16:00, Saturday November 21, 2009
1200 years ago in the desolate Irish wilderness, 12-year-old orphan Brendan labours within the Abbey of Kells with the other monks to fortify the walls against Viking raids. But when he encounters Brother Aidan, the keeper of the extraordinary but unfinished book of illuminations brimming with secret wisdom and magical powers, a new life of adventure begins. Aidan sets him a task: to complete the Book of Kells – and to do so, Brendan must overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that will take him beyond the abbey’s walls for the first time and into the enchanted forest, where dangers and an unlikely ally await.
A gorgeously rendered film, the film blends the feeling of two vastly different media of the moving image and the ancient manuscript into a singular storytelling experience. The Book of Kells is widely regarded as Ireland’s national treasure, and this film from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress and the Triplets of Belleville continues a fine tradition of bringing innocent magic to life.
WINNER, AUDIENCE AWARD, 2009 Annecy International Animation Film Festival
WINNER, AUDIENCE AWARD, 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION, 2009 New York International Children’s Film Festival
