Loulou the Incredible Secret, Kiki of Montparnasse Share 2014 César for Animation

In an unprecedented tie-in between a feature-length animation and a short animated film, the 2 films shared the French award for Best Animated Film out of 5 nominated films.

The French Academy seems to have decided to offer two César awards to a feature and a short animated film, respectively, in order to compensate for the lack of a separate category for short animation.

The 39th César for Best Animated Feature went to  Loulou The Incredible Secret (Loulou, l'incroyable secret), a film by Eric Ormond (producers: Valérie Schermann, Christophe Jankovic, Prima Linea Productions).

In the film, we learn about the unlikely friendship between Loulou the wolf and Tom the rabbit, which takes a turn when Loulou learns that his bohemian mother is alive. 

Made from the same team that brought Zarafa to the big screen, Loulou is the brainchild of the Lebanese-born illustrator Grégoire Solotareff, who conceived it as a comic book in the 80s. It was first made into an animated short in 2003.

 The trailer plays with urban and natural environments and mutual adjustment:

 Kiki of Montparnasse by Amélie HARRAULT (producers: Serge Elissalde, Olivier Catherin, Les 3 Ours) received the award for Best Animated Short.

It tells the story of Kiki de Montparnasse, the unwary muse of major avant-garde painters of the early twentieth century. It is self-described as a film between "animation, design (painting, video) and documentary". Here's a vibrant trailer for the 14-minute film:

Amelie Harrault first studied at the Fine Arts Academy of Toulouse, and then at EMCA, the animation school of Angoulême.

Kiki of Montparnasse is her first professional short film, but Amelie Harrault has also worked in Betty Blues (Remi Vandenitte)  and "Le 3ème Œil" (The 3rd Eye) by Jerome Perillat.