The Canadian film industry may not have the rich production opportunities or star systems of Hollywood, but every year it manages to produce a few memorable little movies, even if poor distribution prevents most people from seeing them.
Canadian filmmakers may have government funding, but the money and audiences just aren’t sufficient to a substantial industry. Still, the movies are out there—you just have to work a little harder to see them.
Despite these difficulties, one area of the industry that has always thrived has been the production of animated shorts through the National Film Board, an institution that has funded some of the most reative works of animation in the past 60 years, from founding artists such as Norman McLaren and Ryan Larkin to the contemporaries working today.
Even the Oscars have recognized these productions from time to time, most recently by awarding “Best Animated Short Film” statues to Chris Landreth’s Ryan in 2004, and this year to Torill Kove’s The Danish Poet, which will screen this weekend at the 2007 Kingston Canadian Film Festival.
The Danish Poet is a 15-minute film that manages to be both childishly playful and philosophically complex. The plot follows a poet, Kasper Jørgensen, suffering from writer’s block, who travels to Norway on holiday to search for inspiration. In Norway, he finds a girl with whom he falls in love, but she is engaged to be married against her will to a local farmer. She vows never to cut her hair until she can be with Kasper again, a promise that she keeps (making her hair look like Marge’s from “The Simpsons”). The story continues from there, but revealing any more would ruin the surprises in this little movie about chance and coincidence.
As that plot outline suggests, the movie has a fairy-tale quality, which is emphasized by its animation style. Drawn in simple images, the short is a children’s picture book brought to life, with all the gentle humour and whimsy one would expect from the genre. The narration is provided by award-winning actress Liv Ullmann, who also voices all the characters.
The result feels very much like a traditional fable, but with a philosophical touch that makes the work complex enough for adult audiences. Truth be told, were this movie stretched out to feature length, the
syrupy sentiment and childish quality would be overwhelming, but at 15 minutes it’s surprisingly affecting and satisfying.
Torill Kove’s style of animation is another asset. While most of the film is simply drawn, key moments at the opening and conclusion explore more experimental line and morphing animation that demonstrates Kove’s artistic gifts. She has been working with the NFB for a decade now, but this is her first completed feature since the Oscarnominated My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts was released in 1999.
The Danish Poet is but one of the Canadian films that will be screened at this year’s Kingston Canadian Film Festival, which will see such actors and directors as Don McKellar and Sarah Polley in attendance.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to nationally produced cinema that will sadly never play in Kingston theatres. The event offers a much desired alternative to the bloated Hollywood blockbusters clogging the multiplexes (do we really need to see Jim Carrey discovering the evil of the number 23, or John Travolta, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence playing suburban bikers?).
So go check this stuff out, dammit!
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The Danish Poet plays as part of the Shorts Package on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. at the Empire Capitol 7. Complete festival schedule, along with descriptions of all the films, is available at www.kingcanfilmfest.com.
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