Now that the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards® have been announced, filmmakers and film-goers are abuzz with Oscars® fever. While much focus is on the feature films and their actors and directors, including Norwegian Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), here is one nominee you may or may not be familiar with: Director Torill Kove.
Torill Kove is nominated for her animated short film, Me and My Moulton
Born and raised in Norway, Kove has been living in Canada for more than 30 years, and describes herself as “a two-country director.” Hers is a story of a passion discovered when she was in her thirties.
Said Kove in an interview with The Huffington Post: “Two things happened as I was sifting through the NFB [National Film Board of Canada] animation collection: one was excitement at having discovered such a wonderful treasure of films, and the other was a voice in me that said loud and clear ‘I want to do this.’ I wanted to write, I wanted to draw, I wanted to be serious and funny, and with this art form I could do all three.”
In this video with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Torill shares a bit about herself, her work, and the autobiographical nature of Me and My Moulton.
Kove’s first animated short film, My Grandmother Ironed the King´s Shirts, was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.
In 2007 Kove won the Oscar for her next short film, The Danish Poet.
Torill’s first feature film, Hocus pocus, Alfie Atkins, was released in 2013, which was followed by the now Oscars-nominated animated short, Me and My Moulton, in 2014.
Me and My Moulton is a colorful, humorous, and bittersweet slice-of-life story of Kove’s childhood in Norway. Set during a summer in the 1960s, a sensitive seven-year-old girl — one of three daughters — wants to fit in with her “normal” friends (and wants a bicycle), but finds fulfilling this desire a tad difficult, given the, shall we say, creative ways of her modernist architect parents.
(Viewers in Canada can watch Me and My Moulton in its entirety for free until 10 AM on 18 January 2015 at the NFB of Canada website. Viewers in Norway can do the same at the NRK website until 9 February 2015. Fans of the film in any country can purchase the digital download of the English-version from this NFB webpage.)
Here are a couple of new clips inspired by Me and My Moulton:
With the Oscars nomination for Me and My Moulton, Kove and co. created this little gem of a celebratory video.
In addition to her work as a film director and animator, Torill is also a writer and illustrator of children’s books, including John Jensen Feels Different.
Congratulations to all of the nominees, and best wishes to Torill Kove and the entire production team of Me and My Moulton. May the Oscars be with you!
Me and My Moulton is written, directed, and art directed by Torill Kove, produced by Lise Fearnley and Marcy Page, and narrated by Andrea Braein Hovig.
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