Still Films’ latest co-production Last Hijack wil premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival this Friday.
Directed by Femke Wolting and Tommy Pallotta, Last Hijack is a true tale of survival in Somalia told from the pirate’s perspective. Combining animation with documentary storytelling, the film takes an innovative hybrid approach to explore how one Somali pirate – Mohamed – came to live such a brutal and dangerous existence. Animated re-enactments exploring Mohamed’s memories, dreams and fears from his point of view are juxtaposed with raw footage from his everyday life in an original non-fiction narrative.
Working closely for the past four years with directors Femke Wolting and Tommy Pallotta and the Submarine team, Nicky Gogan and Caroline Campbell of Still Films produced the animation for the documentary with Gavin Kelly and the animators at Piranha Bar, using a bespoke technique developed with Tommy, painter Hisko Hulsing and illustrator Aaron Sacco.
Producer Nicky Gogan said: “It was such a privilege to work on this documentary with Tommy and Femke, both of whom have made films I love and admire. Also bringing to life the paintings in such an imaginative and unique way was really exciting to us. It was really great to work with Gavin and his team as we have a long history of pushing animation boundaries both technically and aesthetically through our collaboration when programming the Darklight Festival.”
Last Hijack is a Dutch / Irish / German / Belgian co-production by Submarine in co-production with Still Films, Razor Film, Savage Film, IKON and ZDF. In association with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. Supported by the Media Programme of the European Union, Netherlands Film Fund, CoBO, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the Dutch Media Fund and the Flanders Audiovisual Fund with the participation of PLANÈTE + and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse.
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