Abduela Grillo
Abuela Grillo - a fable of our times, 2D animation by Denis Chapon
The short film is an international collaboration between Denmark and Bolivia. It is supported by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
Through a fruitful intercultural collaboration, a French director, The Animation Workshop, and more than 20 passionate Bolivian animators have created the 12-minutes short film. The film is about the dependency on water and the fight for the universal right to pure water.
Plot
Abuela Grillo, the main character, means grandmother grasshopper and refers to the Bolivian myth that says that the rain falls when grandmother grasshopper sings. Consequently, a small rain cloud follows Abuela Grillo everywhere she goes. When she sings – it rains. Luzmila Carpio, who is the ambassador of Bolivia in France, does the voice for Abuela Grillo’s particular song, which is a recurrent element in the film.
The project
The film is based on two sources of inspiration: A myth from the Bolivian lowlands, and the actual events from 2000 when an American company privatised the water resources in the third largest city in Bolivia, Cochabamba – the so called water war. This combination of fiction and harsh realities makes the film curious and relevant – expressed in the film’s subtitle A fable of our times.
Abuela Grillo premiered in Denmark in December 2009 as part of a Bolivian Climate event arranged by Salaam.dk and supported by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development during the children’s climate summit. The film was screened at The National Museum for students from the 5th to 10th grade who, in addition to seeing the film, got the opportunity to meet the Bolivian filmmakers and hear more about the water war and the shortage of water in Bolivia. Abuela Grillo premiered in La Paz, Bolivia on April 9th 2010.
The short film is an international collaboration between Denmark and Bolivia. It is supported by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
Through a fruitful intercultural collaboration, a French director, The Animation Workshop, and more than 20 passionate Bolivian animators have created the 12-minutes short film. The film is about the dependency on water and the fight for the universal right to pure water.
Plot
Abuela Grillo, the main character, means grandmother grasshopper and refers to the Bolivian myth that says that the rain falls when grandmother grasshopper sings. Consequently, a small rain cloud follows Abuela Grillo everywhere she goes. When she sings – it rains. Luzmila Carpio, who is the ambassador of Bolivia in France, does the voice for Abuela Grillo’s particular song, which is a recurrent element in the film.
The project
The film is based on two sources of inspiration: A myth from the Bolivian lowlands, and the actual events from 2000 when an American company privatised the water resources in the third largest city in Bolivia, Cochabamba – the so called water war. This combination of fiction and harsh realities makes the film curious and relevant – expressed in the film’s subtitle A fable of our times.
Abuela Grillo premiered in Denmark in December 2009 as part of a Bolivian Climate event arranged by Salaam.dk and supported by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development during the children’s climate summit. The film was screened at The National Museum for students from the 5th to 10th grade who, in addition to seeing the film, got the opportunity to meet the Bolivian filmmakers and hear more about the water war and the shortage of water in Bolivia. Abuela Grillo premiered in La Paz, Bolivia on April 9th 2010.
