A Cat in Paris

A Cat in Paris (Une vie de chat, 2010) is a French animated feature you can watch online on iFILM, co-directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol. The 70-minute film picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film — a rare nod for a hand-drawn European production.

By day, Dino the cat lives with a quiet little girl named Zoe, whose mother runs a police unit hunting down a dangerous crime boss. By night, Dino slips across the Paris rooftops alongside a nimble thief named Nico. Zoe follows the cat one evening and stumbles straight into Nico's world — which puts her directly in the path of the very criminal her mother is trying to catch.

The animation style is the first thing you notice: angular, almost expressionist line work, muted nighttime palettes, and a jazz score that belongs in a 1950s French thriller. It plays more like a compact noir than a standard children's film, and at 70 minutes it never overstays its welcome. Stream A Cat in Paris (2010) online on iFILM.