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© National Film Board of Canada, 2000 All Rights Reserved.

My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts

My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts
© National Film Board of Canada, 2000 All Rights Reserved.

Torill Kove's grandmother often told her stories. One in particular revolved around ironing shirts for the King of Norway.

And what if that intriguing detail was just the tip of the iceberg? Perhaps she also worked covertly in the Norwegian resistance... Maybe she even spearheaded a campaign to create an unprecedented brand of guerrilla warfare!

Treating history as a fabric woven from personal stories, animator Torill Kove follows a thread of family history, embroidering it with playful twists along the way. In My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts,she imaginatively renders her grandmother's life and work in Oslo, especially during World War II. Sharp and whimsical, her story combines her grandmother's tales with historical events and fantasy, and shows how a cherished anecdote can come to acquire a mythical status.

My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirtsis about an ordinary woman with a revolutionary instinct. With sharp humor it explores storytelling, myth-making and the important contributions that are possible through the most humble means.


Story, direction and animation, Torill Kove

Born in Norway, Torill Kove studied animation at Concordia University in Montreal, where she won the Kodak Award for her quirky films All you can eat, Fallen Angeland Squash and Stretch.She has worked in a variety of roles on several NFB productions, and as a scriptwriter for Studio Magica in Oslo. My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirtsis her first professional film.

Running Time: 10 minutes 35 seconds
Production: National Film Board of Canada and Studio Magica, Norway with financial support from the Norwegian Film Institute.

Story, direction and animation: Torill Kove; Producers: Marcy Page (NFB) & Lars Tommerbakke (Studio Magica, Norway)

Awards: Special Mention Award Reykjavik Film Festival - Reykjavik 1999; Best Script Award Norweigian Playwright Association 1999

Clips and images provided by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB>.
Visit the official NFB Web Site.