Already a recipient of the Cristal d’Or at the prestigious Annecy international festival dedicated to animation, the Valentinoise by adoption Amandine Fredon has just been nominated for the Césars 2023 with Benjamin Massoubre, her co-director, for her Petit Nicolas – Qu are we waiting for to be happy? Before the meeting on Friday February 24 for the 48^e Cesar ceremony, Amandine Fredon has reserved an interview for us.

Congratulations on this nomination for the Césars after your Cristal d’Or at the Annecy festival! What does it do to you, already?

Thanks ! When our film received the Cristal at the Annecy Festival, we were on our little cloud. We had just finished having the honor of being selected for the Cannes Film Festival, with the red carpet going up for a large part of the team.

The prize at Annecy is an incredible reward and, as soon as it was released, the film was a great success. With Benjamin, co-director with me, we followed the film to meet the public and it was very moving to have succeeded in reaching such a large number of people, children, parents, grandparents, who found themselves in the story of Petit-Nicolas. The film won several awards and, when we learned of our nomination in the category “best animated film”, it was hard to believe. It’s a magical adventure and this success rewards two years of intense production and the work of 300 people!

René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé, the creators of Petit Nicolas, have left us. What message do they leave us through your film?

These two authors are monuments of French culture. Everyone has read René Goscinny’s stories and laughs at Jean-Jacques Sempé’s drawings. The film tells of the creation of the Petit-Nicolas but above all a very beautiful story of friendship between these two authors. With Benjamin, we discovered that René Goscinny spent his childhood in Argentina, that Jean-Jacques Sempé dreamed of being a jazz musician. ! We wanted to tell all that in the film.

We also talk about their difficult times: Jean-Jacques Sempé was abused by his stepfather in his childhood, René Goscinny lost a large part of his family in the concentration camps, things that mark forever. They worked all their lives with relentlessness and passion, and despite the hardships they encountered, they used this pain to transform it into strength, into the joy of living. They leave us this beautiful message: you have to move forward and bounce back, create your happiness instead of waiting for it.

You trained at the school of The Powder Magazine and work regularly with Folimage and Flipbook. Is there a local recipe for success in animation?

A little talent, a lot of work, chocolate, Côte du Rhône, caillette (to make it local)… and perlimpinpin powder. Asterix’s magic potion is good too, but I don’t have the recipe!

Originally from Limousin, passionate about drawing, I studied art, in particular the comic strip workshop in The superior school of the image from Angouleme. I arrived in Valencia to continue my studies at school The Powder Magazine and I continued as colorist on the first feature film of Folimage, The frog prophecy. Then, I made series for television (Ariol, It’s good, You will die less stupid…). Animation has really developed in Valencia and it’s a chance for us to have so many talented and passionate people.