Little Pig is Flying (Lilla Grisen Flyger)
Drawn animation, Sweden, 2004
Director: Alicja Jaworski
Language: Swedish with English subtitles
Colour: Colour
Running time: 10 minutes
Short synopsis
Disparaging reactions from friends and other animals aren't enough to deter Little Pig from her quest for flight.
Long synopsis
Little Pig dreams of flying. The other pigs in the sty help with her attempts to fly, but laugh when she fails. Annoyed by her persistent delusion, they gather around her and shout 'Pigs can't fly!' Rather than deter Little Pig, this challenges her to prove the other pigs wrong, and she sets off to find somebody to teach her to fly.
Along the way, Little Pig meets a mole, and although he cannot teach her to fly, he can teach her to tunnel. So Little Pig learns how to tunnel underground. She meets a rabbit that teaches her how to hop about, a frog that teaches her to swim and a squirrel that teaches her how to hop-a-long treetops. These new skills come in handy when Little Pig has to escape being eaten by a wolf. When Little Pig is hopping along treetops away from the wolf, she lands in an eagle's nest. The eagle laughs when Little Pig asks it to teach her to fly, and explains that Little Pig will never be able to fly because she doesn't have wings. Just as she feels all is lost, along comes a pilot who shows Little Pig how to fly, even if it is not quite in the way she had intended.
Background
In this charming animation, the old adage 'if at first you don't succeed, try and try again' is transported into the world of a piglet that is desperate to fly. Playing with the assumptions associated with pigs and flying from the outset, the story references the narrative rhythm of old fables and uses the practice of instilling animals with human characteristics. In mirroring these story-telling traditions, Little Pig is Flying highlights the importance of dreaming and imagination.
Animator Alicja Jaworski was born in Poland in 1955. She studied architecture in Warsaw and began to make films when working at an animation studio in 1981. In 1983 she moved to Sweden and has worked as an animator and background animator since. Little Pig is Flying was awarded the Special prize of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk for best short film, Kinderfilmfest, Berlin 2005.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
There are also some stills and additional materials, provided by the film-makers, that can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
