CINEMA INSTRUCTOR RECEIVED ANNIE AWARD

College of the Canyons cinema instructor

Mindy Johnson received the prestigious June Foray Honor at the 50th Annie Awards on Feb. 25 at UCLA Royce Hall.

The juried award is given to individuals who have made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation.

“I was completely gob smacked,” said Johnson about hearing the news. “I did not expect it at all. When I got the call, I was in complete shock.”

Johnson is being recognized for her expertise, continued research and ground-breaking discoveries into the earliest women and under-represented groups in the animation and film industry.

“By exposing the past, I try to illuminate the future and cause change,” said Johnson. “Change in the industry is happening, but it’s moving slowly.”

Her latest discovery is believed to be the earliest surviving hand-drawn animation, animated and directed by a woman: Bessie Mae Kelley, a pioneering animator who worked with Bray Studios in late 1917.