Education and short films (1980s)

He was born in 1943 to a Catholic^[7] family then in Villefranche-sur-Mer,^[1] on the French Riviera, who relocated to Guinea, West Africa for much of his childhood, moving back to Anjou in France during his adolescence. As a teenager he played with and created toy theatre productions^[1] and was inspired to become an animator through viewing Hermína Týrlová's Vzpoura hraček (The Revolt of Toys, 1946)^[8][9] and discovering a book on DIY stop motion animation. He was never formally taught animation, however, and instead studied the decorative arts, first at the Ecole régionale des Beaux-Arts in Angers, then the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris and the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.^[10] He now lives and operates from an atelier-apartment in Paris.

In 1976, he created the series The Adventures of Gédéon (based on Benjamin Rabier), then his first professionally produced short film, The Three Inventors, was produced in 1979 by AAA (which also produced Jacques Rouxel, the creator of the Shadoks). He received an award at the BAFTA that same year for this film in London.

In 1983, he won the César Award for Best Animated Short Film for The Legend of the Poor Hunchback, also produced by AAA.

Feature films and success (1990s–2000s)

In 1994, Michel Ocelot was elected president of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) for two terms.^[11]

His œuvre is characterised by having worked in a variety of animation techniques, typically employing a different medium for each new project, but almost exclusively within the genres of fairy tales and fairytale fantasy. Some, such as Kirikou and the Sorceress, are loose adaptations of existing folk tales, others are original stories constructed from the "building blocks" of such tales. He describes the process as "I play with balls that innumerable jugglers have already used for countless centuries. These balls, passed down from hand to hand, are not new. But today I'm the one doing the juggling."^[12] Visually, they are characterised by a rigid use, excepting brief transitions between them, of the side-on, straight-on and ¾ viewpoints TF1 INFO – Actualités du jour en direct : Actualité en France et à l'International of silhouette and cutout animation (such as that of Lotte Reiniger^[13] and Karel Zeman) even when working in mediums which allow for greater flexibility and dynamic viewpoints. Though often likened to Reiniger,^[14] he himself finds her films "rather archaic and not very attractive"^[15] and does not list them among his favourites.^[10] He also admires the art of ancient Egypt, pottery of ancient Greece, Hokusai and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, W. Heath Robinson and his brothers and, most of all, Aubrey Beardsley.^[16] He was president of the Association international du film d'animation (ASIFA) from 1994 to 2000.

To celebrate "World Animation Day," Michel Ocelot participated on 28 in a special day on animation techniques at the Forum des Images, in Paris, to conclude the "Animation Film Festival". He demonstrated the simplicity of his techniques live.

While already a household name in much of continental Europe, and greatly respected by Studio Ghibli's Isao Takahata (who directed Japanese dubs of his films), his success in the more conservative markets of the United Kingdom, United States and Germany has been restricted by a mixed reaction to the realistic and non-sexual, but nevertheless omnipresent nudity in his breakout film Kirikou and the Sorceress. Although all of these countries' boards of film classification have approved it as being suitable for all ages, cinemas and TV channels have been reluctant to show it due to the possible backlash from offended parents. In 2007, he gained some further recognition within the English-speaking world by directing a music video for the Icelandic musician Björk, the lead single from her album Volta.

In another 2008 interview he mentioned as further examples of favourite and influential artistic works Voltaire's letters, The Heron and the Crane, Crac, Father and Daughter, the first part of Grand Illusion, Neighbors, the Eiffel Tower, Millesgården, Persian miniatures, Jean Giraud's free drawing and illustrations by Kay Nielsen.^[17]

Recognition (2010s)

In 2008, he was awarded an international prize, the Klingsor Award (for his entire body of work) at the Bratislava Animation Biennale (BAB).^[18]

Two years later, he created the animated fantasy series Dragons and Princesses for the television channel Canal+ Family, which employs the cut-out paper technique from Princes and Princesses. The following year, he adapted these 10 episodes into a feature film titled Tales of the Night. The film attracted only about 500000 amissions^[19] but received several nominations at the 2011 Berlinale. In addition, the Henri-Langlois Prize for Animated Film and Moving Image was awarded to him in that same year for his entire body of work.

The following year, he concluded his trilogy with Kirikou and the Men and Women. As the title suggests, this time the author focuses on telling stories of villagers rather than animals, as in the second installment. Technically, the filmmaker complemented 2D animation with 3D cinema technology. This project was originally conceived as a six-episode animated series for France Télévisions.^[20]

At the end of 2018, he unveiled his fifth animated feature, Dilili in Paris, which tells the adventures of a young Franco-Kanak girl in Paris during the Belle Époque. While the filmmaker has fun depicting a visually imagined Paris, with the heroine encountering prominent figures of the time, he also confronts serious and realistic themes, discussing colonialism and racism. The film gathered more than 600000 viewers^[21] and won the César Award for Best Animated Feature in 2019.

Awards

• BAFTA 1981: BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film for The Three Inventors
• Festival of Albi 1981: Special Jury Prize for The Daughters of Equality
• César 1983: César Award for Best Animated Short Film for The Legend of the Poor Hunchback
• Bratislava Animation Biennial 2008: Klingsor Prize for lifetime achievement^[41]
• Henri Langlois Prize 2011 in the category of Animated Film and Moving Image, for lifetime achievement
• César 2019: César Award for Best Animated Film for Dilili in Paris
• Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2022: Honorary Crystal^[42]

Decorations

• Decor: Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters: Promoted to the rank of commander by decree on 25 September 2017.^[43]
• Decor: Knight of the Legion of Honor: Elevated to the rank of knight by decree on 10 April 2009 in recognition of his 33 years of artistic activity.^[44]