The Norwegian Film Institute announces 13 new films to be released in the upcoming season, including two fully-animated features celebrating the 100th anniversary of Norwegian animation.
OSLO, Norway -- Coinciding with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Norwegian animation, the Norwegian Film Institute has announced two upcoming animated features, Hocus, Pocus, Alfie Atkins and the stop-motion Solan & Ludvig's Christmas.
At the institute’s introduction to the upcoming film season on Monday, Norwegian Film Institute managing director Nina Refseth observed that “the autumn is dominated by films for children of all ages, which is good news after last year which was pretty thin on kidpics.”
Hocus, Pocus, Alfie Atkins (Hocus Pocus Albert Åberg) is a 2D animated feature directed by Torill Kove, who also directed the 2006 Oscar-winning short, The Danish Poet (Den danske dikteren). The film is based on Swedish author Gunilla Bergstörm’s popular book series, first published in 1972, about the simple adventures of an imaginative young boy. Produced by Maipo Films (Happy, Happy, Elling), the feature is produced by Kristin Ulseth and Cornelia Boysen, and executive produced by Synnøve Hørsdal. (A TV series based on the property is also reportedly in the works, which will air on Norwegian National Broadcasting NRK later this year.)
Here is the film’s synopsis:
Hokus pokus, Albert Åberg is the first feature film about Alfie. When he's not playing at pirates with his friends, seven-year-old Alfie Atkins dreams of having a dog of his own. A playful terrier just like the one the old magician has. And since magic is all in the mind, Alfie is convinced he can use it to make his dream come true. But it is not as easy as he thinks... even if, in the end, his dream does come true in the most unexpected manner.
Watch the trailer, below:
Solan & Ludvig's Christmas (Solan og Ludvig – Jul i Flåklypa) brings back the characters from a 1975 classic, Pinchcliffe Grand Prix. The 72-minute stop-motion feature, directed by Rasmus A. Sivertsen, follows lead characters Solan the Hedgehog and Ludvig the Mapgie as they try to save their town from the evil plans of Plosen.
Also from Maipo Films, made in conjunction with Qvisten Animation, the animated feature is executive produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and produced by Cornelia Boysen.
Read the official synopsis, and watch the trailer, below:
Solan and Ludvig's Christmas is a heartwarming adventure for the whole family. A little to the East of South, and West of North lays a little hill town where time has stood still. The name of the town is Flåklypa and in Flåklypa, as in the rest of Norway, Christmas is drawing close. Together with the inventor Reodor Felgen, Ludvig and Solan are preparing for Christmas but something important is missing. Snow.
In town Pløsen the editor of The Flåklypa Gazette is struggling with the same problems, together with the falling sales numbers of his newspaper. An easy fix he thinks if he can just get his hands on Reodor Felgen's snow machine, he can promise the people of Flåklypa a white Christmas. If he comes through they will buy his paper.
In the wrong incapable hands the snow machine, invented to fulfill Ludvig's dream of a white Christmas, turns out to be a dangerous tool, and as Flåklypa is about to be buried in snow, Ludvig and Solan have to find Reodor who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Source: Norwegian Film Institute
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
