Michael Ocelot's international success with his animated feature 'Kirikou' has proved the commercial viability of a European film which owes nothing to the dominant Hollywood or Japanese models. It is also a testament to the director's determination, sheer obstinacy and self-belief - quantities which, along with an ability to live frugally, finally seem to have paid off. Kirikou's box-office figures also prompted a successful cinema release, in feature format, of Princes et Princesses, a series of shorts he made 13 years later.
Whether the initial springboard is a story or aesthetic idea, Ocelot finds that total harmony of form and content is crucial. Budget also affects choice of style and technique, as with Princes et Princesses which was made over a few months with a team of seven. 'Sometimes the less money you have, the more fun you have. Kirikou, with so much more money, was a four year war'. Ocelot believes that, rather than obsessing over film. 'La Legende du Pauvre Bossu, which received the Cesar Award (the french equivalent of an Oscar) was essentially an animatic, and it won over traditional, fully animated films. Ocelot does not always have a specific audience in mind but he says, 'I do want to make myself understood - to communicated'. He finds that as both a filmmaker and viewer, 'I can't get interested in a film with nothing to say... for me narrative is the only route to grace'.

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