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Michèle Cournoyer has tackled the darkest of issues in her animation, but does so with such deft style and often with such surreal black humour as to disarm viewers in the process. Be it subjects relating to incest or alcoholism or terrorism, Cournoyer does not shy away from the provocative, yet her highly personalized approach still makes her work ever-palatable.

Such animated offerings as Accordion, focusing on a quest for love, Robes of War,on terrorism, and Soif, on alcoholism, have taken home scores of awards at the world’s major film festivals. She really hit home with The Hat, a powerful peek into incest created in seemingly simple black-ink-on-paper-drawing motif. It was selected at the Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week and included in a list of the 100 Best Animated Films of All Time in 2005.

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Now Cournoyer can add another accolade to her collection. On Wednesday, she was named a 2017 winner of a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts for her animation. The award, which also comes with a $25,000 cash prize, will be presented to Cournoyer and the other winners by Governor General of Canada David Johnston on March 1 at Ottawa’s Rideau Hall.