At the 44th César Awards, which took place last Friday in Paris, Michel Ocelot’s Dilili in Paris took home the prize for Best Animated Feature Film.
Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest) has been nominated for France’s highest film honor a total of five times, and previously won in the Best Animated Short field for The Legend of the Poor Hunchback in 1983.
Dilili in Paris tells the story of an indigenous Kanak girl from New Caledonia, who’s just arrived in Paris during the Belle Époque era. Upon her arrival the young heroine gets caught up in the strange disappearances of women across the city and decides to investigate. Samuel Goldwyn Films recently picked up U.S. rights to the film and will release it theatrically later this year.