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Kubo and the Two Strings - Winners' acceptance speech, Animated Film, EE British Academy Film Awards in 2017

12 February 2017

Winners' acceptance speech by Travis Knight for Kubo and the Two Strings in the Animated Film category

TRAVIS KNIGHT: Wow. I am not going to lie, I did not see this coming.

You know, this film was a wholehearted labour of love over five years in the making, and over the course of it, we tried to get to a distillation of childhood.

As we were making it, I came across this terrific quote by the great filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who said that every boy wants either a train set or to make a martial arts movie. And I never had a train set, so I made a martial arts movie. But hopefully one that showcases the power of family and imagination of love and, above all else, empathy, because I believe that Hal David and Burt Bacharach were right when they said: what the world needs now is love, sweet love.

But there is another thing that there is just too little of, and that's empathy. That is ultimately what this film is about. That is why this award means so much to me and our entire crew.

I want to give a special thanks to the Academy for honouring us. To Focus Features and Universal for having our back every step of the way. To my extraordinary producer, Arianne Sutner, I absolutely adore you, I love you. And to our entire cast and crew, led by Art Parkinson, you are the best. This film really was about families. So to our families and our loved ones, I love you. To mom and dad, I love you. My world, my partner in crime, my dream team. I love all of you. And tonight, with this exquisite, shiny metal cudgel in hand, I am pretty fond of all you guys too!

So thank you, cheers.