As announced a year or so ago, the tiny Senegalese hero Kirikou is returning for yet another animated adventure titled Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes (Kirikou And The Men And Women).

Director Michel Ocelot is currently working on the third installment of a trilogy which began with the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), and continued with Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005).

Notably, this will be the first film in the franchise to be produced in stereoscopic 3D, a format Ocelot used for the first time on Tales of the Night.

Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes is scheduled to reach French screens on February 13, 2013, and I'm looking forward to yet another sumptuous piece of animation starring our brave tiny hero, using his wits and speed to thwart evil Sorcery and save his village from supernatural and environmental perils.

Co-written by the director with Bénédicte Galup, Susie Morgenstern and Cendrine Maubourguet, Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes …:

… brings together five interconnected stories, all linked to the new adventures of Kirikou, the smallest and worthiest hero. Told by his noble grandfather, these stories will present Kirikou as someone who is a builder, a unifier of people, a storyteller, musician, and who will strive without failure, with cunning, bravery, generosity and success…

Courtesy of Twitch, above and below, here are several new released still images from the upcoming 3D work: