Animation in Norway goes back to the mid 1910s. In 1913 the cartoonist Sverre Halvorsen made his first film caricatures and in the following years several of his cartoon colleagues gave the new medium a try. Fanden i nøtten (The Devil in the Nut, 1917) was an eight minutes animated cartoon based on a Norwegian folk tale. It was animated by Ola Cornelius and produced by the Norwegian advertising pioneer Eivin Ovrum. The film was screened both in Sweden and Denmark.
Cinema commercials blossomed in Norway in the late 1920s. There were several animation studios in Oslo making animated cinema advertising at the time with Ottar Gladtvet, Niels Sinding-Hansen and Thomas W. Schwartz as the leading producers. Many of these commercials were advertising for cigarettes from the Tiedemann Tobacco Company. The introduction of sound put an end to the Norwegian animation industry and almost all animated cinema commercials in Norway in the 1930s were produced abroad. But many of them were specially made for Norwegian companies, particularly for the tobacco producer Tiedemann. Famous European animators like Hans Fischerkoesen, Oskar Fishinger and Alexandre Alexeieff made cinema commercials for Tiedemann.
The leading name in Norwegian animation is Ivo Caprino (1920-2001). His first puppet film Tim and Tøffe was finished in 1948. In the 1950s he won major international prizes for his short films based on Norwegian folk tales. Den standhaftige tinnsoldat (The Steady-fast Tin Soldier,1955) made for the H.C.Andersen anniversary had wide international distribution. Karius and Baktus (1955) is another classic with huge distribution in the Nordic countries. Caprino's masterpiece is the puppet feature Flåklypa Grand Prix (Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, 1975). It is by far the most popular Norwegian film ever, and it's also the best selling Norwegian film on video and DVD. A computer-game based on the film was released in 2001. Ivo Caprino died in 2001, but his son and grandson continue the work at Caprino Filmcenter at Snarøya outside Oslo.
In the early 1960s Bjørn Aronsen ran a studio in Oslo that produced hundreds of animated commercials. Trygve Rasmussen's Punktfilm was producing advertising films, titles and animated sequences for documentaries and fiction films and a few short films from the late 1950s to the late 1980s. In the 1970s a new generation of animators developed (Knut Eide, Thor Sivertsen, Terje Bomann-Larsen, Kine Aune). They mainly made animated shorts financed by the Norwegian film funding bodies. There has never been an animation department in NRK, the main Norwegian TV broadcaster. But some of the staff at Grafisk Atelier, particularly Anna Tystad Aronsen, made several animated shorts in the 1970s and 80s. Internationally Norwegian animated shorts had a breakthrough in the mid 1980s with the very short and funny Zwisch! by Thor Sivertsen and Kine Aune's What Shall We Do About Little Jill? that won the first prize in Shanghai in 1988.
Apart from Ivo Caprino's studio, there was hardly any Norwegian animation business between the late 1920s and the 1990s. In the early 1990s the cartoon studio Tegnefilmcompagniet and the puppet/3D-studio Studio Magica were leading the process towards a professional animation industry. Helped by the development of new technology, TV advertising, a vital animation festival and a new animation school at Volda College, the industry has gone through an amazing development in a few years. Today there are several busy animation studios in Oslo. And there are small animation studios in towns around the country.
Norwegian animated shorts by Anita Killi, Piotr Sapegin and Toril Kove has won lots of international prizes the last few years. Sapegin's One Day an Man Bought a House won the Hiroshima prize in 2000 and Anita Killi's Hedge of Thorns was the most-winning Norwegian film the year it came out with 14 international prizes. While advertising agencies preferred British or Swedish animation studios in the 1980s, they are now using Qvisten Animation and Pravda for their commercials. The competition for public funding is harder than ever, but it is still the major incentive when it comes to production of animated shorts. In the last few years the production of animated TV-series is finally happening in Norway too.
The traditional feature film industry is a major force in the Norwegian animation industry today. Profiled Norwegian feature film producer John M. Jacobsen has produced two successful animated features: Gurin med reverompa (Gurin with the Fox-Tale, 1998) and Karlsson på taket (Karlsson on the Roof, 2002). Karlsson på taket is based on the children's book by Astrid Lindgren, and the film is a co-production with Sweden. The Norwegian-Swedish feature project is Kaptein Sabeltann was a co-production between Qvisten and Happy Life. Comic book artist Christoffer Nielsen made success with the 3D-computer-TV-series To trøtte typer (Two Wasted Wankers, 2000). A feature based on the same characters, Free Jimmy, premiered in 2006 to great reviews. It's one of the most expensive Norwegian films ever. The TV-series and the feature have been crucial in building the Norwegian 3D computer animation industry. Filmkameratene and John M. Jacobsen have also moved into 3D with their successful TV-series Elias. A feature based on the same characters is in production. And several other Norwegian animated TV-series will premiere in the coming months.
Apart from animated features, TV-series, shorts and advertising films, many animators work with graphic design, web-design and animations for mobile telephones. Particularly important is the computer game industry. Oslo-based FunCom has been a leading computer game producer the last 10 years. Games like Den lengste reisen (The Longest Journey) and Anarchy Online are huge international successes.
Gunnar Strøm
Volda, November 2006
The programme will be presented by Arna Marie Bersaas from the Norwegian Film Institute.
Fumes from the Fjords: Norveški animirani reklamni filmi 20. in 30. let / Norwegian animated commercials from the 1920's and 30's
Jiggs je pobegnil / Fiinbeck er rømt / Jiggs has run away
Ottar Gladtvet, Viktor Berghdal (Tiedemanns Tobak A/S)
Norveška/Švedska / Norway/Sweden, 1927, 35 mm, 3'30''
Usoda / Skjæbnen / The Destiny
Thomas W. Schwartz (Parba Barbersåpe)
Norveška / Norway, 1928, 35 mm, 1'20''
Trio srečni radio / Den lystige radio-trio / The Happy Radio Trio
neznani avtor / unknown author (Radionette Radio)
Norveška/Nemčija / Norway/Germany, 1934, 35 mm, 2'30''
Kalifova skrivnost / Kalifens Hemmelighet / The Kalif's Secret
Hans Fischerkoesen (Tiedemanns Tobak A/S)
Norveška/Češkoslovaška / Norway/Czechoslovakia, 1938, 35 mm, 2'30''
Barvna simfonija v modrem / En fargesymfoni i blått / Colour Symphony in Blue
Oscar Fischinger (Tiedemanns Tobak A/S)
Norveška/Nemčija / Norway/Germany, 1936, 35 mm, 3'
Kako se je vseeno posvetilo, čeprav je sonce zaspalo / Hvordan det likevel ble lyst da solen forsov seg / How the Light Came Anyway When the Sun Overslept
Hans Fischerkoesen (Philips)
Nizozemska/Norveška/Nemčija / The Netherlands/Norway/Germany, 1937, 35 mm, 4'30''
Radiorør-revolusjonen
George Pal (Philips)
Nizozemska / The Netherlands, 1938, 35 mm, 3'
Šah mat / Sjakk matt / Chess Mate
Hans Fischerkoesen (Gaspar Color)
Norveška/Nemčija / Norway/Germany, 1938, 35 mm, 3'35''
Orientalska umetnina / Et Orientalsk kunststykke / An Oriental Piece of Art
neznani avtor / unknown author (Gaspar Color)
Norveška/Nemčija / Norway/Germany, cca. 1938, 35 mm, 3'
Cigareta - sanje / En sigarett - en drøm / A Cigarette - A Dream
Hans Fischerkoesen (Tiedemanns Tobak A/S)
Norveška/Nemčija / Norway/Germany, 1938, 35 mm, 2'30''
Zwisch!
Thor Sivertsen (AnimaThorFilm)
Norveška / Norway, 1983, 16 mm, 1'
Razkošen animirani film o življenju in - kakšna škoda! - njegovi kratkosti!
A lavish animation film about life and - alas! - how short it is!
Kaj storiti z malo Jill? / Hva skal vi gjøre med lille Jill? / What Shall We Do About Little Jill?
Kine Aune (Kine Aune)
Norveška / Norway, 1987, 35 mm, 12'
Prek očarljivih risb in animacije film pripoveduje zgodbo o osamljeni deklici in njenih prezaposlenih starših. »Kaj storiti z malo Jill,« se sprašujejo in ji podarijo sliko. Slika, ki kaže majhno deklico, ki si želi konja, vzpodbudi malo Jill, da se še sama odpravi v svet in v sliko ter tako najde konja zase.
In delightful drawings and animation the film tells the story of a lonely child and her preoccupied parents. "What to do about little Jill", they wonder and give her a painting. The painting shows a little girl who wants a horse, and gives Jill the idea to go out in the world and into the picture to find a horse for herself.
Uporniška abeceda / Det opprørske alfabetet / The Rebellious Alphabet
Øivind S. Jorfald (TegnefilmCompagniet A/S)
Norveška / Norway, 1994, 35 mm, 8’
Nepismeni diktator prepove branje in pisanje. Starec izšola ptice, ki nato tiskajo njegova sporočila. Veter nosi pesmi in letake po vsem mestu … in uporniška abeceda oživi. Domiselna in inovativna politična basen z odločno, podrobno animacijo prepleta poezijo in humor ter opozarja na veliki temi cenzure in odpora.
An illiterate dictator bans all reading and writing. An old man trains birds to print his messages. The wind carries poems and leaflets to all parts of the town … and the rebellious alphabet comes to life. Witty and innovative, this political fable combines poetry and humour with bold, detailed animation and raises powerful issues about censorship and resistance.
Nekega dne je človek kupil hišo / Huset på Kampen / One Day a Man Bought a House
Pjotr Sapegin (Studio Magica AS)
Norveška / Norway, 1998, 35 mm, 7’
Nekega dne moški v mestnem predelu Kampna kupi hišo. Vendar v njej že nekdo živi …
One day a man bought a house in the city section of Kampen. But someone was already living there…
Mati je rekla / Sa Mor / Mother Said
Lise Faernley, Kajsa Næss (Mikrofilm as)
Norveška / Norway, 1999, 35 mm, 2’
»Koga bi zares rad zadovoljil, svojo mati ali mravljišče?« Animirani film po pesmi Hala Sirowitza.
“Who do you really want to please, your mother or an anthill?” An animated film based on a poem by Hal Sirowitz.
Bodeča žica / Tornehekken / The Hedge of Thorns
Anita Killi (Trollfilm AS)
Norveška / Norway, 2001, 35 mm, 13’
Florian in Malene sta najboljša prijatelja. Vsak dan se igrata ob potoku. Ko nastopi vojna, se otroka ne smeta več igrati skupaj, saj pripadata nasprotnim stranem.
Florian and Malene are best friends. Every day they play down by the creek. One day the war comes, and the two children are no longer allowed to play together because they are on opposite sides of the war.
Fasten Seat Belt
Guttorm Nordø (Guttorm Nordø)
Norveška / Norway, 2002, 35 mm, 3’
Grobo neposreden ekspresionističen film, ki gledalca lahko vznemiri in zmede. Obenem je zaradi barvite eksplozivnosti zelo lep.
Fasten Seat Belt is a brutally direct expressionistic film that may leave the viewer in an unnerved and slightly confused state. At the same time it is, with all its coloristic explosions, quite beautiful.
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