Torill Kove

Born 1958, Hamar (Norway). She is a writer, director, animator and illustrator. She studied Animation at the Concordia University in Montreal (Canada). She wrote and illustrated two books that she herself adapted for the screen. The first one was MY GRANDMOTHER IRONED THE KING’S SHIRTS, which received an Academy Award nomination for the Best Animated Short Film in 2000. The second one was THE DANISH POET (DEN DANSKE DIKTEREN), which won the Academy Award for the Best Animated Short Film in 2007 and was screened at the GFF 2006. HOCUS POCUS ALFIE ATKINS is her animated feature film debut.

Director’s statement

“In HOCUS POCUS, ALFIE ATKINS, the almost 7 year old Alfie wants a dog. But his daddy says that Alfie is too small for such a big responsibility. Alfie decides to try to get one on his own. But how? What will Alfie think of this time?”.
“Alfie represents a real boy in a real world. But he’s a rather special boy since he is also a world-famous children’s book character created by Gunilla Bergström. For me this represented a great and inspiring challenge. The Alfie Atkins books have a subtle serenity and wisdom, but also a lot of excitement and humour. The story of Alfie’s desire for a dog was an opportunity to make a film that could offer an emotionally and visually rich cinema experience for our youngest moviegoers. I wanted to show as large a spectrum of human emotions as possible in a way that both children and adults can relate to”.
“It is wonderful to hear children laughing in the cinema. But there are other important emotions in childhood too – as the Alfie Atkins books have shown us for over 40 years”.