Experiencing Interruptions?

Shallow Water Blackout aka The Vegan Toothbrush

"As residential cruise vessel The World sails by the pristine, Arctic archipelago of Lofoten, climate revolutionary children Amelia and Steven hijack the ship as part of their scheme to rid society of what they consider a threat worse than global warming: ignorant adults. In Shallow Water Blackout aka The Vegan Toothbrush the by now familiar arguments from the climate debate are growing increasingly hollow, as CO2 utopians, the religious, the sceptics and the denialists, warriors and eco liberals, are all at grave risk of ending up dead at the ocean floor as the children take over The World."

The film looks into the various "camps" of the climate debate – and their typical slogans. We meet among others a PR executive from lobby organisation The Heartland Institute, a green-washed tourist guide, and 14-year old Amelia who speaks exclusively in Greta Thunberg quotes.

  • Trygve Luktvasslimo
    Director
  • Trygve Luktvasslimo
    Writer
  • Trygve Luktvasslimo
    Producer
  • Anže Peršin
    Producer
  • Zoe Winther-Hansen
    Key Cast
    "Amelia"
  • Runar Arn James Paulsen
    Key Cast
    "Steven"
  • Helle Goldman
    Key Cast
    "Maryan"
  • Alexander Bollingberg
    Key Cast
    "Bård-Ivan"
  • Trygve Luktvasslimo
    Key Cast
    "Adonis, Kelvin"
  • Runhild Olsen
    Key Cast
    "Ragnhild"
  • Kristian Louis Jensen
    Key Cast
    "Christian Louis"
  • Doris Fiodorowicz
    Key Cast
    "Amanda"
  • Ole Jørgen Farstad
    Key Cast
    "Captain Schettino"
  • Mário Melo Costa (Cinematography)
    Photography
  • Joanna Nyström (1st Camera Assistant)
    Photography
  • Gunnar Idenstam (Composer OST)
    Music
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Den veganske tannbørsten
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    37 minutes 9 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 25, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Norway
  • Country of Filming:
    Norway
  • Language:
    English, Latin, Norwegian, Polish
  • Shooting Format:
    RED 5k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Lofoten International Art Festival
    Svolvær
    Norway
    August 31, 2019
    National
  • Tromsø International Film Festival
    Tromsø
    Norway
    January 14, 2020
    World premiere
  • Spotlight Short Film Awards
    Atlanta, Georgia
    United States
    Silver Award
  • Inversia Festival
    Murmansk
    Russian Federation
    February 8, 2020
  • Annual Copenhagen Film Festival
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    Winner Best Score
Director Biography - Trygve Luktvasslimo

Trygve Luktvasslimo is a filmmaker based in Norway. Earlier films include Clay Pigeon (2018), Closer to More (2016), An Emotional Sherpa (2015) and A More Robust Sense of Identity (2014).

Luktvasslimo is a writing and acting director whose work has been screened in film and arts contexts such as Tromsø International Film Festival, De Appel Arts Centre (Amsterdam), KUIR Festival (Bogotá), Arctic Moving Image Film Festival, Inversia Festival (Murmansk) and Kunstnernes hus kino (Oslo). His films are produced in his own company Lukt Studios in co-production with Portuguese Stenar Projects

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Director Statement

My work is humorous, sometimes melodramatic, and quite dire. This approach makes sense to my filmmaking, to combine the loosening perspectives which satire and laughter offer, with things we cannot get away from, like perhaps vanity and death in earlier films, and vanity and climate facts in my last one.

When I wrote The Vegan Toothbrush/Shallow Water Blackout, I tried to observe the climate debate and its rhetorics , and I wondered why facts and obvious truths are often set aside to other, more subjective arguments. For example, all the new brands and products that are developed to aid over-consumption astonish me. Shouldn't we consume less rather than differently? Take the Humble Brush, a "socially responsible, eco-friendly, vegan toothbrush" that features in the film. And isn't it twisted when a devastating drought is welcomed as a summer with extra beach days?

To me, there's absurdity and horror to the way we deal with world problems and basic climate truths, and I've wanted to reflect this in my latest film. The urgency is augmented by the especially written church organ score by Swedish composer and phenomenon Gunnar Idenstam.