''Belle et Sébastien'' is a 1966 novel by

Cécile Aubry Cécile Aubry (born Anne-José Madeleine Henriette Bénard; 3 August 1928 – 19 July 2010) was a French film actress, author, television screenwriter and director. Life and career Born in 1928, Aubry began her career as a dancer. At age 20 ...

about a six-year-old boy named Sébastien and his

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

Belle, a Great Pyrenees, who live in a village in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

close to the Italian border. Sébastien lives with his adopted grandfather, sister, and brother, as his mother, a Romani, died after giving birth to him while trying to cross the border on

Saint Sebastian Sebastian (; ) was an early Christianity, Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this d ...

's day. The novel, known in

English-speaking The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

countries as ''Belle and Sebastian'', is based on a 1965 French live action television series. The novel itself spawned a Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

adaptation in 1981, a French motion picture in 2013, followed by two sequels in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and 2017 (''Belle and Sebastian: Friends for Life''), and a French-Canadian co-produced TV series in 2017.

Source TV serial

''Belle et Sébastien'' (1965–1970)

The source of the novel was filmed in France as live action in black and white. The BBC dubbed it into English, and anglicized the title to "Belle and Sebastian", and it became a favourite on children's television, shown a few times.

Adaptations

The serial spawned two further 13-part colour film sequels: ''Sebastien parmi les Hommes'' (''Sebastien Among Men'', 1968), retitled '' Belle, Sebastian and the Horses'' by the BBC and ''Sebastien et la Mary-Morgane'' (''Sebastian and the Mary Morgan'') (1970); this second sequel was not broadcast by the BBC. The

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band

Belle & Sebastian Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released twelve studio albums. They are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake. The band took their name from ...

took their name from the TV series.

''Meiken Jolie'' (1981)

The

version, released initially under its Japanese name of ''Meiken Jolie'', was created in 1980, a joint production of MK Company, Visual 80 Productions and

Toho Company, Ltd. is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

, with animation director Toshiyuki Kashiwakura helming the project and character designs from Shuichi Seki. The show was broadcast on French, Italian and Japanese television in 1981, with American cable network

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

picking it up in 1984.

''Belle et Sébastien'' (2013 motion picture)

In 2013 the novel was filmed again by director

Nicolas Vanier Nicolas Vanier (born 5 May 1962) is a French adventurer, writer and director. Films Nicolas Vanier's 2004 film ''The Last Trapper'' followed a Trapping, trapper in the Yukon, Canadian Yukon. In 2009 Vanier's movie ' ("Wolf") detailed the life of ...

(original title: ''Belle et Sébastien'') targeting a family audience, but placing it at the French–Swiss border Haute-Maurienne–Vanoise in 1943 and adding a storyline about fugitives crossing the mountains to the child-friendly boy-befriends-dog story.

''Belle et Sébastien: l'aventure continue'' (2015 motion picture)

A sequel to the 2013 film (original title: ''Belle et Sébastien: l'aventure continue''), set in 1945 and directed by Canadian director Christian Duguay, was released on December 9, 2015.

''Belle et Sébastien'' (2017)

A production by Gaumont Animation, shown on

Knowledge Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is oft ...

, in British Columbia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belle et Sebastien 1966 children's books 1966 French novels Children's novels about dogs French adventure novels French children's novels French-language children's books French novels adapted into films French novels adapted into television shows Children's books set in France Novels set in France Alps in fiction