IN DEVELOPMENT

ABOUT JOLLY

For several generations my family have had a human skull named Jolly. When I visited my grandparents as a child, Jolly was always the first thing I wanted to see. I would look into the empty sockets and trace my finger along the squiggly lines. To some extent I understood; that "Jolly" had once been alive.

In the film we move forward in time but through interviews with my family, researchers and various osteological analyses we move toward an understanding about the past. Who was this person and how did a part of them end up in the possession of my family? What does it mean to not have received a burial ceremony? And how does one relate to and properly care for a human remain? The film about 'Jolly' embarks on a travel through history, ethics, spirituality, science and the morbid.

As a child, I understood to an extent; that "Jolly" had once been alive. As an adult this fact is as difficult to grasp, but now I can at least articulate it. That I with my brain think the thought of making a film about this skull, a skull which once too, contained a brain with thoughts, ideas and memories is something I find so sentimentally fascinating and it is what gives me the fundamental motivation to make this film.

PRODUCTION INFO

Title: Jolly

Genre: Short Documentary

Length: 15 min

CREDITS

Director: Ebba Stoppelenburg

Producer: Hanna Markkanen (WG Film)

Consultant producer: Margarete Jångard (WG Film)