Hokus Pokus Alfons Åberg

While my mom was here we went to the cinema to see the Alfons Åberg movie with the girls. And we liked it - all of us. I truly love the old Alfons Åberg animations with the wonderful voice of Thomas Winding in Danish from my own childhood, and so does Frida Viola, so I was a little anxious to be dissapointed. But I loved it. I love the small updates with the dad's smartphone, his 85% dark chocolate, the fact that Alfons is a little older, but still a dreaming, fantasizing kid with his own wishes and desires. I love the style of the animation - warm & filled with little daily life details and objects, yet still also filled with magic, even for grown ups (despite what some reviewers write). The girls loved all the cute dogs, the magician, the switching between magic and reality, and all the very-very exciting moments where the kids do things not at all approved by the adults.

We didn't like all the noisy trailers before the movie, though...

If you didn't see it already (I know we are late), then hurry up and go see it - it's perfect for the younger kids.

Eva Lindström

Today, just a short note with a big recommendation: Go and see Eva Lindström's beautiful-beautiful animated film "Dyrevennerne" ["Animal Friends"] that plays in Cinemateket at the moment - with or without kids!

Frida Viola and I went to see it today - and it was wonderful, poetic, aesthetic, dreamlike and whimsical.
"Dyrevennerne" is a collection of three short narratives for small kids - all with animals as main characters. Swedish author and illustrator Eva Lindström's illustrations and colours are delicate, soft, offbeat and hard not to love, and the soundtrack in the animations just completes the universe. We both liked it very much, and some of Lindström's books are now on our wishlist.

You can see "Dyrevennerne" in Cinemateket next Saturday, via the children's film festival Buster - free of admission!
See a teaser here.

farvel, jeg hedder Kurt

For rainy late summer days the Danish children's movie "Farvel, jeg hedder Kurt" ["Goodbye, my name is Kurt"], from 1972, directed by legendary Thomas Winding, is really good entertainment. I don't recall the movie from my own childhood, but I came across it by chance recently and we have been seeing it a couple of times this summer. It tells the story about little Alberte [Alberte Winding] who - after a quarrel with her parents - decides that she is no longer Alberte but Kurt and moves away from home. She organizes her new home in a boat by the lake at the end of the garden. The movie has fantastic pictures, beautiful settings and soft colours, and the story is told with Thomas Winding's wonderful, calm and tranquil voice accompanied by birdsong and the whistling of wind. Frida Viola (and myself) has been drawn into it's quiet and fairytale like atmosphere whilst the theme is disturbing enough to capture the concentration of a 4-year-old (who also dreams about moving away from home once in a while) throughout the movie. Do watch it (if you speek Danish, and even if you don't have kids!

Watch it here, or buy it in Fona.