After Gabrielle Vincent died in September 2000 Didier Brunner the producer said he wanted to make a film with Ernest & Célestine. He managed to convince the family . He’d been dreaming of making so for a long time. Being a great fan of these books he used to read them to his daughter Pauline. He also became friend with Gabrielle, a pen friend, exchanging letters with her during ten years. He made this film as a tribute to the artist. The author Daniel Pennac who wrote the screenplay was a true fan and a (pen-)friend of Gabrielle Vincent. He chose to mix Gabrielle Vincent’s brighter world with his darker universe. Better than an adaptation of the books, « The Ernest & Célestine » film is a tribute to Gabrielle Vincent. Daniel Pennac’s Célestine is exactly as Gabrielle Vincent was: a little rebel girl who wants to escape the role she is supposed to play in this world and wants to become an artist. Célestine is very keen on painting and she is left-handed, just as Gabrielle Vincent was.
« I explained to him, I knew these characters very well, and it would indeed be fun to make them emerge from a dark environment to go towards the idyllic side of the drawings of Gabrielle Vincent. There would be a kind of door to enter the paradise of a human relationship. So I wrote the script that way. Ernest & Célestine both come from a dark world and want to build a sort of haven of peace. But both get caught by their previous world again. After many adventures, both communities accept their relationship and they can live together. »
There is a big staff coming to work together on it Benjamin Renner, the director, didn’t know the universe of the artist, but he was quickly impressed by her talent. Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier, the two Belgian co-directors, are already huge fans of her. Zaza and Zyk draw the set with watercolour. The musician and composer Vincent Courtois plays music with the characters: with Célestine he plays the clarinet and with Ernest he plays the violin or piano. In the French original film, the great actor Lambert Wilson is Ernest’s voice-over and Forest Whitaker is the American one. Pauline Brunner the producer’s daughter being Célestine’s voice wheras Mackenzie Foy was the English speaking Célestine. The animated film Ernest & Celestine was released in France in 2012 and was a great succes (more than 1 million). It was then released in more than 25 countries.
Many awards will follow in 2013 and 2014 :
« The Ernest & Celestine Novel » turns the full film script into a dialogue. Based on Daniel Pennac writings, it follows the unusual adventures of the two heroes traveling between the “world of bears” and the “world of mice”. The latest edition of the novel is made with original drawings by Benjamin Renner, Ernest & Celestine film’s illustrator, and author of The Big Bad Fox.
Discover the novel
With the Collection, Didier Brunner, director of the film, wanted to pay a new tribute to the original universe, by giving the series an atmosphere even closer to that of Gabrielle Vincent's albums. The first season “The Collection” has 26 episodes for children aged 3 to 7 years old. It is broadcasted in France, Benelux, Japan, China, Korea, Germany and Scandinavia . A new season with 26 episodes is forecast on RTBF and France 5 since december 2021
With the Collection, Didier Brunner, director of the film, wanted to pay a new tribute to the original universe, by giving the series an atmosphere even closer to that of Gabrielle Vincent's albums. The first season “The Collection” has 26 episodes for children aged 3 to 7 years old. It is broadcasted in France, Benelux, Japan, China, Korea, Germany and Scandinavia . A new season with 26 episodes is forecast on RTBF and France 5 since december 2021
The television series
Ten years after their first big screen adventure, the beloved duo is back in cinemas for a journey full of adventures through Ernest's homeland: Gibberitia.
Ernest and Celestine return to Ernest's home country, Gibberitia, to get his precious violin fixed, which is now broken. They find out that music has been banned in the country for several years. For our two heroes, living without music is unthinkable! With the help of allies, including a mysterious masked vigilante, Ernest and Celestine attempt to right this wrong and bring happiness back to the land of the bears. Adapted from the gentle and poetic world of the Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent's children's books, this new feature film is a heartwarming tale of friendship and the importance of art, particularly music, that will delight both young and old. With the voices of Lambert Wilson and Pauline Brunner.
Download the movie poster
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