The Man Who Planted Trees (film)

The Man Who Planted Trees
Film poster
Directed by Frédéric Back
Written by Jean Roberts
Based on The Man Who Planted Trees
by Jean Giono
Produced by Frédéric Back
Hubert Tison
Narrated by Philippe Noiret
Christopher Plummer
Edited by Norbert Pickering
Music by Normand Roger
Production
companies
Release date
  • May 1987
Running time
30 minutes
Country Canada
Languages French
English

The Man Who Planted Trees (French: L'homme qui plantait des arbres) is a 1987 Canadian short animated film directed by Frédéric Back. It is based on Jean Giono's 1953 short story The Man Who Planted Trees. This 30-minute film was distributed in two versions, French and English, narrated respectively by actors Philippe Noiret and Christopher Plummer, and produced by Radio-Canada.

Awards

The film won the Academy Award (1988) for Best Animated Short Film. In his acceptance speech, Back shared his Oscar with "all the women and men who plant trees and hope and work so hard to protect forests, wildlife, the health and the beauty of this world".

The film also competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. The film won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation at the 1988 Yorkton Film Festival.

In 1994, it was voted number 44 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.