Brendan up for Oscar Gold

Tomm Moore's The Secret of Kells (Brendan and the Secret of Kells) has been nominated for Best Animated Feature for the 82nd Academy Awards. An Irish-French-Belgian co-production, the Flemish co-producer is Viviane Vanfleteren for Vivi Film. Also involved is Brussels-based animation studio Walking The Dog. This year's nominations include films such as Fantastic Mr Fox and Coraline.

The Secret of Kells premiered at last year's Berlinale in the Generation K+ competition. It went on to win the audience award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was sold to the US, Canada, Russia, Korea and the Middle East by Celluloid Dreams.

Conceived and directed by Tomm Moore, The Secret of Kells tells the story of Brendan, a cheerful 12-year-old Irish boy, who helps the other brothers at Kells Abbey to build a fortified wall to protect themselves against the Vikings. In the abbey, he meets brother Aidan, who is the guardian of an exceptional but incomplete book. In order to finish the book and to overcome his fears, Brendan escapes from the abbey for the first time and faces many fantastic adventures.

Best Animation Feature Film
Coraline - Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr Fox - Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog - John Musker and Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells - Tomm Moore
Up - Pete Docter

The Oscars will take place on Sunday 7 March and will be hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.