Netflix scooped up global rights to Cannes Critics’ Week Award winner “I Lost My Body,” from Xilam Animation, after its premiere at the festival. Now, the streaming giant has tapped Dev Patel, Alia Shawkat, and George Wendt to lead the English-language cast of French director Jérémy Clapin’s animated feature debut, in which young love and childhood memories intertwine as a severed hand crosses Paris in search of its owner.

Additionally, filmmaker Andrew Bujalski has been named the Creative Lead of the English dub under the supervision of director Clapin.

Patel, Shawkat, and Wendt replace the original French voiceover cast led by Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois, and Patrick d’Assumçao.

The film’s official synopsis reads: “In a Parisian laboratory, a severed hand escapes its unhappy fate and sets out to reconnect with its body in this Cannes Critics’ Week selection. During a hair-raising escapade across the city, the extremity fends off pigeons and rats alike to reunite with pizza boy Naoufel. Its memories of Naoufel and his love for librarian Gabrielle may provide answers about what caused the hand’s separation, and a poetic backdrop for a possible reunion between the three.”

The film earned a spot on IndieWire’s Best Movies of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, landing at number two in the Best First Film category.

Clapin, who studied animation and illustration at the Paris École des Arts Décoratifs, first caught the attention of the festival world with his highly original, funny and dark short “Skhizein” in 2008, which tells the story of a man hit by a meteor, whose body becomes invisible. The film won awards at Annecy and the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2012, Clapin directed “Palmipédarium,” which also received raves at festival screenings worldwide. The short centers on a sensitive young boy’s encounter with a strange-looking duck and a culture that emphasizes hunting as a typical rite of passage.

And with “I Lost My Body,” Clapin continues to receive critical acclaim for his work. The film is considered a frontrunner in the 2020 Best Animated Feature Oscar race.

Based on the Novel “Happy Hand” by Academy Award nominee Guillaume Laurent (“Amelie”), and produced by Marc du Pontavice, “I Lost My Body” will be in theaters in the U.S. on November 15 and available in 184 countries on Netflix on November 29.

Check out Netflix’s first trailer for the film below.

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