In which Chris Robinson asks animators profound and inane questions that have little to do with animation. This week's guest is the winner of numerous shiny awards, Torill Kove.
'Me and My Moulton' by Torill Kove
So get this you lovers of shiny trophies, Norwegian-born/Canadian squatting animator, Torill Kove has made three animation films (My Grandmother Ironed the King Shirts, The Danish Poet and Me and My Moulton). All three have been nominated for a glorious Academy Award. One, The Danish Poet, successfully seduced the golden boy. That’s a pretty damn good track record. And speaking of tracks, the Norwegian wonder agreed to meet me only if we biked to Ottawa and chewed taffy by the abandoned industrial railroad tracks on a Thursday afternoon in mid-June. So we did.
I get the greatest pleasure from….
My daughter’s face when she tells me a story.
The sport I do or would like to play is…
This seems like a good time to tell you that I was a serious runner, for a long time, until not that long ago. Well, actually, until about 15 years ago. How time flies.
I’ve always wanted to play tennis. Nice sounds. Gear. Cute outfits.
A (non-family member) person I idolize is….
I idolized Patti Smith in the seventies, my teen-age years. I had a powerful feeling that I wanted to be her but at the same time I was very aware that I could never try to be like her. I drifted away from Patti Smith as I got older, but then “Just Kids” came out and everything that I had loved about her came back to me. I think other people I idolize, both men and women, are just different versions of her. I’m glad you didn’t ask me “why”, because I don’t think I could explain it.
The song that makes me tingle is….
Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now. So wistful.
The funniest thing that happened to me….
So, Chris, this question is why it has taken me so long to write these answers. I just can’t think of anything. Funny things don’t seem to happen to me. Is that a valid answer? Do I perhaps get funny things mixed up with embarrassing things? And if so, why? Stories I have tried here include the time I went looking for a can of “elbow grease” at Canadian Tire. That was embarrassing. And my husband making phallic napkin origami and pretending to steal cutlery and salt shakers in restaurants. That’s hilarious, though I don’t think it fits in the “funny things that happened to me” category. But then again, I’m not exactly sure what kinds of funny things do fit. If, sometime in the future, something that’s clearly just funny should happen to me, you will be the first to know.
A well-known figure in the world of independent animation, writer, author & curator Chris Robinson is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
