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An irreverent collection of funny films about serious questions. and ^* % My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts makes its b and quirky video debut alongside award-winning NFB classics My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts rue Atones Torill Kove reinvents her grandmother's life in Oslo during World War II, combining anecdotes, history, fantasy and humour. (10 min, 35 sec) Director: Torill Kove Producers: Marcy Page (NFB), Lars Tommerbakke (Studio Magica, )

The Family that Dwelt Apart A tall tale by E.B. White v about a family living happily on a small island until word gets out that they are in distress. (7 min, 55 sec) Director: Yvon Mallette Producer:

The House that Jack Built Pokes fun at ambition, the rat race and consumerism. (8 min, 2 sec) Director: Ron Tunis Producers: Wolf Koenig, Jim Mackay

Arkelope A seriously funny look at nature documentaries. (5 min, 17 sec) Director: Roslyn Schwartz Producer: Marcy Page

Traditional folklore takes a wry turn in Spinnolio, the tale of a carved wooden puppet that lacks mobility and human consciousness. (9 min, 51 sec) Director: John Weldon Producer: Wolf Koenig

Total running time: 41 min 16 sec

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© 1999 A licence is required for any reproduction, television broadcast, sale, rental or public screening. Only educational institutions or non-profit organizations who have obtained this video directly from the NFB have the right to show this video free of charge to the public.

National Film Board of Canada P.O. Box 6100, Station Centre-Ville , H3C 3H5 VMS A National Film Board of Canada Release Printed in Canada C0199 172 Discussion questions for My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts

For general viewers 1. Ask, was this a true story? Did the photos of actual people tucked into the ani- Tall mation influence your opinions? &n 2. Discuss hyperbole in storytelling, exploring which parts of the account might have been exaggerated for dramatic and comedic effect (for example, the unex- pected aside about Tonya Harding's skate laces and the 1994 Olympics). While resisting Nazi occupation with burnt shirts might be a bit much, does this not T illustrate how acts of resistance, no matter how small, can collectively win the day? This irreverent collection features five funny films about serious questions. 3. Ask the viewers for any accounts of older relatives who lived through WWII. My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts begins with an Gather stories about the home-front, as well as war stories, with an eye to what intriguing germ of truth from World War II Oslo, while the other award- both the men and women did in that time. winning NFB classics take their inspiration from fairy tales, nursery rhymes and nature documentaries. These short films cover big topics: For younger viewers 1. Ask the children if they think burning holes in the soldiers' uniforms was enough from life during wartime to ambition to extinction. With dry humour they to chase them back to . Discuss the comic effect. explore - and sometimes explode - the power of storytelling, myth- making, gossip, hearsay and television. 2. Ask the children if their grandfather or grandmother was in military service. Do they know how their grandparents met? If not, encourage the children to Treating history as a fabric woven from personal stories, animator Torill make up a happy and silly story about these events. Kove picks up a thread of family history and embroiders it with playful twists along the way. In My Grandmother Ironed the King's 3. At the end of the film, the narrator says her grandfather told her that his ances- Shirts, she reinvents her grandmother's life and work in Oslo during tors were Portuguese gypsies who, to escape forced labour on Vasco da Gama's World War II, combining actual anecdotes with historical events, fantasy, ships, travelled by horse all the way from Lisbon to Oslo. Ask the children to tell and humour. a story about that prodigious ride. In preparation, use an atlas and trace the journey, listing what countries they might have gone through. What adventures The Family that Dwelt Apart is a timeless tall tale by E.B. White do the children imagine these ancestors had? For example, how did they get the about a family of seven fisherfolk who are living quite happily as the sole horses, how did they feed themselves, where did they sleep, how long did the inhabitants of a small island until word somehow gets to the mainland trip take, why did they choose to go to Norway? Ask, too, what might have that they are in distress. happened if they had stayed in Portugal and worked on Vasco da Gama's ships. Explain that Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese navigator and explorer A witty classic from the 1960s, The House that Jack Built pokes fun who opened up the sea route to Asia and who lived from 1460 to 1524. at ambition, the rat race and consumer culture.

A seriously funny look at nature documentaries, Arkelope is a challenge 41 min 16 sec Related NFB videos and a warning to all couch potatoes. C0199 172 Traditional folklore takes a wry turn in Spinnolio, the tale of a carved Best of the Best: Romantic Tales and Other Whimsical Relationships Best of the Best: Strange Tales of the Imagination wooden puppet that lacks mobility and human consciousness. John F. Weldon's Lighter Lunacy Tales from the Dark Side