Coco director Lee Unkrich dedicates Best Animated Feature Oscar to Mexico: 'Representation matters'

Pixar’s colorful Day of the Dead-inspired Coco won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

“Coco is proof that art can change and connect the world, and this can only be done when we have a place where everyone and anyone who feels like another to be heard,” said producer Darla K. Anderson, who accepted the award with director (and Pixar vet) Lee Unkrich.

“The biggest thank you of all [goes] to the people of Mexico,” said Unkrich. “Coco could not exist without your endlessly beautiful culture and traditions. With Coco, we tried to take a step forward toward a world where all children can grow up seeing characters in movies that look and talk and live like they do. Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters.”

A critically acclaimed fantasy-adventure drama, Coco follows 12-year-old Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez), a budding musician who loves playing the guitar even though his family disapproves of music because of a disgraced relative generations before him. When Miguel disobeys his family, he magically winds up in the Land of the Dead, where he learns his family history and encounters his ancestors to find his way back to the land of the living.

Coco marks director Unkrich’s second Oscar win after his 2010 win for Toy Story 3 in the same category. (He was also nominated that year for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film.) Anderson has one previous nomination — for Toy Story 3 in the Best Picture category — making this win her first win. As for Pixar, Coco continues a now seven-film winning streak for the storied animation studio, and is the studio’s ninth Best Animated Feature film overall. (The only nominees Pixar did not take the trophy home for, out of 11 total nominations in the category, are Monsters, Inc. and Cars.)

The film beat out fellow nominees The Boss Baby, The Breadwinner, Ferdinand, and Loving Vincent. For the full list of 2018 Oscar winners, click here.