A neglected 9-year-old boy lands in a rural home for orphans, where he finds that everyone has a personal story to rival his own. Written in episodic monologue, Gilles Paris’ novel Autobiography of a Courgette (2002) is retold in a “stop motion” film that captivated audiences around the world.

Trained in illustration and computer graphics, Claude Barras used sketches for ‘casting’ and, once he had found his actors, had them made into silicone puppets. “I tried to create very simple characters in terms of their faces and to allow the spectator to project their own emotions into them.”

Favouring long takes that linger on tiny reactions – a blink, a shrug, Barras aspired to “make a film about children that speaks to them about abuse and its remedies in today’s world.” The poetic possibilities of animation are bonded with down-to-earth dialogues penned by Céline Sciamma (of Portrait of a Lady on Fire).

“You often find with animation […] that the filmmakers are trying to give adults some reason to bear the film – they’re winking at them, adding all these levels,” she says. “Courgette is the opposite, everybody’s watching the same film, we don’t wink at anyone.”

Re-enacting the scenes in the studio, the non-professional child voice interpreters take naturally to their lines. To see them at work, click here.

The schedule was as arduous as any live film: Over a period of eight months, Barras’ team shot 70 minutes of film on fifteen sets, at a rate of approximately three seconds per day per animator.

“…despite the spectre of parental alcoholism, drug addiction and worse, this beautifully tender and empathetic film addresses kids and adults alike in clear and compassionate tones that span – and perhaps heal – generations.” Mark Kermode, Observer