Song of the Sea (2014 film)

Song of the Sea (Irish: Amhrán na Mara) is a 2014 animated fantasy film directed and co-produced by Tomm Moore, co-produced by Ross Murray, Paul Young, Stephen Roelants, Serge and Marc Ume, Isabelle Truc, Clement Calvet, Jeremie Fajner, Frederik Villumsen, and Claus Toksvig Kjaer, and written by Will Collins based on an original story by Moore.

It is the second feature film by Cartoon Saloon in an international co-production with The Big Farm of Belgium, Nørlum of Denmark, Superprod of France, and Melusine Productions of Luxembourg, The film is the second installment of Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy", following his previous film The Secret of Kells (2009) and later the film Wolfwalkers (2020). It is the only one to be set in relatively contemporary times, specifically the 1980s, as the other aforementioned films take place during the early Middle Ages and the 17th century respectively.

Song of the Sea follows the story of a 10-year-old Irish boy named Ben (David Rawle) who discovers that his mute sister Saoirse—whom he blames for the apparent death of his mother—is a selkie, who has to free faerie creatures from the Celtic goddess Macha.

Like other Cartoon Saloon films, the animation is a combination of traditional hand-drawn and computer-generated types, with a domination of the stylistically naïf form of the first being dominant. This follows the style set in The Secret of Kells, with it mainly appearing with a flat or 2-dimensional aspect, but also incorporating some 3-dimensional image modelling. Aptly, the imagery of the animation is composed in the form of water-colours, especially in the backgrounds and in the narrative flashback scenes.

The film began production soon after the release of The Secret of Kells and premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September in the "TIFF Kids" programme. The film had a limited release in certain countries, but won the Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature and European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as the nominations for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards and 42nd Annie Awards.

The Irish-language version was produced by Macalla with funding from TG4 and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with selected cinemas in Ireland screening it from 10 July 2015. Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan reprised their respective roles in this version. The DVD with the Irish audio can be bought in Cartoon Saloon's online store.