January 10th, 2025 
Jackson Murphy 
Oscar winner Torill Kove is on the Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film shortlist again, this time for Maybe Elephants. It’s an autobiographical look back at her teen years living in Africa with her family, including her mom, who was struggling to find true happiness. If you’re a fan of Kove’s work, you’ll see some familiar characters in the main roles. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity. Images Courtesy of Maybe Elephants‘ co-producers Mikrofilm and the National Film Board of Canada: NFB.)
Jackson Murphy: When and how did you know that you wanted to turn these memories of your childhood into a film?
Torill Kove: The memories from adolescence and Nairobi had been simmering for a long time. When you experience being removed from your comfort zone for a few years into something completely different, it becomes a part of your past that keeps its lights on constantly. The memories were like an invitation to make a story about a family that changes, told from the perspective of somebody trying to make sense, fifty years later, of what happened.
JM: Why was it important for you to narrate “Maybe Elephants”?
TK: I usually don’t like listening to my voice and originally wanted an actor for the narration. But while I was working on the storyboard and animatic, it was convenient to record my voice for the guide track for all the characters and the narration, and it became an interesting tool for developing the characters and the story. When the animatic was finished, I felt very connected to the narrator, and I didn’t want to give that up. It felt like my voice was linked to the film in a very personal way, which would be difficult to replicate with somebody else’s voice.
JM: What were the challenges of presenting an honest look at what your mother was going through?
TK: That is an excellent and complex question. I thought about it a lot during the production. The truth is, I don’t know what my mother was going through. I guess we never really know what other people are going through, no matter how well and intimately we know them or how much we love and want to understand them. My mother is no longer alive, and I never had discussions with her about what her life was like in this period, so I can’t know specific things about her. Instead, I project feelings and experiences on her that I believe are an honest representation of her and how I remember her. I interpreted what she was going through, in retrospect, from my point of view. Being honest in this process was important, and so was being respectful and empathetic. Writing about my mother and my feelings for her has not been easy, and the story is vulnerable. But I wanted to tell a story about how one can love someone and recognize their complexity even when it is hurtful. This required a certain amount of emotional exposure both of my mother and me.
JM: How have these characters evolved in your mind and on the screen from when you made “Me and My Moulton”?
TK: The Dad has stayed the same good-natured and somewhat bohemian goofball, but his devotion to Mom in Maybe Elephants is more pronounced. It was fun to have the sisters become teenagers. I project some attitude on the older sister, which suits her, and some sweetness on the younger one which makes me feel quite affectionate towards her. The middle sister, the protagonist, is not that different from before, and I think that’s because she’s me, so I’m the observer in Maybe Elephants like I was in Me And My Moulton. The Mom is the one who has evolved the most. This film is, in a way, an homage to my mother, whom I have grown to think of as quite a remarkable and complex person and, among many other things, my life’s first feminist.
JM: Based on your personal experiences, do you think that vacations / getaways / changes of scenery are healthy for someone who is used to a routine?
TK: I can’t speak for others, but I am often struck by how being away from my routine isn’t healthy or relaxing, no matter how much I crave a break from it. Before I go on a trip, I always look forward to a better, more relaxed, “in the zone” version of myself that will emerge at my destination. But when I get there, I realize I’m still me, with all my baggage, but in a different place and without my “guard rail” routines. Nevertheless, I still think of scenery changes positively, and I seek them out as much as I can because they give me temporary bursts of gratitude, awe, and joy, and I think the more I have of those, the better. I think of those experiences as a kind of emotional well-being savings account.
JM: Have you been to Africa since the ’70s?
TK: Yes, many times. I stayed in touch with people I met in Nairobi in the ’70s and returned regularly to visit until the late ’80s. I also spent a year in Gaborone, Botswana, when my parents lived there in the early ’80s, and I visited them in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1991. I would love to visit Kenya again. I am curious about the memories that would fire up in me there. I imagine it feeling like a reawakening of my 16-year-old brain, which might be weird but interesting.
JM: You won an Academy Award for “The Danish Poet” and have been nominated two other times. What would a fourth time on the Oscar ballot mean to you?
TK: It would be an incredible honor to be nominated a fourth time. It would also make me very happy for the fantastic production teams in Norway and Canada. Beyond that, it’s difficult to say what a nomination would mean, but I know that being on the Oscar ballot is like having the sun shine on your film for a little while. And anything that broadens a film’s audience and extends its lifespan is a big welcome bonus.
- INTERVIEW: Exploring “Maybe Elephants” - January 10, 2025
- INTERVIEW: A Taste Of “Magic Candies” - January 9, 2025
- INTERVIEW: The Meaning Of “Percebes” - January 8, 2025
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