Oscar Nomination for the little animated film

“The Secret of Kells,” the film that grabbed a surprise Academy Award nomination for best animated feature this month, won’t be a secret to American audiences much longer.

Directed by Tomm Moore, “The Secret of Kells” tells the story of a boy living in a Celtic abbey whose adventures with fairies, she-wolves and barbarians lead to the creation of the Book of Kells, the 1,200-year-old illuminated manuscript.

In doing so, “Kells,” which received little mainstream press stateside and is yet to be released here theatrically, beat out big-budget movies like “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”

The hand-drawn film, which has been out in theaters in Ireland nearly a year now, tells the story of a young boy trying to protect the national treasure, "The Book of Kells," from the Vikings.

“First and foremost, it’s a tribute to the quality of the film,” said Eric Beckman, president of GKIDS, the film’s U.S. distributor. It was Beckman’s company that crafted the successful campaign that earned “Kells” an Oscar nomination