Biography

Torill Kove (born 25 May 1958; Hamar) is an award-winning Norwegian-Canadian filmmaker and animator. Born in Hamar, Norway, she has lived in Montreal since 1982. Three of her films have been nominated for Academy Awards®, with The Danish Poet, narrated by Liv Ullmann, winning the coveted golden statue in 2007.

Kove’s films are known for her expressive designs and playful and poignant autobiographical themes. Her work frequently deals with the challenges of family and parenting, while lightly exploring questions around memory, history and birth. Kove made her directorial debut in 1999 with My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts (co-produced by the NFB and Studio Magica). Loosely inspired by the life of her grandmother, the film was nominated for an Academy Award®. Following The Danish Poet, a love story and lightly philosophical take on the random nature of existence, Kove returned with Me and My Moulton (2014), about a middle child’s search for normalcy in the face of her loving but eccentric parents. The film won Best Animated Short at the 2015 Canadian Screen Awards and was also nominated for an Academy Award®. Threads (2017) tackles the complexities of parenting and maintaining connections in a fragmented world. With her most recent film, Maybe Elephants (2024), Kove finally faces her fear of tusk-bearing mammals.

Her last four films were all co-produced by Norwegian studio Mikrofilm and the NFB. In 2013, Kove directed the animated feature Hocus Pokus Alfie Atkins. She has also illustrated several children’s books. In 2015, Kove received Norway’s prestigious Anders Jahre Prize for the Arts