Kells Takes Big Prize at Edinburgh

The Secret of Kells is the first animated film to win the audience award at the prestigious Edinburgh Film Festival, with producer Paul Young accepting the award this past weekend from Sean Connery.

The film, made by Cartoon Saloon as a Irish-Belgian-French co-production, has been racking up honors all across Europe and is due to make its U.S. premiere in July at the New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Also, Empire Film Group has picked up the U.S. distribution rights for the film and will release it in about 10 major cites across the country in the third quarter of 2009.

Paul Young accepting the award from Sean Connery