Canadian animation is having a big night at the Oscars, with Toronto and Montreal filmmakers both taking home top prizes.
Toronto’s Maggie Kang won the Oscar for best animated feature for “KPop Demon Hunters,” while Montreal filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski captured the award for best animated short for “The Girl Who Cried Pearls.”
While accepting her award, Kang dedicated her win “to Koreans everywhere,” apologizing that it took so long “for those who look like me” to see themselves represented in a film such as the Netflix smash hit.
The film, directed by Kang and Chris Appelhans and produced by Michelle L.M. Wong is the most-viewed film in Netflix history.
Meanwhile, “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” is a haunting tale about an impoverished boy who falls in love with a girl who weeps pearls at night. It’s set in Montreal at the dawn of the 20th century.
During their acceptance speech, Lavis jested that it’s not easy living with people who make puppet films.
“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,” he said while on stage with Szczerbowski.
Meanwhile, Canadians Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey were part of the team that won the Oscar for best makeup and hairstyling for their work on “Frankenstein.”
The Toronto-based craftspeople won alongside English artist Mike Hill for helping director Guillermo del Toro reimagine Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic classic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2026.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
