Norwegian director Torill Kove’s 'Den danske dikteren' ('The Danish Poet') is nominated for an Academy Award as Best Animated Short Film.
2/13/2007 :: Toril Kove makes history as the first Norwegian filmmaker to be nominated twice for an Academy Award. In 1999, she got her first Oscar nomination with 'Min bestemor strøk kongens skjorter' ('My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts'). This year Kove's 15-minute animation 'Den danske dikteren' ('The Danish Poet') has been selected as one of five nominees in the category of Best Animated Short Film. She competes against films made by some of the big American studios, such as Disney and Pixar.
'Den danske dikteren' is a story about Kasper, a young poet in search of inspiration, who travels to Norway to meet the celebrated writer, Sigrid Undset. His journey raises questions like 'Is our existence just coincidence?' and 'Do little things matter?'.
The Norwegian actress/director Liv Ullmann is narrating the film which is produced by the Norwegian production company Mikrofilm in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada. It was internationally released last year and has so far been screened at 29 festivals and returned with seven prizes.
Born in Hamar, Norway, Kove now lives in Montreal, Canada, where she works as a designer, illustrator, animator and scriptwriter.
The 79th Annual Academy Award ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 25.
Lise Rist / Royal Norwegian Embassy