The Tower

The Tower / البرج (Albuorj)

BY Mats Grorud

(Tenk.tv, Les Contes Modernes, Cinenic Film)
2018, Norway, France, Sweden, 77min

Beirut, Lebanon, Today. Wardi, an eleven-year-old Palestinian girl, lives with her whole family in the refugee camp where she was born. Her beloved great-grandfather Sidi was one of the first people to settle in the camp after being expelled his homeland back in 1948. The day Sidi gives her the key to his old house back in Galilee, she fears he may have lost hope of someday going home. As she searches for Sidi’s lost hope around the camp, she will collect her family’s testimonies, from one generation to the next.

Language: Arabic, English, French and Norwegian
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: Puppet animation, 2D

Team:
Director: Mats Grorud
Scriptwriter: Mats Grorud, Trygve Allister Diesen, Ståle Stein Berg
Art Director: Rui Tenreiro
Music Composer: Nathanaël Bergèse
Animation Supervisor Stop motion: Pierre-Luc Granjon
Animation studio: Foliascope
Animation Supervisor 2D: Hefang Wei
DoP: Sara Sponga, Nadine Buss
Editors: Silje Nordseth, Carsten Meinich, Anders Bergland, Margrete Vinnem
Sound designers: Cloudberry ab, by Christian Holm, Erik Bjerknes
Producers: Frode Søbstad (Tenk.tv), Patrice Nezan, Laurent Versini (Les Contes Modernes), Annika Hellström (Cinenic Film)
Distribution: PartyFilmSales

About Mats Grorud

Mats Grorud is a film director and animator from Norway. He previously directed two short films and has worked as an animator on several feature films, documentaries and music videos. During his childhood, his mother worked as a nurse in refugee camps in Lebanon. In the 1990s, Mats studied at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon while working as an English and Animation teacher in the Burj el Barjaneh refugee camp. Based on the testimonies of the people in the camp and his experience, he wrote the script for his first-feature film, The Tower.

DIRECTOR AND ANIMATOR:
2009 SANTA KLAUS, short film, co-directed with Robin Jensen.
2008 MY GRANDMOTHER BEJING, short film

ANIMATOR:
2005 ASYLUMSEEKERS, short film directed by Kaja Polmar; GRANDPA IS A RAISIN, feature film directed by Pjotr Sapegin.