Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” was the big winner March 12 at the 49th annual Annie Awards, taking home the coveted Best Feature Award, as well as awards in seven other categories. The sci-fi comedy’s California institute of the Arts creators were recognized during the livestreamed ceremony, which saw fellow CalArts alums also earning awards.

“The Mitchells vs. The Machines” was directed by Michael Rianda (Film/Video 2011) and co-directed by Jeffrey Rowe (Film/Video 2011), both of whom also wrote the script. Rianda and Rowe were also personally awarded in the categories for Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production and Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production.

The film won against strong competition from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Encanto” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” Pixar Animation Studios’ “Luca” and Illumination’s “Sing 2.”

Rianda noted the vision for the film in their Best Writing acceptance speech: “Jeff and I started this movie in a Sony conference room with giant dreams to make an animated movie that was wild and different and fresh and bold and innovative, but more than that, our hearts were filled with…”

“Bone. Chilling. Fear,” said Rowe. “We were terrified of making something that was bad because we knew we had an incredible team.”

“So we worked as hard as humanly possible for years to try not to let our team down, because they never let us down,” said Rianda.

The film also won the Annie Awards for Voice Acting, Feature; Editing, Feature; Animated Effects, Feature; Character Design, Feature and Production Design, Feature.

In the category for Best Animated TV/Media Production for Children, “Maya and the Three” a Netflix series created by animator, director and CalArts alum Jorge R. Gutiérrez (Film/Video BFA 1997, MFA 2000) took home the Annie for the episode “The Sun and the Moon.”

The episode also won the award for Best Music in an Animated Television/Media Production.

Another noteworthy win from the evening came in the Best Special Production category, which was awarded to Baobab Studios’ animated virtual reality experience “Namoo.” The studio was founded by animator, filmmaker and CalArts alum Eric Darnell (Film/Video MFA 1990).

Watch the full broadcast and see the full list of winners on the official Annie Awards website.