Ernest & Celestine (2012)

Interesting facts

• Budget: €9M
• Based on: Ernest et Célestine
• Awards: 1 · Nominations: 2. Including: NYICFF Grand Prize

Ernest & Celestine is a 2012 animated comedy-drama film directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner. The film is based on a series of children's books of the same name by the Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent that were first published in the early 1980s. The film was selected to be screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, as part of the TIFF Kids programme at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2013 Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Production

The project was launched by producer Didier Brunner in late 2007, and an animated pilot was completed after a year. The search for funding for the film lasted until April 2009. From mid-2009 to mid-2010, the bulk of the work focused on developing the storyboards. The actual production phase, consisting of creating the animation, then lasted a year and a half, followed by a shorter post-production phase.

The film project originated as an initiative by producer Didier Brunner: Having been familiar with the illustrated children's book series Ernest and Celestine for a long time, he seized the opportunity to acquire the audiovisual adaptation rights of the series when Gabrielle Vincent's nephew considered giving them up for an animated series; however, Brunner opted for a feature film instead.

After its completion, the first director initially considered by Didier Brunner stepped down, and Brunner then proposed that Benjamin Renner direct the film. Having never directed a feature film before, Renner requested to be teamed with more experienced co-directors, Belgians Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier, directors of the animated series A Town Called Panic (made in stop-motion animation using figurines).

The screenplay was written by writer and screenwriter Daniel Pennac, then revised by the directors according to the constraints of animation. The film's team made an extra effort to stay true to the universe of the original books, since Gabrielle Vincent had refused all adaptation proposals during her lifetime, due to the very smooth and impersonal style of a proposed adaptation by a British studio.

The team ultimately chose to create an homage rather than a literal adaptation of the book universe: Renner integrated Daniel Pennac's universe into the story, and the final narrative took the form of more of an entryway into the universe of the books rather than a direct transposition, which resulted in a somewhat darker atmosphere for the film's screenplay.

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