Lowvelder, Daniel Snaddon, shortlisted for The Snail and the Whale Oscar award

MBOMBELA – An animated short film about a tiny snail on an amazing journey on the tail of a huge humpback whale, made the shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards.

This was recently announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Snail and the Whale, co-directed by homegrown talent, Daniel Snaddon, is one of ten films that will advance in the animated short film category for the awards. Ninety-six films qualified in the category.

Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch will now vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

Daniel became a Lowvelder in 1988 and attended Uplands from 1989 to 1995, followed by Penryn from 1996 to 2000.

He later became the director of the BBC’s Zog and The Snail and the Whale, the co-director of Stick-Man and animation supervisor of Revolting Rhymes.
The Snail and the Whale was directed by Daniel and Max Lang for Magic Light Pictures at Triggerfish Animation Studios.

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“Triggerfish as a studio has racked up some pretty neat awards with the films we’ve made together, including the Cristal for best TV production in 2015 for Stick Man, the BAFTA and an International Emmy for Revolting Rhymes (which also received an Oscar nomination) in 2017, and a Royal Television Society Award and an International Emmy for Zog which I directed with Max Lang,” he said.

Born in the USA, he is a Lowveld boytjie at heart, who believes it was these very surroundings and endearing upbringing that gave him the edge to be the successful director of the award-winning animation studio he is today.

Nominations voting begins on March 5 and concludes on March 10. Nominations for the 2021 Oscars will be announced on March 15 and the Oscars will air on April 25.

Watch the trailer for The Snail and the Whale here: