Antboy
Special Screening - Ajyal Youth Film Festival 2014
Ask Hasselbalch / Feature Narrative / Denmark / 2013 / 77 min / Colour / DCP / In Danish / Arabic, English subtitles / MENA Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
Synopsis
No one ever seems to take any notice of 12-year-old Pelle – except, unfortunately, the school bullies. It’s certainly the case that Amanda, the most beautiful girl in school, doesn’t even know that Pelle exists. But that all changes one day, when Pelle is bitten by a strange ant. He goes home and finds he is absolutely ravenous. After eating all the sugar in the house, he falls into a deep sleep and wakes up the next morning with the powers of an ant.
Now he has super strength, and can climb walls and smell things for miles around, so, with a little help from Wilhelm, the geeky comic-book-reading nerd in his class, Pelle decides he should use his powers for good – and to get in Amanda’s good books. Antboy is born! But every superhero has a nemesis, and it’s not long before Antboy meets his evil match in The Flea.
A very clever send-up of classic comic – most notably ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ – ‘Antboy’ explores themes of belonging, growing up and finding one’s place in the world. And, like any superhero movie worth its salt, ‘Antboy’ inspires us to celebrate what makes each of us special in our own way.
About the Director
Ask Hasselbalch was born in Copenhagen in 1979, and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 2013, he was chosen for the Nordic Film Lab as one of the 16 most promising directors, scriptwriters and producers from Scandinavia. He has directed several short films, including ‘You’re the Best’ (2008), ‘The Other Side’ (2009), and ‘The Crossing’ (2010). ‘Antboy’ marks his feature-film debut and had its world premiere at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival.
Credits
- Director
- Ask Hasselbalch
- Screenwriter
- Anders Ølholm
- Producer
- Eva Jakobsen, Lea Løbger, Birgitte Hald
- Editor
- My Thordal, Peter Brandt
- Composer
- Peter Peter
- Co-Producer
- Ghost A/S, FilmGEAR ApS, Kameraudlejningen
- Music
- Peter Peter
- Cinematographer
- Niels Reedtz Johansen
- Sales Company
- Attraction Distribution
- Production Company
- Nimbus Film
- Sound
- Thomas Huus, Bo Asdal Andersen
- Cast
- Oscar Dietz, Nicolas Bro, Samuel Ting Graf, Amalie Kruse Jensen, Cecilie Alstrup Tarp