Synopsis
Norman grows up with his mother, under her constant care and supervision. He shies away from his peers, from strangers and from dogs. Finally, he doesn’t step on anything that looks suspicious. His dream is to become a great magician. He feels happiest in the world of magic and fantasy. He also likes to perform for his mother, who is his most loyal spectator. At school he tries to charm his classmate Mia, but it is a failing endeavor because she is always surrounded by other boys who love to make fun of Norman’s big ears.
As Christmas approaches, Norman and his mother pay a visit to his grandmother. Mom is determined to move Grandma out at any cost, clean up the house and sell it. When, against Grandma’s wishes, she sets about packing up the “old stuff” that she thinks belongs in a landfill, Grandma objects. Norman initially pays no attention to the dispute. He listens only half-heartedly when his grandmother tells him about the things that trigger memories of his grandpa, of her mother when she was little, of the happy times they had together. She tells Norman about how even inanimate things have a life of their own. They may no longer mean anything to most people, seemingly just old junk destined for a landfill, but they still generate memories for their owners. When Mom takes the boxes of stuff to the street for Iron Sam to take away, Grandma gets sick, and that doesn’t leave Norman cold. He decides to rescue the items for Grandma and return them to her. But by then, Sam’s car is rumbling away to send the items to “oblivion”. Norm sees through the window as the car pulls up to his grandmother’s house, but when he runs out into the street, the car and its belongings have disappeared down the street. Norm thinks all is lost. He tried, but it didn’t work….
But the car stops at a house at the end of the street, where another box of junk is lying. Norman must make the hardest decision of his life so far. Will he return home or try to save his grandmother and her memories? Poorly dressed and without his cellphone, he chases after the car. And soon he’s in the back of it, driving off to parts unknown. The adventure begins, during which he meets the “gnomes” which embody memories. If the gnomes are to survive, Norm must return them to his grandma in time. And to do so, Norman must overcome his fears and his physical limits. He embarks on a journey where he is accompanied by weird creatures, encounters strange people, and does things he would normally be terrified to do. Norm and the Gnomes is a family adventure film about love, memories, and courage to overcome oneself.
Norman (4th grader):
He lives only with his mom, who tries to raise him like a mom and dad. But mom’s concern weighs on him. Norman is scared of dogs, a bunch of boys and espeically doesn’t talk to strangers. He doesn’t step on anything that doesn’t look safe. He prefers to spend time alone with himself and practice his magic. He would like to become a magician like Harry Houdini. He mainly performs magic tricks for his mom and his friend Mia. It always works for Mom, but when he wants to show off for Mia, it always ends in embarrassment. Plus, a bunch of boys always notice and make fun of him for it. And, of course, because of his big ears. Norman likes his grandmother, who lives alone in an old house full of amazing things. When his mom decides to get rid of the old stuff, and with it also his grandmother’s memories, Norman has to go on an adventurous journey to overcome his fears discomfrot and in fact himself. Will Norman eventually gain the respect of others and, above all, respect for himself?
Mom Anna (works as an accountant):
Mom raises her son on her own. She raises him for a while as a caring mother, only to soon encourage him as the father Norman doesn’t have. Norman gets on her nerves by constantly telling her about Harry Houdini and performing various magic tricks. But she endures everything honestly and always praises Norman because she considers praise important. Her daddy never praised her, just saying that “effort doesn’t count”. She likes things to be in their proper places, nothing sticks out unnecessarily, and especially hates things that are useless. What isn’t used isn’t needed and needs to get out of the house. She has too much going on at work and now it’s before Christmas and she is determined to move her mother (against her will) to her and Norman’s home. Of course, she’ll also need to get rid of a lot of the old stuff Grandma has in the house. Mom will have to overcome her old stereotypes and find her way back to her family after while.
Granny Martha (she ran home design accessories store):
A caring grandmother who loves Norman and her daughter. She and her husband traveled the entire world from where they brought back a number of wonderful memories, usually representing some item in the house. Grandma is still active and has no interest in moving out of the house and disposing of her old memories. She and Norman are subtly rebelling against Mom. But when it seems that Mom is really serious about moving and disposing her of things, Grandma runs out of energy. To avoid losing all her memories, Grandma will have to team up with Noman and together they will try to save things from Mom. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work, and Mom takes the stuff to the street to be taken away by Iron Sam. Grandma’s only hope is Norman, who will try to save the items.
Sam (collects old stuff):
Sam is a grouch who, like Norman, doesn’t care much for the company of strangers, even Norman. He collects old things around town and repairs them with skill. Anything can be used. He is not very happy in today’s world and remembers how everything used to last longer, people said hello, there was more snow, etc. His dad ran a antique shop in town which Sam unfortunately lost and now lives on the edge of town in an old shack in a gardening colony. He fixes and displays his stuff there. When he takes home the things Norman’s mom threw out of the grandmother’s house, he accidentally „kidnapps“ Norman in his lorry and takes him to his old shack. While escaping Norm accidentally packs Sam’s dad’s watch in his backpack alongside with grandma’s stuff. It is now Sam’s only memory, so he must retrieve it at all costs and sets out to find the “thief”. Sam is always accompanied by his dog, who looks a bit like him.
Mia (Norman’s classmate)
Mia is Norman’s classmate. She is friends with a group of boys who taunt Norman for his magic tricks and his big ears. Mia likes watching Norman performing magic tricks, but somehow it always goes wrong and Norman fails. But she always encourages him that next time it will be good. She doesn’t really have much in common with the group of guys, except that she lives in the same neighborhood with them, different from Norman, so it’s not fitting for her to be friends with the one from somewhere else. Mia has a thing for Norman though, in fact you could say they’re secretly friends, she just can’t show it because then she wouldn’t last with the group. Mia can play the harmonica. When Mia meets Norman on his way home just in their neighborhood alone she will also be faced with a decision.
Gnomes/Elves (objects representing grandmother’s memories)
Elves are usually memories that have come to life. From every place that Grandma and Grandpa visited they brought back a memory, a picture, an item. From a trip to Paris they brought a model of the Eiffel Tower, from a trip to Australia they brought a boomerang with Aboriginal drawings, from a trip to China a dream catcher, from New York a statue of Liberty, a kawai figurine from Japan, a stuffed panda from China… All these objects are now in Grandma’s house and Mom plans to throw them away. Memories have one important quality, when they are around the person they mean something to, everything is in order and they enjoy life as much as the person they convey the memory to. But when a person loses those memories, either by the objects being lost or the person themselves forgetting, the elf objects are doomed. Only the objects remain. And if the object is destoyed, then everything is lost. The only chance is that they remain in the company of the person for whom they are a memory, or that the person passes the memory on to someone else.
Q&A of the producer
This is a family animated stop motion movie for the whole family. In the film we meet the main character Norman, who lives in his own online world. There he is a hero without fear or reproach. However, this is not the case in normal life and when he arrives at Christmas with his mother to visit his grandmother who lives in an old house surrounded by memories, he is suddenly put in a role where he cannot rely on the online world and has to take matters intohis own hands On top of that, he encounters „elves“, which are actually revived memories represented by various objects. And when Mom throws these objects away, there is a danger that Grandma won’t survive, and neither will the „elves“, who also can’t exist without Grandma. For if they are thrown away and end up somewhere where they have no meaning for anyone, it is also the end of the „elves“, who represent those memories. Well, these „elves“ are pretty naughty, so when Norman has to get them home, it’s not going to be easy. He’s also being chased by Sam the weirdo, the police and a bunch peers. But to sum it up in general, the film is about family, about love, and about the memories that bind a family together.
The target audience is the whole family, so every generation should find something in the film.
As I said, the main theme is family. We look at the relationship between the caring mother and Norman. What was the relationship between the mom and her dad and what is the relationship between the mom and the grandmother. We’ll also find out about how the relationship between the generations changes over time. Last but not least, we look at objects that have outlived their usefulness or are simply no longer in style, but may still represent some memories, and maybe that makes them more than just plain old junk.
The film is not yet in production. The first (although there‘s about 6) version of the script is finished and the artwork is done. We have finished the puppets and basic scene designs. We will be shooting a teaser for the film in September 2023. We were looking for a director for a long time. We were looking for several directors in the Czech Republic, but at the moment weare happy that we will work with a Dutch director Dennis Bots, who has a lot of experience in directing family films. And last but not least, we have the small task of securing funding for the production of the film. We are still about 40% short.
Above all, we hope to produce a film that will delight children and adults alike. With an experienced international distributor and partners from abroad, we also hope that the film will get international distribution.
Currently nowhere yet, as we have yet to see production. The original plan was to go into theaters at the end of 2025. We hope to meet that deadline. Well, after theaters, we plan on all possible platforms, TV, VOD and who knows what other possibilities will come up before thenJ .
The inspiration to make this film came from a book about elves that I bought about 20 years ago. But it wasn’t a book of stories and tales, it was more of an atlas of gnomes and elves. Not much of a movie could be made from that. I think the idea of elves and creatures like them exists in all nations. The first thing we thought about were the fairy tale themes, where the elf has some kind of magical power. In the end, we didn’t think it was enough and tried to connect the elf world with the human one, and I think embodying memories in elves is a good and functional connection for a nice story.
At this stage there were many challenges. In particular, making a strong main story that would appeal to a wide audience wasn’t really easy. There were a lot of people working on the story, writers, dramaturgs and others. The whole development took almost 4 years.
Does the film have a message? I don’t know… Appreciate what you have? Don’t mindlessly impose your will on others? Recognize the value of emotions and memories, as well as the things that evoke emotions and memories? Have the courage to live in the real world? And when you start something, see it through to the end…? It would be nice if people could take away a good feeling from the film and maybe stop and think sometime. Well, maybe they’d put down their cell phones once in a while….. which I’m sure won’t happen
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Blue Light Pictures sro.
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