Winner in Cannes

the red turtle
Dutchman Michael Dudok de Wit’s debut feature The Red Turtle (La Tortue Rouge) can now claim to have won a prize at the first festival in which it screened: Cannes.
At the award ceremony last night for the festival’s Un Certain Regard category, Dudok de Wit’s film, co-produced by Studio Ghibli, won the special jury prize (which, while not the top prize in the category, is still a noteworthy achievement). It was one of 18 films competing in the Cannes sidebar, and the only animated film in the group.
After his high school education in the Netherlands, Dudok de Wit attended the Geneva School of Fine Arts. In 1978, he graduated from the West Surrey College of Art (now the University for the Creative Arts) with his first film The Interview. After working for a year in Barcelona, he settled in London where he directs and animates award-winning commercials for television and cinema.
His well-known film Father and Daughter (2000) won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, the Grand Prix at Annecy, and dozens of other major awards.