NFB Collection
Hollow Land
201313 min 56 secFilm: Animation
Direction: Michelle KranotUri Kranot
Production: Marie Bro (Dansk Tegnefilm)René Chénier (National Film Board of Canada)Dora Benousilio (Les Films de l'Arlequin)Marc Bertrand (National Film Board of Canada)
Script: Michelle KranotUri Kranot
Co-produced by Dansk Tegnefilm, Les Films de l'Arlequin and the National Film Board of Canada with the participation and support of Centre national de la cinématographie et de l'image animée, TinDrum Animation, Den Vestdanske Filmpulje, The Animation Workshop, Arte France, Procirep et Angoa, the Israeli fund for Video and Contemporary Art and Sycamore Group.
Searchlights sweep the silent towers. Deep inside one of the buildings, a hand extends through a pipe and appears in a neighbouring apartment, where Solomon is struggling to fix the plumbing. He stares at the hand, then reaches out to clasp it.
It is a rare moment of humanity in a cold, dehumanized environment.
Hollow Land is a story about the eternal human search for a place to call home, a film that begins, as all such searches must, with the dream of utopia. Solomon and Berta are two seekers who arrive—their treasured bathtub improbably in tow—in a seemingly sun-washed land that promises respite from their many journeys.
Whether it’s reusing a tea bag or fiddling with pipes until they finally work, Solomon tries to make the best of whatever comes his way. Berta is not so optimistic, nor willing to give up on her dreams.
Filmmakers Uri and Michelle Kranot depict the couple through two-dimensional clay puppets that move within a rich environment created largely from cut-outs. Just as the characters in Hollow Land bear the marks of their travels, so too do the puppets bear the physical imprints of their creators—a refreshing, immediate symbol of the power of human creativity and resilience.
From the hopeful first moments of Berta and Solomon’s arrival, to the final haunting scene at sea, Hollow Land is an evocative animated film that captures the unsettled state of those who find themselves displaced—whether by circumstance or by choice.
Availability
Other versions
Subject categories
- Social Issues > Immigrant Experience
- Foreign Countries > Immigration
- Politics and Government > Political Repression
Credits
- writer
- Michelle Kranot
- Uri Kranot
- director
- Michelle Kranot
- Uri Kranot
- animation
- Michelle Kranot
- Uri Kranot
- original music
- Uri Kranot
- music adaptation
- Normand Roger
- Pierre Yves Drapeau
- orchestration
- Normand Roger
- Pierre Yves Drapeau
- sound design
- Normand Roger
- Pierre Yves Drapeau
- 2D animation
- Jean-Jacques Prunès
- Inès Sedan
- Jody Ghani
- compositing
- Soren B Norbaek
- Lasse Smith
- Adrian Dexter
- Yannick Grandmont
- props assistant
- Jody Ghani
- background assistant
- Adrian Dexter
- Simon Lee Bresling
- development assistance
- Hektor Stokholm
- Astrid Marud Lauridsen
- administrative team
- Diane Régimbald
- Diane Ayotte
- Karine Desmeules
- Michèle Labelle
- production assistance
- Merete Obert
- Fariza Daguelou
- marketing manager
- Melissa Wheeler
- line production
- Michelle Kranot
- Francine Langdeau
- Jocelyne Perrier
- musician
- Alain Aubut
- Pierre Beaudry
- Michel Dupire
- Éric Lagacé
- Pierre-Yves Martel
- Andrew Wells-Oberegger
- Pierre-Vincent Plante
- Patrick Vetter
- voice
- Renée Cossette
- Jean Harvey
- Marcel Jeannin
- The Animation Workshop Choir
- music recording
- Geoffrey Mitchell
- voice recording
- Geoffrey Mitchell
- re-recording
- Serge Boivin
- foley
- Lise Wedlock
- digital imaging specialist
- Pierre Plouffe
- online editing
- Yannick Carrier
- titles
- Gaspard Gaudreau
- technical coordination
- Daniel Lord
- technical assistance
- Svend Nordby
- Thomas Ahlmark
- Thomas Richard Christensen
- Matt Edwards
- executive producer
- Marie Bro
- René Chénier
- producer
- Marie Bro
- Dora Benousilio
- Marc Bertrand
Awards
- Alberto Sánchez Special AwardInternational Film Festival
- Special Mention for the Cartoon d’Or nominationEncounters International Short Film Festival
- Amnesty AwardFilm Festival
- Special MentionInternational Countryside Animafest Cypres
- Grand prix Jacques LanguirandFestival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement
- Pont d'orFestival de cinéma d'animation
- Best Independent Short (award given by ASIFA Israel)Animix Tel Aviv
- Award of The Union of Bulgarian Artists – paintingWorld Festival of Animated Film
- Synchro Film & Video Material Prize- worth 1500 EuroTricky Women International Women's Animated Film Festival
- Best Art DirectionBrasil Stop Motion Festival
- First Prize from the Brazilian Association of Documentary and Short Films/ Pernambucan Filmmakers AssociationBrazilian Association of Documentary and Short Films/ Pernambucan Filmmakers Association
- Award for Animation TechniquesInternational Animated Film Festival
- Special MentionAnimation Festival (BAF)
- Special Achievement AwardAnilogue International Animation Festival
- Best Animation AwardInternational Film Festival
- Special MentionAnimfest
- Honorable MentionInternational Film Festival