New trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZcUceEKR5U
Making-of trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzdlCptTW0
Old trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cds7lSHawAw

PRESS RELEASE  – LAS PALMAS TO THE PEOPLE

After it’s grand premiere in Cannes ”Las Palmas” turned into an internet phenomenon. With over 15 million views on youtube the trailer for the film was the third most popular trailer of 2011, in serious competition with all the Hollywood blockbusters. It then became a huge hit on the festival circuit, with 100 or so festivals (including Sundance), multiple awards and a teaser shown on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Pretty strange for a small scale indie flick from Sweden.

Together with a making-of documentary, “Las Palmas” is now finally released online.

Was that a real joint? Did she have a licence for the MC? What was the bill? Everyone wondering how “Las Palmas” was made can now relax.

We have a clear vision with this project. We see that short films have a tendency to get lost in the wide range of TV series and feature films. Shorts are not shown on cinemas and are hidden in the TV tableus. They lead a secret life on festivals, but they are not seen or heard of by a lot of people. The way it works with current distribution of shorts makes it hard for the majority of people to find them, other than by accident when zapping the TV channels. Shorts are not big business and does not get a lot of media coverage.

So what do we have here? We have a film that is not any film. A huge number of people have seen the trailer. It is a well known movie. But very few have actually seen the full thing.

We are trying out an alternative distribution method, putting the movie online ourselves, for everyone to watch and download for a small fee. No big distribution company, no big TV network stealing the rights, just do it ourselves methodology.

We are a small independent production company (one person with some assistants and hired crew now and then), with minimal resources. Therefore it is very exciting to see if this plan works, if it is possible for a small scale business to cover the whole chain of  a complicated film production, from shoot to distribution.

With the help of the trailer and the buzz from the festivals, we hope this will be a big success and get more circulation than traditional methods.

The jury members: Patrik Eklund (director), Sofia Lindgren (editor), Lennart Ström (producer), Beata Mannheimer (developer, Film Stockholm-Mälardalen), Lena B. Nilsson (actor) and Thomas Roger (president without voting rights).

http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/film-tv/snackisen-las-palmas-far-startsladden
http://www.expressen.se/noje/film/1.2312004/full-1-5-aring-vann-tavlingen
http://www.svd.se/kulturnoje/nyheter/publikfavorit-vann-pris-i-goteborg_5904149.svd
http://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/filmtv/article8496162.ab
http://filmnyheterna.se/Arkiverade-nyheter/Nyheter/2011/Las-Palmas-dubbel-vinnare-av-Startsladden/
http://filmnyheterna.se/Arkiverade-nyheter/Nyheter/2011/I-huvudet-pa-Johannes-Nyholm/
http://vk.se/Article.jsp?article=415394
http://www.giff.se/nc/publik/artikel/post/las-palmas-vinnare-av-startsladden-620.html

http://blogg.expressen.se/norrman/entry.jsp?messid=644942

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/film/article8482860.ab

http://gt.expressen.se/kultur/1.2303203/kyparn-kan-jag-fa-en-paraplydrink-till

http://www.fria.nu/artikel/86742

The nominees for Cartoon d'Or 2010. Photo: Valerie De Halleux.

The Tale of little Puppetboy is nominated for the Cartoon d’Or 2010, the award for the best European animated short film. The jury has selected the finalists among 29 short films that received an award at one of the Cartoon d’Or partner festivals. The winner will be announced on Friday 17th September 2010 in Sopron (Hungary). The award is a trophy together with a financial aid of 10,000 EUR, supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
Link to the announcement.

The Cartoon d’Or is the pan-European award for animation short films. The finalists for this award, created in 1991 by CARTOON to support the European talent in animation, were chosen among 29 prizewinning films from Europe’s most prestigious animation festivals over the past year. Competition for the Cartoon d’Or is limited to winners of awards from one of these festivals.

The winner will be announced in Sopron, Hungary, September 17th during the Magyar Cartoon Forum, the platform to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television.

“Short films from Norway and Sweden are among the five finalists for the Cartoon d’Or 2010, the pan-European award for the best animated short film of the year. These nominations confirm the buoyancy of animation in the Nordic countries, where fresh vision and talent have been instrumental in developing one of the most promising animation industries in Europe” says the Cartoon organization in a press release.

The following films have been nominated for Cartoon d’Or 2010:

“A Family Portrait”, Joseph Pierce, UK
“Krokodill”, Kaspar Jancis, Estonia
“Logorama”, H5 (François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy & Ludovic Houplain), France
“Sinna Mann”, Anita Killi, Norway
“The Tale of Little Puppetboy”, Johannes Nyholm, Sweden

Moderna Museét – Studion
Opening 4 September 18-20.
Link to Moderna museet

Performance at the opening

Filmen berättar om en animatör och hans mångåriga, närmast besatta arbete med den lilla lerfiguren “Dockpojken”. Flera timmars animation har färdigställts men väldigt lite har någonsin visats. Vi får följa med bakom kulisserna och studera arbetet på nära håll. Animatören visar sig ha ett mycket intimt förhållande till sin protagonist.

Johannes Nyholm, Dockpojkens skapare, säger i en kommentar:

-Från början var idén till filmen att få finansierat bygget av en stor gummidräkt av Dockpojken, som jag kunde använda för privat bruk, ta på mig när jag ville vara incognito. Men sedan blev det sekundärt. Faktum är att det är totalt livsfarligt att vistas i dräkten. Den väger 40 kilo, man kan inte ta sig ur själv och man andas genom ett minimalt hål.

Den här dräkten följde hursomhelst med på resan till Cannes och livade upp stämningen bland galabesökarna.

I rollerna ser vi, förutom Johannes själv, Bo Melin, Sanna Ingermaa Nilsson, Bahador Foladi och Eric Saline.

Dockpojken hade premiär på Göteborgs filmfestival i våras, där den fick ett hedersomnämnande. Vid den prestigefyllda kortfilmsfestivalen i Hamburg belönades den med både huvudpriset, the International Jury Award och publikens pris. Förlagan till novellfilmen, Nyholms animerade “Sagan om den lille Dockpojken”, tävlade i årets Cannes-festival.

Röster om Dockpojken:

“En av de bästa svenska filmerna jag sett på länge” – Roger Wilson, Kino, P1

“satirisk och oerhört rolig… oväntad in i minsta detalj” – Eva af Geijerstam, Dagens Nyheter

“En av de mest egensinniga och delvis vansinniga novellfilmerna på många år” – juryutlåtande, Göteborgs Filmfestival

“gjord med mod, orginalitet och fantasifull känslighet… ett utforskande av människans tillstånd i Gogols anda… Lysande” – juryutlåtande, Hamburgs internationella kortfilmfestival

Johannes Nyholm är konstnär och regissör, uppväxt i Lund och numera verksam i Göteborg. Han har tidigare gjort sig känd som musikvideoregissör till artister som The Knife, Jenny Wilson, Håkan Hellström, The Hellacopters och The Soundtrack of our Lives.

Pressmaterial, och delar ur Johannes produktion finns att se på www.johannesnyholm.se.

Puppetboy had a great time in Cannes. It was a lot easier for him than the rest of the crew to get in to all the parties. “The Tale of Little Puppetboy” had its first screening at Theatre Croisette at May 23rd. High resolution images from Cannes can be found in the press section.