Encanto won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature tonight, beating out Flee, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and two other Disney animated features, Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon.
This is Jared Bush and Yvett Merino’s first Oscar nomination and win, as well as the second win and third nomination for both Byron Howard and Clark Spencer. Howard and Spencer won for Best Animated Feature in 2017 for Zootopia.
“I am so proud to be a part of a film that puts beautiful diverse characters front and center,” says Merino, “and that people everywhere are seeing themselves in the film.”
Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, and co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, this Disney musical animated film features original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Encanto takes place in a magical town sheltered by mountains. As she is fleeing from her home, Alma Madrigal (María Cecilia Botero) loses her husband and prays for a miracle to save her three children. The candle she was holding becomes magical and builds an “encanto” around the refugees, blasts away the invaders, and builds a sentient house for her family to live in. The candle gave magical gifts to Alma’s family for 50 years, until her granddaughter Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) mysteriously receives no gift. Mirabel starts to notice cracks forming in the house and goes on a quest to fix the magic of the candle, without the aid of any special gifts herself.
“We have some key people to thank,” says Howard. “Our incomparable Lin-Manuel Miranda and Germaine Franco, and Charise Castro Smith, our co-director and the heart of the madrigal family.”
“…and we have to thank the entire country of Colombia,” Bush added.
Encanto is nominated for Best Score and Best Original Song for “Dos Oruguitas.”
