Netflix VP of Original Animation Melissa Cobb and filmmaker and artist Brenda Lopez are among the honorees at this year’s WIA Diversity Awards. WIA (Women in Animation) President Marge Dean will present the awards tomorrow night, October 24, at the Spark Animation fest in Vancouver, Canada.
The WIA Diversity Awards “recognize and honor individuals, films, and organizations that have made a significant impact in expanding the diversity of voices in the art and industry of animation, either through their own creative work, by fostering the work of others, or by leading diversity initiatives that enrich our industry and society,” a press release detailed.
WIA voted to honor Cobb because of her track record supporting women creators at Netflix. “Ranging from feature films such as Nora Twomey’s ‘My Father’s Dragon’ in Ireland and Gurinder Chadha’s ‘Pashmina‘ in India to kids series like Elizabeth Ito’s ‘City of Ghosts’ and Megan Nicole Dong’s ‘Centaurworld’ in Hollywood, Cobb is making great strides to empower the next generation of female animation directors and showrunners by putting them in the highest leadership positions on their Netflix series and films,” the organization stated.
“Melissa Cobb was selected for this award because her commitment to diversity — including hiring many first-time filmmakers and showrunners — is greater than any other studio executive in the past year,” commented WIA VP Jinko Gotoh, “At Annecy 2018 she asked me for recommendations of female directors and I gave her a list of three first-time filmmakers. They’re all now at Netflix. How empowering and cool is that?”
Cobb served as a film producer on the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise, for which she received two PGA Award nominations.
Lopez will receive a juried prize from Spark Computer Graphics Society for her short film “ABEO,” a mixed-media tale following two immigrants journeying across the Arizona desert. Lopez’s film was lauded for “its clever and unique use of mixed media to effectively tell a powerful story of survival.”
A Mexican-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal, Lopez recently finished her graduation film at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema’s Film Animation Program. She is particularly interested in creating “socially engaged content.”
The WIA Diversity Awards will also recognize Sony Pictures Animation for its inclusive filmography, including Oscar winner “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and short “Hair Love.” The latter centers on the relationship between a black dad, his daughter, and her hair. Karen Toliver, exec vp of Creative at Sony Pictures Animation, will accept the honor on the studio’s behalf.
“Women in Animation is thrilled to spotlight and celebrate the organizations and artists who are making a difference in WIA’s mission of reaching 50/50 by 2025, and we continue to be grateful to Spark CG for their ongoing support of the WIA Diversity Awards,” said Dean. “Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees for their enormous contributions to this cause.”
Spark Animation will take place October 24-27.
