JONAS ODELL'S TUSSILAGO NOMINATED TO SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2011

Jonas Odell’s newest short film ”Tussilago” has been nominated to compete at Sundance in the category ”International Short Films”. The film is an animated documentary about a terrorist affair in Stockholm in the 1970’s. ”Tussilago” premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival 2010 and had its international premiere in Berlin Film Festival 2010.  This marks Odell’s second Sundance nomination, his 2009 film “Lies” winning in that year’s Best International Short Film category.

31 March 1977 the West German terrorist Norbert Kröcher was arrested in Stockholm suspected of having planned to kidnap Swedish politician Anna-Greta Leijon. During the days following a number of people were arrested. One of them was Kröcher's ex-girlfriend ”A”. The film tells her story, a personal story told through a mix of live action, animation and interviews.

”The grand narrative of seventies’ German terrorism often takes on a mythological quality in film and literature, a story of characters larger than life”, says director Jonas Odell. I wanted to tell the story from a human point of view, even if it takes place in the periphery of the great terrorist complex of the time. I wanted to tell a story you can relate to as a viewer, a story of people and relations. The story contains tragedy and comedy as well as a dose of recent history.

Jonas Odell, a founder and managing partner at Stockholm and New York based production company FilmTecknarna, has previously directed music videos for artists such as Franz Ferdinand and U2, award winning commercials, as well as number of short films. His film ”Never like the first time!” was awarded the Golden Bear in Berlin. In addition to it’s Sundance award, “Lies” additionally garnered eight international film festival awards.

Tussilago has received following awards:
2010 Audience Award, Uppsala International shortfilm festival, Sweden
2010 Golden Gate Award for best animated short, San Francisco International Film Festival, USA
2010 Cortolab Best experimental, Sedicicorto International Film Festival, Forlì, Italy
2010 Best short documentary,Calgary International Film Festival, Canada
2010 Special Mention Award, Archipelago - International Festival of Short Films and New Images, Italy
2010 Best Short Documentary Award, Hot Docs, Toronto, Canada
2010 Best Design, Animated Dreams, Tallin, Estonia
2010 Best Short (audience award), Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden