Princes and Princesses

A fancy dress ball takes place in a strange palace. The host is unknown. The theme: "your idea of human representation”. During the course of this mysterious and rather frightening evening, each guest is transformed into his own character and the intrigue thickens.

Dragons and Princesses is a 2010 French computer animation television program written, storyboarded and directed by Michel Ocelot and produced at Studio O for Canal+. It is a fairy tale anthology series of ten further 13-minute episodes in the format established in Ciné si. Five of the episodes are edited, with a feature-exclusive sixth, into the 2011 stereoscopic compilation movie Tales of the Night.

On her throne, a princess welcomes her suitors under the watchful eye of her family and the kingdom. Down below, amongst the crowd, struggles a poor hunchback.

Raised on tales of a Djinn fairy princess, Azur, a young Frenchman goes to North Africa in search of the sprite, only to discover that his close childhood friend, Asmar, an Arab youth whose mother raised both boys also seeks the genie.

A silhouette animation anthology TV series conceived, written and directed by Michel Ocelot and realised at La Fabrique, consisting of short fantastical stories performed by the same animated "actors." A critical success but commercial failure at the time, no further episodes were commissioned beyond the initial 8, but, following the success of Ocelot's Kirikou and the Sorceress, 6 were edited into the 2000 feature Princes and Princesses, in which form they finally saw wide exposure and acclaim both in France and internationally; a further episode was included in a home release of short works in 2008, but one remains unavailable for public consumption.

A hard-working peasant begins his day by praising Saint Martin, who descends from the heavens and rewards him by granting him and his cruel, browbeating wife four wishes.

In a white lace universe, three inventors create machines which are both pretty and useful. Unfortunately people do not understand them...

Drawn from elements of West African folk tales, it depicts how a newborn boy, Kirikou, saves his village from the evil witch Karaba.

Six exotic fables, each unfold in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom, the African plains, and even the Land of the Dead.

Four tales about princesses and adventurers around the world: The Mistress of Monsters, The Wizard Student, The Ship's Boy and His Cat, and Ivan Tsarevitch and his changeable princess.

Documentary on industrial lubrification.

Five further stories from the French designer, writer and director Michel Ocelot: La Maîtresse des monstres, Le Pont du petit cordonnier, Le Mousse et sa chatte, L'Écolier sorcier, and Ivan Tsarévitch et la Princesse Changeante. This compilation movie has only been released in Japan.

A pretty shepherdess is in love with a young shepherd. So is a fairy. The shepherdess knows how to look after sheep and dance to the sound of her boyfriend's pipe. As for the fairy, she is powerful and hard-hearted; she has a flying dragon, a crystal palace, a sleeping tower and other evil powers. Which of the two will win ?

Here we have an innocent boy, a pretty princess, a treacherous merchant and a giant eagle who is fond of jewels. The tale is set in the country of the Arabian Nights, under a hail of precious stones...

Pablo Legasa from the Paris Opera Ballet dances in the sky in live-action, to Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1.