Per Åhlin

Born 1931, Hofors (Sweden). He is Sweden’s most famous animator. He directed the animated sequences of the first animated feature film in Sweden ever, OUT OF AN OLD MAN’S HEAD (I HUVET PÅ EN GAMMAL GUBBE, 1968), mixing animation with live-action. Then he directed, among others, the short CHRISTOPHER’S CHRISTMAS MISSION (SAGAN OM KARL-BERTIL JONSSONS JULAFTON, 1975), and the feature films DUNDERKLUMPEN! (1974), VOYAGE TO MELONIA (RESAN TILL MELONIA, 1989, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST), DOGS DAYS (HUNDHOTELLET, 2000).

Alicja Jaworski Björk

She was born in 1955 in Warsaw, where she studied architecture and trained at an animation studio. In 1983 she moved to Sweden where in 1985 she started working at PennFilm Studio. She worked as an animator on the feature VOYAGE TO MELONIA (RESAN TILL MELONIA, 1989). Then she worked as an animator and director.

Lasse Persson

Born 1960, Stockholm. He studied Drama, Theatre, Film and Theology before venturing into the animation industry collaborating with Per Åhlin. In 1995 he founded the production company Swedish Ecstasy Film.

Director’s statement (Per Åhlin)

“Much like Emil, I grew up in Småland. Granted it was in a different part of the province and a few decades later, but I can still feel a certain kinship with the little rascal. So when Filmlance and Saltkråkan contacted me with the project proposal, I said yes – albeit a bit rash”.
“Some illustrators are completely associated with the stories of Astrid Lindgren, and when it comes to Emil and his world, Björn Berg has created some unforgettable characters. Not only the residents of Katthult farm in Lönneberga, but several others in the parish: Krösa-Maja, the Kråkstorp farmer, the Dean and his wife, and many more”.
“All of this has to be translated into an animated version. The geography / setting have to be consistent. Prototypes have to be made for each character, so that the animators and others know what to adhere to. The colour scheme of the characters has to be determined and printed as a recipe. And so on”.
“For obvious reasons, I didn’t read any stories by Astrid Lindgren as a child. I was a big man, about the same age as Christopher Jonson, all of 14 years old, when PIPPI LONGSTOCKING was first published. Later on, I personally met Astrid a few times, and I was involved as an animator and a costume designer for Tage Danielsson’s screen adaptation of RONIA THE ROBBER’S DAUGHTER in 1984”.