AN Oscar-winning animator who learnt his craft at the West Surrey College of Art in Farnham has won a Special Grand Jury Prize at the renowned Cannes Film Festival.

Michael Dudok de Wit, who graduated from University for the Creative Arts (UCA) Farnham’s founding college in 1978, collected the award in the festival’s Un Certain Regard category for his debut feature animation The Red Turtle (La Tortue Rouge).

The film, which premiered at the festival, is a dialogue-free animation recounting the story of a man shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs and birds, and was co-produced by legendary animation house Studio Ghibli, whose previous films include Spirited Away.

It’s not the first prestigious award the animator has won over the course of a glittering career, having previously collected both an Oscar and a BAFTA for his short him Father & Daughter.

The BA (Hons) animation degree at UCA Farnham continues to graduate award-winning animators, with the course this year sweeping the British Animation Awards with no fewer than seven nominations.