Variety will honor Joel Crawford, the DreamWorks Animation filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and the upcoming “Forgotten Island,” with the Creative Impact in Animation Award at this year’s SCAD AnimationFest.
The honor will be presented Sept. 25 at SCADshow in Atlanta, where Crawford’s latest feature “Forgotten Island” will screen. The festival runs Sept. 23 through 25. Past recipients of the award include Chris Miller, director of “Smurfs”; Nick Park, director of “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”; and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson.
“SCAD is honored to partner with Variety in presenting the Creative Impact Award in Animation to Joel Crawford,” says Christina Routhier, senior executive director of SCAD theaters and festivals. “Joel’s work reflects a rare balance of technical mastery and heartfelt storytelling and we’re excited to screen his latest project ‘Forgotten Island.’ For our SCAD animation students, his career is a powerful example of how bold creative risks and a deeply personal point of view can shape the future of the medium. We are thrilled to celebrate his contributions to animation at SCAD AnimationFest.”
Crawford recently completed “Forgotten Island,” which he wrote and directed alongside longtime collaborator Januel Mercado. The film features the voices of H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto and Lea Salonga, and Universal Pictures releases it in theaters Sept. 25.
The recognition caps a fast climb through the studio system. Crawford married his love of the spaghetti western with a taste for absurdist comedy on “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” the DreamWorks Animation and Universal hit starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek Pinault that drew Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations and amassed nearly half a billion dollars at the global box office. He made his feature directorial debut on “The Croods: A New Age,” and after serving as head of story on the 2016 musical “Trolls,” he directed the animated “Trolls Holiday” special for NBC.
Crawford joined DreamWorks Animation in 2006 and became an integral part of its story department, contributing to “Trolls,” “Shrek Forever After,” “Rise of the Guardians,” “Bee Movie” and all three “Kung Fu Panda” films. His earlier story credits include “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.”
A native of Southern California by way of Hawaii, Crawford attended the California Institute of the Arts and worked as a caricature artist at Six Flags Magic Mountain before joining Nickelodeon. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ASIFA-Hollywood. The SCAD honor marks a full-circle moment. In 2023, the university awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for his contributions to animation.