01/03/2007

The Danish Poet ( Den danske dikteren) by Torill Kove received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short at last Sunday night ceremony’s in Los Angeles.

Narrated by Norwegian actress-director Liv Ullmann, the 15-minute film tells the story of Kaspar, a poet whose creative well has run dry and who embarks on a holiday to Norway. Along the way, his quest for inspiration is accompaniedd by a spell of bad weather, angry dogs, cows that slip from barn planks, careless postmen, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors.

When receiving her Oscar at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, Kove said: “I want to thank the National Film Board of Canada and all the funders and supporters in Norway for helping us make this film, my producers Marcy Page and Lise Fearnley of Mikrofilm in Norway. I want to thank Liv Ullmann for just her beautiful narration. It was really amazing of her to participate in this. “

Produced by Norway’s Mikrofilm and the National Film Board of Canada with support from the Norwegian Film Fund and Nordisk Film & TV Fund, The Danish Poet has so far screened at 36 festivals and returned with 13 prizes, including the Academy Award.

Attached to the National Film Board of Canada, Kove also works as a designer, illustrator, animator and scriptwriter. Her previous film, My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts was also nominated for an Oscar in 1999.

This is the second time in less than a year that Norway has won one of the world’s most prestigious awards, after Bobbie Peers’ short film Sniffer picked up the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2006.