Giants and the Morning After

Us Norwegians are used to relatively small settings. Still, it’s a special kind of experience to get a glimpse at Ydre municipality in the South East of Sweden. With its barely 3500 inhabitants, Ydre is one of the smalles municipalities in the country – and truly a place where everyone knows each other. The mayor personally comes to visit every time a new resident is born. The area has a rough nature, full of mountains, forests, lakes and misty mystique. It’s not without reason that this part of the country is the source of several legends of trolls and giants. In this film, those stories are intertwined with everyday situations in the small, close-knit community, as an additional dimension to its purely observational parts.

The three directors of Giants and the Morning After offer us a close look at all of the smaller and larger challenges that might occur in such a small place. Especially additions to the local population is the target of much attention – whether an addition is due to natural causes or a refugee shelter. We follow a selected number of the residents of Ydre municipality and witness their different kinds of challenges, and are privy to conversations about everything from potato crisp flavours to love. The people we meet are a charming bunch, and everyone from the mayor to local teen girls are represented – in addition to a number of new-born babies.