Portland animation studio ShadowMachine celebrates Oscar win

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - Alex Bulkley is still basking in the thrill of winning an Oscar. The co-founder of ShadowMachine in Portland produced ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,‘ which won for best feature animation.

“A wild party that again was an opportunity to blow off some steam,” Bulkley said.

Back at the Portland studios where Pinocchio was shot, it was back to work. But first assistant director Jared Bumgarner said he didn’t expect much progress on their next project.

“Today is going to be kind of a wash I think,” Bumgarner said. “We’re going to make as much progress as we can on (our next show). But it’s a lot of congratulations and smiles and lots of hugs.”

Bumgarner himself worked on the film for the last five years. He says the feeling of hearing they won was rewarding.

“It was just like a hush,” he said. “It was that silence and then an explosion when it was announced.”

Bulkley said it was fulfilling to see his work get recognized. He worked with Toro for more than 10 years until an executive at Netflix finally agreed to be Pinocchio’s distributor.

“He understood what both Guillermo and Mark Gustafson were looking to do,” Bulkley said. “This wasn’t a dark version of Pinocchio. It was just a very sophisticated version of what we know as this classic tale.”

He said he’s now thrilled to bring the Oscar home to Portland.

“We also have a lot of work to do,” Bulkley said. “You kind of balance it all too. Champagne and coffee.”

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