'' Ernest & Celestine '' ( ) is a 2012 Franco-Belgian animated comedy-drama film directed by Stéphane Aubier , Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner . The film is based on a series of children 's books of the same name published by the Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent . The film was selected to be screened in the Directors ' Fortnight section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival , as part of the TIFF Kids programme at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2013 Hong Kong International Film Festival . It was selected for the grand competition at feature film edition of the 2013 World festival of animated film Animafest Zagreb and was screened as the opening film . The film was released in the United States in 2013 by GKIDS . There is also an English dub that was released on 28 February 2014 , with the voices of Forest Whitaker , Mackenzie Foy , Lauren Bacall , Paul Giamatti , William H. Macy , Megan Mullally , Nick Offerman and Jeffrey Wright . The film received widespread critical acclaim , and became the first animated film to win the Magritte Award for Best Film . It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 86th Academy Awards , but it lost to Disney 's '' Frozen ''
2012 Cannes Film Festival
2012 Cannes Film Festival
Ernest & Celestine