The best European animated film of the year, winner of the César Award for best French animated feature, captures the turbulent life and work of Spanish artist, caricaturist and writer Josep Bartolí (1910–1995). It depicts the painful exodus of the half million anti-Francoist Spaniards who in 1939 crossed the Pyrenees into France, where they were placed in internment camps.

The film is a fascinating glimpse into a darker chapter of French history, brought to life by Bartolí’s original, inimitable drawings. With remarkable invention, these not only provide the film’s visual component, they take it to a whole new level of quality and originality. This feature debut of 40-year-old French caricaturist and comic artist Aurélien Froment (credited under his pen name Aurel) is a tribute to the redemptive, restorative power of art.