The Secret of Kells (2009)
Director: Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore Run Time: 86 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2009
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Christen Mooney, Evan McGuire, Mick Lally
Country: France, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, United States, Denmark, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Hungary, United Kingdom, Japan
Language: English, Irish
Screening as part of a Cartoon Saloon retrospective.
A selection of the studio’s shorts accompany this feature presentation.
“It is only fitting that a movie concerned with the power and beauty of drawing – the almost sacred magic of color and line – should be so gorgeously and intricately drawn.”
– A.O. Scott for The New York Times
About the film:
The first Academy Award-nominated feature from the Irish animation studio, and the first film in the lauded Irish folklore trilogy.
Official Selection of the 59th Berlin International Film Festival. Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards. A spirited retelling of the origins of the 9th century Book of Kells, Ireland’s most cherished illuminated manuscript.
With the Viking hordes approaching, the monks of Kells are forced to turn their attention from transcribing manuscripts to building barricades. The future of the precious book is in jeopardy and it falls to Brendan, young nephew of the abbot Cellach, to save the day.
The film combines stunning artwork influenced by Irish medieval illustrations with a sound track composed by award winning French composer Bruno Coulais, as well as a special collaboration with Irish super group Kíla.
