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My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts

Directed by Torill Kove
Canada / Norway, 1999 (animation, 10 minutes, colour, English)
Also known as "Ma grand-mère repassait les chemises du roi"
My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts
Image: © National Film Board of Canada
Video (National Film Board of Canada)
Video (National Film Board of Canada) [French]

Film Description:
"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 spear-headed 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."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by: Torill Kove
Produced by: David Verrall, Marcy Page, Lars Tommerbakke
Narrator: Mag Ruffman
Animation: Torill Kove
Music: Kevin Dean
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada, Studio Magica
(sources)

Notes about My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts

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