The winners of the César Awards, France’s national film award, were announced at a ceremony in Paris last night.

Claude Barras’ My Life As A Zucchini won the César for best animated feature. The film’s screenwriter Céline Sciamma also won for best adapted screenplay, a unique feat for an animated feature.

While Zucchini may be short in length (just 66 minutes) and small in budget (around US$8 million), it’s a wonderfully big-hearted film that hits all the right emotional notes–and manages to do so in an authentic way.

The César wins are two more accolades in a long list of awards for the film, including its win for best animated feature at the European Film Awards, as well as Feature Film Cristal and audience prize at Annecy last year.

Zucchini is currently nominated for an Oscar in the animated feature category.

GKIDS launches Zucchini in New York, Los Angeles, and Vancouver this weekend, with more U.S. and Canadian cities opening throughout the spring. A full list of theater dates can be found on the film’s official web site.

The other nominees in the feature animation category were Michael Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle and Sébastien Laudenbach’s The Girl Without Hands.

In the animated short category, Fabrice Luang-Vija’s Celui Qui a Deux Ames (He Who Has Two Souls) won the award. The fillm was up against Stephanie Lansaque and Francois Leroy’s Cafe Froid (Cold Coffee), Donato Sansone’s Journal Anime (Animated Daily), and David Coquard-Dassault’s Peripheria.

Latest News from Cartoon Brew