The Secret of Kells

The Secret of Kells
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay byFabrice Ziolkowski
Story byTomm Moore
Produced by
Starring
Edited byFabienne Alvarez-Giro
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 30 January 2009 (2009-01-30) (Gérardmer Film Festival)
  • 11 February 2009 (2009-02-11) (France/Belgium)
  • 3 March 2009 (2009-03-03) (Ireland)
Running time
75 minutes
Countries
  • Ireland
  • France
  • Belgium
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8 million[2]
Box office$3.5 million[3]

The Secret of Kells is a 2009 animated fantasy drama film about the making of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from the 9th century.

The film is an Irish-French-Belgian co-production[citation needed], led by the animation studio Cartoon Saloon, which premiered on 8 February 2009 at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival. It went into wide release in Belgium and France on 11 February, and Ireland on 3 March. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Pixar's Up.[4][5]

It was directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, produced by Paul Young, Didier Brunner and Viviane Vanfleteren, written by Fabrice Ziolkowski, distributed by Gébéka Films in France, Kinepolis Film Distribution in Belgium and Buena Vista International in Ireland, edited by Fabienne Alvarez-Giro and music composed by Bruno Coulais and Kíla. It stars Evan McGuire, Brendan Gleeson, Christen Mooney, Mick Lally (in his final film role), Michael McGrath, Liam Hourican, Paul Tylak and Paul Young. The film is the first installment in Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy", preceding the films Song of the Sea (2014) and Wolfwalkers (2020).[6]

  1. ^ Bynum, Aaron H. (11 June 2008). "Brendan and the Secret of Kells Animation Film at Annecy '08". Animation Insider. p. 2. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  2. ^ "The Secret of Kells (2010)". Box Office Mojo. 5 March 2010. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ "The Secret of Kells (2010) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  4. ^ Scott, A. O. (5 March 2010). "Outside the Abbey's Fortified Walls, a World of Fairy Girls and Beasts". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  5. ^ Ryzik, Melena (2 March 2010). "An Indie Takes on Animation's Big Boys". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  6. ^ "Wolfwalkers". tiff.net. Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2020.