In 1987, Frédéric Back, a Canadian artist and film Director, created a stunning 30 minute animated short film based on Jean Giono’s 1953 tale. It earned a number of awards including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. With a beautiful narration in the English language version by Christopher Plummer, the film makes Giono’s characters spring into life. Back's pure and poetic drawings that blend into one another, his pastel colors and his silver smooth direction, transport the viewer in the world of a certain Elzéard Bouffier. Now Jean Giono insisted that the man was just a figment of his imagination. That he never really existed. But seeing Frédéric Back’s short film we understand that in the end, it makes no difference if Mr Bouffier was real or not. This story and the film that faithfully captures the essence of it, have already planted their acorns of hope in our mind. And that’s real.
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