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The Secret of Kells
The Secret of Kells is a 2009 animated fantasy drama film directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, produced by Paul Young, Didier Brunner and Viviane Vanfleteren, and written by Fabrice Ziolkowski. An Irish-French-Belgian co-production, led by the animation studio Cartoon Saloon, the film is about the making of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from the 9th century. 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 Secret of Kells 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 distributed by Gébéka Films in France, Kinepolis Film Distribution in Belgium and Buena Vista International in Ireland. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Pixar's Up. The film is the first installment in Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy", preceding the films Song of the Sea (2014) and Wolfwalkers (2020). All three were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
In early 9th-century Ireland, 12-year-old Brendan lives in the Abbey of Kells, where his uncle Cellach is the abbot. Cellach forbids Brendan to leave the monastery, which is surrounded by a mysterious forest, and is obsessed with building a high impregnable wall encircling his abbey to prevent Viking attacks. One day, Brendan hears the monks discussing the abbey on the island of Iona, its founder St. Colmcille and master Aidan, the renowned book illustrator. Aidan arrives at the monastery with his cat Pangur Bán. The Vikings captured Iona and destroyed the monastery, but Aidan managed to save the main treasure - the incomplete Book of Iona, an illuminated manuscript said to be illustrated so beautifully that its pages emit light that blinds the unworthy.
Aidan takes up residence in the monastery's scriptorium. Seeing Brendan's interest in the Book, Aidan tasks him with bringing gall nuts from the forest. Using a secret passage, Brendan, accompanied by Pangur Bán, makes his way into the forest, where he is attacked by wolves. However, the wolves depart upon the arrival of the shapeshifting forest fairy Aisling. Brendan and Aisling become friends, collect the gall nuts and explore the forest. Brendan discovers the entrance to a dark cave that Aisling fearfully says is the domain of the evil spirit Crom Cruach, who killed her parents, and Aisling narrowly prevents Brendan from entering.
Aidan makes ink with the gall nuts and begins teaching Brendan to draw. Seeing his progress, he admits that Brendan will have to complete the Book, as Aidan's advancing age is affecting his eyesight and draftsmanship. Despite Brendan's talent, he requires the Eye of Colmcille, a crystal magnifying lens, for the final drawing. Such a crystal belonged to St. Colmcille, but during Aidan's escape from Iona, it was lost and broken by the Vikings. Brendan recognises the crystal as belonging to Crom and attempts to go back to its cave, but he is apprehended by Cellach and confined to his room. Freed by Aisling and Pangur Bán, Brendan goes to Crom's cave and convinces Aisling to help him pass the blocked entrance, during which Aisling appears to be consumed. Brendan battles the snake-like Crom and succeeds in tearing out its remaining eye, leaving Crom to blindly and perpetually consume itself. Returning to the cave entrance, Brendan finds the forest covered in white flowers.
Brendan returns to the abbey and secretly continues assisting Aidan with the new Eye of Colmcille, watched excitedly by the brothers of the monastery. A wounded messenger from outside warns Cellach that the Vikings are approaching. As the Vikings penetrate more of the Irish lands, the abbey becomes a sanctuary to more refugees from the surrounding lands. By winter, the whole of the abbey grounds are covered by a refugee encampment. Cellach discovers Brendan and Aidan in the scriptorium and angrily rips out a page that Brendan has created before locking the two inside. The Vikings breach the front gate and storm the monastery, killing everyone outside of the chapel and seriously wounding Cellach. Brendan and Aidan escape the Vikings by using their ink-making process to create a smokescreen, but find themselves unable to help Cellach or anyone else and flee to the forest with the Book at hand. Vikings catch the two and remove the Book's pages, taking only the bejeweled cover before they are repelled by wolves. Brendan briefly reunites with Aisling in her wolf form while collecting the scattered pages.
Brendan and Aidan spend the next several years in exile working to complete the Book and preaching its scriptures. Eventually, an adult Brendan is guided by Aisling back to Kells, where he reunites with the remorseful Cellach. Brendan uses the page Cellach has kept to finally complete the book, and the two happily look upon the newly christened Book of Kells together.
The film is based on the story of the origin of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament located in Dublin, Ireland. It also draws upon Celtic mythology; examples include its inclusion of Crom Cruach, a pre-Christian Irish deity and the reference to the poetic genre of Aislings, in which a poet is confronted by a dream or vision of a seeress, in the naming of the forest sprite encountered by Brendan. Wider mythological similarities have also been commented upon, such as parallels between Brendan's metaphysical battle with Crom Cruach and Beowulf's underwater encounter with Grendel's mother. The Secret of Kells began development in 1999, when Tomm Moore and several of his friends were inspired by Richard Williams's The Thief and the Cobbler, Disney's Mulan, Gustav Klimt's paintings, John Bauer's illustrations and the works of Hayao Miyazaki, which based their visual style on the respective traditional art of the cultures featured in each film. They decided to do something similar to Studio Ghibli's films but with Irish art. Tomm Moore explained that the visual style was inspired by Celtic and medieval art, being 'flat, with false perspective and lots of colour'. Even the cleanup was planned to 'obtain the stained glass effect of thicker outer lines'.
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The Secret of Kells
The Secret of Kells is a 2009 animated fantasy drama film directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, produced by Paul Young, Didier Brunner and Viviane Vanfleteren, and written by Fabrice Ziolkowski. An Irish-French-Belgian co-production, led by the animation studio Cartoon Saloon, the film is about the making of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from the 9th century. 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 Secret of Kells 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 distributed by Gébéka Films in France, Kinepolis Film Distribution in Belgium and Buena Vista International in Ireland. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Pixar's Up. The film is the first installment in Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy", preceding the films Song of the Sea (2014) and Wolfwalkers (2020). All three were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
In early 9th-century Ireland, 12-year-old Brendan lives in the Abbey of Kells, where his uncle Cellach is the abbot. Cellach forbids Brendan to leave the monastery, which is surrounded by a mysterious forest, and is obsessed with building a high impregnable wall encircling his abbey to prevent Viking attacks. One day, Brendan hears the monks discussing the abbey on the island of Iona, its founder St. Colmcille and master Aidan, the renowned book illustrator. Aidan arrives at the monastery with his cat Pangur Bán. The Vikings captured Iona and destroyed the monastery, but Aidan managed to save the main treasure - the incomplete Book of Iona, an illuminated manuscript said to be illustrated so beautifully that its pages emit light that blinds the unworthy.
Aidan takes up residence in the monastery's scriptorium. Seeing Brendan's interest in the Book, Aidan tasks him with bringing gall nuts from the forest. Using a secret passage, Brendan, accompanied by Pangur Bán, makes his way into the forest, where he is attacked by wolves. However, the wolves depart upon the arrival of the shapeshifting forest fairy Aisling. Brendan and Aisling become friends, collect the gall nuts and explore the forest. Brendan discovers the entrance to a dark cave that Aisling fearfully says is the domain of the evil spirit Crom Cruach, who killed her parents, and Aisling narrowly prevents Brendan from entering.
Aidan makes ink with the gall nuts and begins teaching Brendan to draw. Seeing his progress, he admits that Brendan will have to complete the Book, as Aidan's advancing age is affecting his eyesight and draftsmanship. Despite Brendan's talent, he requires the Eye of Colmcille, a crystal magnifying lens, for the final drawing. Such a crystal belonged to St. Colmcille, but during Aidan's escape from Iona, it was lost and broken by the Vikings. Brendan recognises the crystal as belonging to Crom and attempts to go back to its cave, but he is apprehended by Cellach and confined to his room. Freed by Aisling and Pangur Bán, Brendan goes to Crom's cave and convinces Aisling to help him pass the blocked entrance, during which Aisling appears to be consumed. Brendan battles the snake-like Crom and succeeds in tearing out its remaining eye, leaving Crom to blindly and perpetually consume itself. Returning to the cave entrance, Brendan finds the forest covered in white flowers.
Brendan returns to the abbey and secretly continues assisting Aidan with the new Eye of Colmcille, watched excitedly by the brothers of the monastery. A wounded messenger from outside warns Cellach that the Vikings are approaching. As the Vikings penetrate more of the Irish lands, the abbey becomes a sanctuary to more refugees from the surrounding lands. By winter, the whole of the abbey grounds are covered by a refugee encampment. Cellach discovers Brendan and Aidan in the scriptorium and angrily rips out a page that Brendan has created before locking the two inside. The Vikings breach the front gate and storm the monastery, killing everyone outside of the chapel and seriously wounding Cellach. Brendan and Aidan escape the Vikings by using their ink-making process to create a smokescreen, but find themselves unable to help Cellach or anyone else and flee to the forest with the Book at hand. Vikings catch the two and remove the Book's pages, taking only the bejeweled cover before they are repelled by wolves. Brendan briefly reunites with Aisling in her wolf form while collecting the scattered pages.
Brendan and Aidan spend the next several years in exile working to complete the Book and preaching its scriptures. Eventually, an adult Brendan is guided by Aisling back to Kells, where he reunites with the remorseful Cellach. Brendan uses the page Cellach has kept to finally complete the book, and the two happily look upon the newly christened Book of Kells together.
The film is based on the story of the origin of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament located in Dublin, Ireland. It also draws upon Celtic mythology; examples include its inclusion of Crom Cruach, a pre-Christian Irish deity and the reference to the poetic genre of Aislings, in which a poet is confronted by a dream or vision of a seeress, in the naming of the forest sprite encountered by Brendan. Wider mythological similarities have also been commented upon, such as parallels between Brendan's metaphysical battle with Crom Cruach and Beowulf's underwater encounter with Grendel's mother. The Secret of Kells began development in 1999, when Tomm Moore and several of his friends were inspired by Richard Williams's The Thief and the Cobbler, Disney's Mulan, Gustav Klimt's paintings, John Bauer's illustrations and the works of Hayao Miyazaki, which based their visual style on the respective traditional art of the cultures featured in each film. They decided to do something similar to Studio Ghibli's films but with Irish art. Tomm Moore explained that the visual style was inspired by Celtic and medieval art, being 'flat, with false perspective and lots of colour'. Even the cleanup was planned to 'obtain the stained glass effect of thicker outer lines'.