Animation Society Presents Awards

The International Animated Film Society is giving its Annie awards to Kihachiro Kawamoto, Tissa David, Virgil Ross, Ralph Bakshi and the late Bob Clampett this year. The awards were scheduled to be presented at a banquet ceremony scheduled for Friday night at the Universal Studios Hitchcock Theater.

The bronze trophy is given annually to recognize career achievements in animation.

Kawamoto made the first Japanese puppet animation films in 1953. Although his work has rarely been screened in America, Kawamoto has received numerous international awards.

David is one of the few women working as a professional animator. She is best known for her animation of children, notably the little girls in the Hubley Studio’s award-winning “Cockaboody.”

Ross spent three decades animating Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, et al.

Bakshi’s X-rated “Fritz the Cat” (1972) helped to revive theatrical animation at time when audiences had lost interest in the medium. He subsequently made seven other theatrical features.

The creator of Cecil, the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent, Bob Clampett (1913-1984) is widely regarded as one of animation’s most individual and eccentric talents.