Breadwinner author says awards buzz is ‘phenomenal’
Canadian author Deborah Ellis is thrilled the big-screen adaptation of her young adult novel The Breadwinner is getting major awards buzz.
But she’s quick to divert credit to the film’s director and creative team.
Director Nora Twomey and her team of animators “deserve all the praise that they’re getting ” for the film’s success, Ellis said from her home in Simcoe, Ont.
“They were very sincere about the project ... and they have been very careful to be as authentic in the film as they possibly can,” Ellis said.
“It’s just really a phenomenal piece of work that they’ve created.”
First published in 2000, The Breadwinner tells the story of Parvana, an 11-year-old Afghan girl living under Taliban rule. She dresses up as a boy to help provide for her family while her father is wrongfully imprisoned by the Taliban.
The movie, a Canada-Ireland-Luxembourg co-production, premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and counts Angelina Jolie among its executive producers.
Earlier this month it was nominated for 10 Annie Awards, which celebrate animated work, including best independent animated feature.
The Breadwinner trails only Pixar’s Coco, which has 13 nominations.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association picked The Breadwinner over Coco for its best animation award. The Breadwinner is also one of 26 movies submitted for consideration in the animated feature film category for the 90th Academy Awards.
Ellis said she was “pretty excited, of course” when the movie rights for her story were sold but “it was hard to know for sure. Sometimes these things start and then they can’t get off the ground.”
“But these folks were very tenacious,” she added.
Ellis first saw the completed movie in August at a screening for the cast and crew, an experience she said was “fantastic.”