Sylvain Chomet’s Belleville Rendezvous (The Triplets Of Belleville) notched up more kudos last night, when a panel of four film professionals announced it as the winner of the first ever BBC World Cinema Award. In the shortlist were City Of God, Etre Et Avoir, Good Bye Lenin!, The Man Without A Past, the fully animated Spirited Away and Belleville, which won by three votes.

The “face of film” in the UK, critic Jonathan Ross, was joined by jurors Bjork, actor Robert Carlyle and directors Alex Cox and Mike Figgis to debate over which film would be the first to receive this new international award for outstanding foreign language film. There’s another chance for UK viewers to catch the good-natured discussion, when BBC 4 repeats the World Cinema Award show, at 8.30pm on Friday 30th January.

In related news, the film under its French guise Les Triplettes De Belleville has been nominated for three César Awards – France’s prestigious answer to the Oscars – in the Meilleur (Best) Film, Best Debut Work of Fiction, and Best Original Music categories. The Big Cartoon DataBase has more on the ceremony.