Short Film Corner: The Danish Poet

The variations differ from culture to culture, and from person to person, but nearly everyone has an opinion. Do the little things matter or is life simply a series of random chances that happen to line up to produce existence? Thus is the premise of Torill Kove, the Norwegian born filmmaker whose latest animated feature The Danish Poet is the latest work featured by the National Film Board of Canada. The award winning animated featurette follows the seemingly simple premise that ordinary daily events can guide our paths and our destiny; however, the deeper philosophical reverberations echo through the film and add to its depth and meaning, ending in a delightful journey through the realms of possibility.

The short film follows Kasper, a poet facing an artist’s greatest fear, a lack of inspiration. Oscar nominated actress Liv Ullmann (Face to Face, 1996), narrates the tale as we follow Kasper on his holiday to Norway in hopes of meeting the famous writer Sigrid Undset. The course of his journey leads Kasper through encounters as seemingly mundane as bad weather, hungry goats and an angry postman may have influence far deeper than their appearance. Kove uses these simple events to reinforce the question of predestination and coincidence. Through the simple act of a journey to a location, Kove finds the path to consciousness that dwells within all of us. Through brilliant storytelling and superb artistry the director leads us to question our very existence. Can simple events really change our destiny? Can we trace these events back to our own birth?

In an interview with NFBC, the director discussed her own inspiration for the film, the events that led to the meeting of her parents. “I think the first source of inspiration was a story my father told me,” Kove said. “He always dreamt about being a painter, an artist, but his parents wanted him to go to architecture school. He had to make a decision so he made an appointment to go see this art teacher and ask him if he thought there was any chance that he could survive in the real world.” Before he could go through with his question however, he decided to allow fate to lead him. He eventually ended up at architecture school, meeting his future wife, and setting the stage for the birth of Torill. Thus began the journey which would eventually lead her to The Danish Poet.

The film has garnered 9 awards to date including 3 audience choice awards and numerous international short film festival judging’s. Kove wrote, directed and animated the short, the latest in a stellar career which began with her Kodak Award winning films  All You Can Eat, Fallen Angel and Squash and Stretch.

Torill’s latest film is set to continue the artist’s growth in the animation field as well as the professional film industry. The Danish Poet is a deeply philosophical and introspective journey into the events that determine our lives, and the coincidences that guide our future. Perhaps Torill has finally managed to be at the right place at the right time, or perhaps the choices she made to get here have paid off at last. Either way her latest film highlights the best of the art form or the skills that have brought her this far in her career. Look for more work from this talented animator in the future.