'Coco' sweeps Annie Awards with 11 wins

Associated Press

In this image released by Disney-Pixar, character Hector, voiced by Gael Garcia Bernal, left, and Miguel, voiced by Anthony Gonzalez, appear in a scene from the animated film, 'Coco.'

LOS ANGELES — Pixar's Coco swept the 45th Annie Awards, winning 11 trophies at the annual ceremony honoring the year's best in animation.

As expected, the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) tale was dominant at the Annies, held Saturday night at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles. In addition to best animated feature, Coco won for its direction (director Lee Unkrich and co-director Adrian Molina), best writing, voice acting (Anthony Gonzalez), music, animated effects and character animation.

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The strong showing only reinforces Coco as the favorite at the Oscars.

The Breadwinner, directed by Nora Twomey and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, won for best independent animated feature. Twomey, whose movie is about an Afghan girl growing up under Taliban rule, is the first solo woman director to win the award.

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