alexander Petrov.

At the same time, an Oscar is a kind of zero-sum game. Every win means a loss for the other nominees. The victor walks away with the statuette — and with the opportunities it brings. Losing an Oscar can be a bitter experience. Petrov himself felt that bite in March 1990, when his paint-on-glass masterpiece The Cow (1989) lost the prize.

Petrov has argued that “it is very important for an artist to win an Oscar.” The cachet is undeniable, and it opens doors. Sitting in the audience at the 1990 ceremony, he felt destined to get one himself. In his words:

I was absolutely sure that I would hear the title of my film and my name, and was already preparing to go on stage and take a bow. But they called a completely different film, and the one I thought was the weakest of the three nominees. I was shaking. I was so upset that the award didn’t go to me! I don’t know what got into me. I was just grief-stricken, and I went to the counter and drank vodka.¹