Canadian animation won big at the 2026 Oscars on Sunday night, with Toronto’s Maggie Kang earning the best animated feature for KPop Demon Hunters.
Korean-Canadian filmmaker Kang, in an emotional acceptance speech, touted her win as a step forward for diversity. “For those of you who look like me, I’m sorry it took so long to see us in a movie like this, but it is here. And that means that the next generations don’t have to go longing,” Kang said while on stage alongside Chris Appelhaus, with whom she wrote and co-directed the hit Netflix animated movie, and producer Michelle Wong.
And it was second-time lucky for Montreal filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski as they earned the best animated short for their stop motion fable The Girl Who Cried Pearls from The National Film Board of Canada. “People think it takes patience to take five years to make a puppet film. It actually takes patience to live with someone who takes five years to make a puppet film,” Lavis said on stage at the awards show when thanking his wife Maya, and daughter Tully.
The Montreal duo earlier earned a 2008 Oscar nomination for their short film, Madame Tutli-Putli, which established a long relationship with the NFB, Canada’s public filmmaker that over the decades has with its productions and co-productions picked up 78 Academy Award nominations and 11 Oscars.
On stage to accept his own trophy, Szczerbowski thanked his family, the duo’s creative collaborators, including in their native Montreal. “We just really want to thank our amazing neighborhood and the amazingly talented community of artists that we had the superb luck to work with. Thank you fantastic city of Montreal. Thank you, Canada,” he added as both artists triumphantly raised their trophies into the air.
The Oscar-winning animation behind The Girl Who Cried Pearls follows a poor boy falling in love with a girl overwhelmed by sorrow to the point her tears turn into pearls. The boy collects and sells the pearls for gain to a ruthless pawnbroker, even as he must choose between love or fortune.
“At a time when our country’s spirit is winning accolades around the world, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski have given Canadians another reason to be proud. Congratulations to the filmmakers, our producers and our talented creative team on The Girl Who Cried Pearls, a stop-motion marvel produced and set in Montreal. We’re honored to be the home of visionary storytellers like Chris and Maciek, and to continue to champion great Canadian stories and talents to audiences here and across the globe.” Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and NFB chairperson, said in a statement.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on social media congratulated Kang, Lavis and Szcerbowski and other Oscar triumphs on Sunday night for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankestein, which was produced in Toronto. “From KPop Demon Hunters, to The Girl Who Cried Pearls, to Frankenstein, and more — the masterpieces we celebrate tonight are a testament to the fact that Canada is a nation of diverse and talented storytellers,” Carney said on his X account.
Frankenstein won three Oscars, for best costume design, best makeup and hairstyling and best production. Director del Toro’s gothic epic was built on Toronto soundstages, icy ship sets on Lake Ontario and a decades-long creative bond with Toronto’s production community.
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