‘Ernest & Celestine’ Set for Feb. 28 L.A. Run

The Oscar-nominated animated feature Ernest & Celestine will be released in both the original French-language and an English dub versions Feb. 28 at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles.

Distributor GKIDS will follow up with a March 14 release at New York’s IFC Center, followed by a national expansion to all major U.S. markets.

The L.A. run will be preceded by a sneak-preview run of the French version on Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. at the Landmark. Tickets for this screening are on sale now.

Directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner, the hand-drawn 2-D animated featured is adapted from the book by Gabrielle Vincent that tells the tale of a young dreamer mouse named Celestine who bonds with a troubadour bear named Ernest.

The French-language version of the film premiered at Cannes, has played Toronto, and other prestigious film festivals, is the winner of France’s Cesar Award for Best Animated Feature and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Animation, and currently has a 100 percent “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

The English-language version will feature the voices of Forest Whitaker, Mackenzie Foy, Lauren Bacall, Paul Giamatti, William H. Macy, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman and Jeffrey Wright. It premiered at this year’s Sundance festival.

Ernest & Celestine