Not content with a Grand Prize picked up in l.a. at the World Animation Celebration and another in tow from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London, The Old Lady and the Pigeons has taken a third Grand Prix, beating 1,500 entries to scoop up the big one at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France.

The animated short (La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons), written and directed by award-winning comic album author Sylvain Chomet, was coproduced by Bernard Lajoie and the team at Montreal-based Productions Pascal Blais with Didier Brunner of Les Armateurs of France and Belgium’s Odec Kid Cartoons.

In addition to BBC-2, Telefilm Canada and sodec were financial players. BBC Worldwide is the distributor, and the BBC Animation Unit in Bristol has commissioned a sequel from Chomet, The Old Lady and the Cyclists.

The 26-minute film was the first by Chomet, a native of France who trained in London prior to moving to Montreal where the bulk of production transpired. The curious tale set in 1950s Paris of a ‘not so sweet old lady and a very hungry gendarme’ was also Pascal Blais’ first outing in the realm of shorts.

Drawings for Chomet’s albums and backgrounds for the film are by Nicolas De Crecy and music is by Jean Corti. Helene Girard edited, film and audio post were done at Sonolab, and video post at Centre de Montage Electronique.

Annecy’s Special Jury Prize went to The Mermaid, directed by Russia’s Alexandre Petrov, who is currently working with Pascal Blais on The Old Man and the Sea with nhk, Dentsu and Imagica of Japan.

Canada took another Annecy prize when the fipresci jury gave its international critical nod to the National Film Board’s The End of the World in Four Seasons by award-aholic (over 40) animator Paul Driessen for ‘its humor, the virtuosity of its editing and the innovative way it seeks out the spectator’s participation.’ Marcy Page is producer.