KOKO-DI KOKO-DA on VOD in US and Canada on December 8th

Dark Star Pictures

KokoDiKokoDa US Poster

Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Director: Johannes Nyholm (THE GIANT)

Starring: Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jackobson, Brandy Litmanen
Language: Swedish and Danish with English subtitles
Rating: Not Rated 
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Koko Di Koko-Da is currently in Us Virtual Theaters in Los Angeles and New York (Laemmle Theaters) and major cities including: Philadelphia (Film Society), Cleveland (Cinematheque), Columbus (Gateway Film Center) and Durham (Carolina Theater)

Opens at  Montclair Film Virtual Cinema on November 13th with more to follow.

On VOD in US & Canada on December 8th: Apple TV/ iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, Vudu, You Tube, Fandango Now, Dish Network and all major cable providers (Including: Comcast/Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox and Verizon Fios)

Link to buy tickets: https://linktr.ee/KokoDiKokoDa

Leif Edlund in Johannes Nyholm’s KOKO-DI KOKO-DA (Credit: Dark Star Pictures)
Leif Edlund in Johannes Nyholm’s KOKO-DI KOKO-DA (Credit: Dark Star Pictures)

Elin and Tobias are a happily married couple who regularly vacation with their young daughter. The family is on a dreamy holiday when an innocuous case of food poisoning derails their plans and forever alters the course of their lives.

Three years later, the once loving couple is on the road again to go camping, looking for one last chance to go back to the way things used to be. But what once was is lost, and our characters instead find themselves having to relive the same nightmarish events, as that day and the horrors it brings repeat themselves infinitely. Together, they must overcome their trauma, reconcile with their past and fight for their lives. Over, and over, and over again. 

Discerned through a dreamlike fabric, a story emerges about relationships in general, grief and reconciliation in particular, and love as a healing force.

KOKO-DI KOKO-DA is written, directed and produced by Johannes Nyholm, a Swedish, Gothenburg-based writer and director, managing his own production company. He has made a bunch of music videos, some short films and one feature, THE GIANT. With a background in classical animation he often mixes different styles and cinematic universes, moving freely in the border between dream and reality.

Distributed in North America by: Dark Star Pictures
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Starring: Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jacobson, Peter Belli, Morad Baloo Khatchadorian, Brandy Litmanen 
Production Company: Johannes Nyholm Production and Beofilm
Director/Scriptwriter/Producer: Johannes Nyholm
Director of Photography: Johan Lundborg, Tobias Höiem-Flyckt
Executive Producer: Peter Hyldahl
Co-Producer: Maria Møller Christoffersen
Produced by: Penelope JulieBruun Bjerregaard
Assistant producer: Maria Møller Christoffersen 
Co-producer: Peter Hyldahl
Executive producer: Johannes Nyholm
Cinematographers: Tobias Höiem-Flyckt, Johan Lundborg
Editor: Johannes Nyholm
Music: Olof Cornéer, Simon Ohlsson

VIEW TRAILER BELOW!

18 TO PARTY on VOD in US, CANADA and UK on December 1st

Giant Pictures  and An Asterion Pictures in Association with Cahill Bros

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18 TO PARTY
Now in US Virtual Theaters:
New York and Major Cities-Alamo On Demand
Los Angeles- Laemmle

Coming to Canada
Canada – Virtual Cinemas on  November 13th
VIFF Connect In Vancouver

Canada – Virtual Cinemas Expansion On December 1st
Alamo On Demand (Canada wide)

US, CANADA, and UK VOD  on December 1st

VOD Platforms including: Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, Fandango and more to follow.

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It’s 1984 and outside a small-town nightclub, a group of 8th graders gather, grappling with a spate of recent suicides, UFO sightings, their absentee parents, and each other. 18 TO PARTY spans a single evening in the lives of these kids, but manages to transport us fully to a time when waiting for something to happen felt just as significant as the thing itself.

Gorgeously atmospheric, with a pulsating sense of anticipation that steadily builds, the film pulls us into the fears, wounds, and desires of each character, ultimately revealing that hope may arrive from the last place we expect.

The meticulously authentic production design, killer soundtrack, and universally excellent performances recall the spirit of classic 80s teen movies like Stand By Me and The Breakfast Club. 18 TO PARTY is a spot-on love letter to Gen X, awkward teenagers, and the transcendent power of friendship.

FILMMAKER JEFF RODA

Jeff Roda has written screenplays for DreamWorks, Universal, Paramount Pictures, New Regency, TriStar, and television pilots for HBO, CBS, and Warner Bros. Additionally, he was a producer on the Sony Pictures Classics feature, Love Liza, starring Academy Award winning actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates. 18 TO PARTY marks his directorial debut. Roda is a local resident of Woodstock area and the film is set in Upstate New York.

Website: https://www.18topartymovie.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/18ToPartyMovie 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/18ToPartyMovie

Instagram: 18ToPartyMovie
@18ToPartyMovie
#18ToPartyMovie

Distributor: Giant Pictures, An Asterion Pictures in Association with Cahill Bros
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Starring: Enzo Cellucci, Alivia Clark, Ashling Doyle, Tanner Flood, James Freedson-Jackson, Oliver Gifford, Nolan Lyons, Sam McCarthy, Ivy Miller, Taylor Richardson, Erich Schuett, Kevin Daniel Carey
Written & Directed by: Jeff Roda
Produced by: Nikola Duravcevic, Emily Ziff Griffin, Andrew Cahill, Stephanie Marin Production Company: Asterion Pictures in association with Cahill Bros
Editor: Katherine Williams, ACE Cinematographer
Production Designer: Gris Jordana
Costume Designer: Ava Lopez
Music: Dylan Neely, featuring the music of: The Alarm, Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones, The Velvet Underground and many more

18 TO PARTY: An Interview with Director Jeff Roda

FINAL 18 TO PARTY POSTER

Bottom line: When Waiting to Get in A Line, Is More Important Than Getting in The Line
Director and Writer : Jeff Roda
Starring: Alivia Clark, Tanner Flood, James Freedson-Jackson, Oliver Gifford, Nolan Lyons, Sam McCarthy, Ivy Miller, Taylor Richardson and Erich Schuett

I had the opportunity to talk with director Jeff Roda to discuss his film new film 18 TO PARTY.

It’s 1984 and outside a small-town nightclub, a group of 8th graders gather, grappling with a spate of recent suicides, UFO sightings, their absentee parents, and each other. 18 to Party spans a single evening in the lives of these kids but manages to transport us fully to a time when waiting for something to happen felt just as significant as the thing itself.

YR: You have said you opted to write about your experiences in 18 TO PARTY in the form of a fable, how has writing about your experiences impacted you.

Jeff Roda: Yes. It started out as a play and was worked shopped. It is hard to get a play out of 11 teenagers but the content itself, came from my life. It came geographically from the same place I come from. Some of the characteristic, some of the experiences that the kids are going through, especially a couple of the characters, I went through the exact same thing. Some of the horrible things that happened to some of the kids in that community, were the same thing that happened in my community.

It was a small community, and I was little but those were the things that were happening with the kids who were six years older. It was all based on reality baked into a fable. Basically, it is away to present the film in a meditative way rather than trying to create a big narrative.

YR: Has there been any improvements made in the outcomes for the young people in your hometown?

Jeff Roda: It is interesting. There was something very singular about this area that I lived. It is the outer suburbs about 80 miles north of New York City but if you are 80 miles away from a big city and you are a kid, that is far. You are in the shadow of it, but you are still not going there.

My school was very small and very white, and those things remain today. In terms of the community itself, there is a lot farmland, horse farms and orchids and because of that it has turned into a working/middle class community. A lot of people moved north from the city with a lot of money and built huge stables, mansions and stuff like that. So those elements are there but the sort of rank and file are still similar.

YR:  You did excellent writing for the film. There was some dialogue between Shel and Amy that really stuck with me. Shel had asked Amy, why people would want to think that way and Amy responded, so they will not have to think about anything else.

Jeff Roda: You see from the film that it is almost shocking in a lot of ways how much things have not changed as much as things have changed.  I think for me, it really came around to the reality of the suicides. The trouble these kids were having, the isolation these kids were having and the aloneness. The latch key kids as we were called. And this is an inditement, somewhat, of the parents and adult figures who were not there for them.

It is weird, more of an around about way to get to the answer but a truer way. I did a lot of research about that time about the suicide and mishaps that were going on at that time. There was a nationwide epidemic of suicide in this specific year with a lot of kids, all these high performing kids from all over the country.

And when parents or school administrators were interviewed and were asked about what they think is happening, they all said peer pressure, drugs, and job prospects. Like anyone gives a sh** when you are in the 10th grade about job prospects. Of all these things, no one said maybe we are not looking out for them. Maybe some of this is on us.

No one ever said that and I boiled it down in those two lines where Amy said they do not want to look at it, they don’t want to look at anything more than their excuses for not being there for them. It is not a generation ahead of us that is quick to blame themselves for things.

That was basically the meaning of that line she said they will not have to think about anything else. Meaning they do not have to be reflective. They will not have to look any deeper into their responsibilities for these kids and what happens to them.

YR: What was it like preparing and working with the ensemble of young talented actors?

Jeff Roda:  It was one of the best experiences of my life, in a way, casting of these kids. We have great casting directors Kate and Jessica. It was my first film directing and the one thing I felt pretty good about going in was I would be able to cast the film with 10 kids. Some with no experience ever being in front of camera, one was on Broadway, one had been in a television series, and one had experience with independent films. It was a wide range of experiences.

Working with them and seeing these 13, 14, 15-year old kids really commit and inhabit the same space was great. Because it was a very short shoot, 15 days and there were kids younger than 16 there’s labor law and screen actor’s guild restrictions to follow.

They had to do a lot in a short time. Watching them come together and inhabit the same cosmic place it was amazing.  It was amazing, almost like being a parent in away, every kid had their moment that things were a little stressful, got a bit overwhelmed, frustrated or something kind of like that. Each one had a day of that, or a moment of that. It was great to support these kids.

These were extraordinary kids. Just warm and committed, competitive with each other in a healthy way.  Everyone had a lot of work to do and the movie was only going to work as well as how well any of the actors were prepared. And they all really did it. I think that is part of the competitive spirit, creatively, were privately they are like I do not want to be the one, I do not want to be the one with any mistakes.  It was great. It was fun having an idea, having an instinct about kids and then actually delivering on that. It made me feel really proud. It was rewarding.

YR: How did you come about the setting for 18 To Party, the back of the building, the limited space and telling such great stories?

Jeff Roda: When you are making a film this size, until you are shooting the film is not definitely happening. We did not have that location until 2 days prior to the first day of shooting. And as originally written in the script, it was more one dimensional, more theatrical, the kids were hanging next to a mall.   Again, it was originally written for the stage. As you saw from the back of this club, we found this place with 2 days left. We had to dress it. There are stairs, there is a loading dock area, a cement barrier that kids sit on. Just a lot more texture and space to work with.

We had a wonderful cinematographer named Gris Jordana. She did a lot with what was there. There was more than we thought was going to be there. She did so much with it. We really lucked into it. It was an abandoned place in Staten Island. There was a realtor sign next to it and it was called the number and we were in there.

It was not a club. Our entire production was inside that building and we were shooting outside. It is one of those things that came together. We are very, very lucky.

YR:  What else do you have in the works or that you are working on with any of the actors in 18 to Party.

Jeff Roda: Several of them, I know Sam that played Peter, he is in a couple of series, one on Netflix with Christina Applegate and Linda Cartalini. He plays Christina Applegate’s’ son. Taylor, who plays Missy, she has been doing this for years.  She was the last Annie on Broadway and I think she is in a series on Netflix. Tanner is working on the Kimmie Schmidt Show. And some are just going to school. They are really self-possessed. They are wonderful. They do not need to be acting stars. They can do anything that they want, and this is something they are doing now and exploring.

As for me, I am working on one specific movie, a script and hopefully it will be done within weeks. I am looking forward to reverse engineering 18 To Party back into a play. Which I think would be a great experience. Because I think there are a lot of roles for younger actors in acting school. I think it would a good piece for a group of kids to do together.

YR: How have you been impacted, as a filmmaker, by COVID-19?

Jeff Roda: It has not at all, frankly, because it is really up to me to write. Unfortunately, it has not at all because I have nothing to shoot right now. But it has affected the way a movie is released. The way a movie our size is released. It has completely changed everything, and I think people are really trying in the moment to pivot or understand what is happening with movies. Basically, movies cannot be released in the theaters right now. In any circumstance, to get an independent film out there to get tractions is very difficult. In some weird way, it is also very exciting because there are opportunities to get word of mouth. There are opportunities to roll it out slowly. We opened at the Alamo On Demand Virtual Cinema and Laemmle Virtual Cinema and then a month later a wider release on iTunes and Amazon Prime. So, in between that, we can get reviews, we can explore. There is a longer period now for people to discover the film. With this movie, if it had come out in May like it was supposed to, it would have been in a few theaters in New York and a few Los Angeles. You do not have a lot of money to promote it, so you are not going to get a lot of people regardless of the reviews being rave reviews.  You are still going to have a per screen average of about $500 and then your movie is going to go away after a week or two.  In some weird way, COVID has given these films more of a chance, for now. That is how it has affected filmmaking.

Distributor: Giant Pictures
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Starring: Enzo Cellucci, Alivia Clark, Ashling Doyle, Tanner Flood, James Freedson-Jackson, Oliver Gifford, Nolan Lyons, Sam McCarthy, Ivy Miller, Taylor Richardson, Erich Schuett, Kevin Daniel Carey
Written & Directed by: Jeff Roda
Produced by: Nikola Duravcevic, Emily Ziff Griffin, Andrew Cahill, Stephanie Marin Production Company: Asterion Pictures in association with Cahill Bros
Editor: Katherine Williams, ACE
Cinematographer: Gris Jordana
Production Designer: San Bader
Costume Designer: Ava Lopez
Music: Dylan Neely, featuring the music of: The Alarm, Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones, The Velvet Underground and many more.

VIEW TRAILER BELOW!

KOKO-DI KOKO DA: An Interview with Director Johannes Nyholm

KokoDiKokoDa US Poster

Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Director: Johannes Nyholm (THE GIANT)

Starring: Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jackobson, Brandy Litmanen
Language: Swedish and Danish with English subtitles
Rating: Not Rated 
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

I had the pleasure of talking to Johannes Nyholm, director of Koko Di Koko Da.

A horror film about Elin and Tobias a happily married couple who regularly vacation with their young daughter. The family is on a dreamy holiday when an innocuous case of food poisoning derails their plans and forever alters the course of their lives.

YR: You have said that the setting for the film was in the wee hours of the morning when dreams are the most untamed and that is how you came up with idea for the film.  Was that the process throughout the filmmaking?

Johannes Nyholm: Yes. This film had its own life. First of all, it was inspired by a dream that came to me. I saw what was happening in the film in front of my eyes while being half awake asleep in the wee hours. I wrote it down and shot it and I realized it had to be something more. It was too crude, harsh, too nightmarish. It was impossible to watch it.  Things happen in my life by chance and the story elements that I added to the film were really strange things that just happened that told me how the story should be told. It did not feel like I came up with it.  It is more like it came to me.

YR: You mentioned you had a background in classical animation.

Johannes Nyholm: Yes, I went to animation school along time ago. I also have a history of working with musician and doing a lot of music video. Music goes well with animation.

YR: You had two scenes of a family of rabbits telling the story of death, was that a way of paying homage to classical animation, including it in your work?

Johannes Nyholm: It wasn’t an idea of paying homage. I just felt it was needed to tell the story from a different perspective. And to show a little comfort and some beauty and poetry to the audience as well.  Other wise without these images and musical interlude the film would be too horrible to endure.

YR: How and what did you do to prepare as a writer, director and producer for the film?

Johannes Nyholm: I started this film as a learning process. When I started to make this film, I had no experience directing. I had almost no experience working with a big film crew. I have made some music video before but did not have any sound on set there were just a couple people with a camera doing some improvised stuff. Now, it is like a complex story with a lot of people involved. For me it was a bit scary. But most of all, I kind of like the idea of losing control, of not really knowing what to do and how to solve things. It is more fun to work that way. I had hoped it adds some kind of primal element to the story. Even I as the director cannot really control it and something else would come out, something that is bigger than my thoughts, better than my thoughts, something more irrational.

YR: What was it like working with your cast members?

Johannes Nyholm: It was fantastic. As I said, it was like a learning process for me working with actors. I never even cast them. There was no competition for the lead characters.

I found two actors I have seen in a short film that a friend of mine had directed. And I really like their energy, their energy together. I knew with this film, did not have so much money. But what I wanted was time. So, I wanted people to invest their time, their energy in the film. I wanted someone that could go the extra mile. I felt that directly with them. I tried some scenes with them, going around in the car, tested out some dialogue and it felt right. I gave them the part without asking someone else or looking somewhere in another direction.

YR: Can you tell us if there are any other projects you are working on or that you are planning on?

Johannes Nyholm: Yes. Right now, I am writing a script for something completely different. It is a lot brighter, a lot lighter story. It is a slap stick comedy. It is inspired by old classic slap stick comedy, like Charlie Chaplin. I want to give a bit brighter side to life.

YR: As a filmmaker, how has COVID-19 impacted you?

Johannes Nyholm: For me personally, no, it does not affect the writing process. It doesn’t affect my actual filmmaking. but it affects the way the film I made is presented.

I think it is tragic that you cannot see movies in a theater but through the computer.  It is sad.  I would have loved to be in the states and be there in the audience and talk to them and discuss the film with them afterwards. That is a lot of what filmmaking is about, trying to communicate and talk about your experiences. You kind of lose a little part of that.

Distributed in North America by: Dark Star Pictures
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Starring: Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jacobson, Peter Belli, Morad Baloo Khatchadorian, Brandy Litmanen
Director/Scriptwriter/Producer: Johannes Nyholm
Director of Photography: Johan Lundborg, Tobias Höiem-Flyckt
Executive Producer: Peter Hyldahl
Co-Producer: Maria Møller Christoffersen
Produced by: Penelope JulieBruun Bjerregaard
Assistant producer: Maria Møller Christoffersen
Co-producer: Peter Hyldahl
Executive producer: Johannes Nyholm
Cinematographers: Tobias Höiem-Flyckt, Johan Lundborg
Editor: Johannes Nyholm
Music: Olof Cornéer, Simon Ohlsson

VIEW TRAILER BELOW!

18 TO PARTY: Review

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Original Release: 2019
Director and Writer: Jeff Roda
Starring: Alivia Clark, Tanner Flood, James Freedson-Jackson, Oliver Gifford, Nolan Lyons, Sam McCarthy, Ivy Miller, Taylor Richardson and Erich Schuett
Narrative Feature
Stars: 3.5

When Waiting to Get in A Line, Is More Important Than Getting in The Line

Jeff Roda’s directorial debut, 18 TO PARTY, captures the traumas and other life experiences of a group of young 8th graders in the small town of Brighton,  as they wait behind a building, near trash bins, for the chance to get in a line to gain entry into the Pulse club.

In the group of teenagers told to wait behind the building are Dean (Nolan Lyons) a computer geek. Peter (Sam McCarthy) the rich kid. Kira (Ivy Miller) who is concerned about what is going on in the world outside of Brighton.  Missy (Taylor Richardson) who Kira called Messy because she urinated in her sleeping bag at the age of 12. James (Erich Schuett) a gifted artist of few words. Shel (Tanner Flood) the clean-cut honor student, a follow the rules kind of guy. He really stood out with his all-white shoes especially hanging out behind the grimy building. Important that he kept them clean. Brad (Oliver Gifford) a talented soccer player and artist who is deeply affected by Lanky’s brother suicide.

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In another group are the kids that were allowed to wait near the main entrance, is Amy (Alivia Clark) whose father had recently died and Lanky (James Freedson-Jackson), who experienced the horror of his brother and his brother’s girlfriend’s suicide.

UFO sightings are a big deal to the kid’s parents. And while their13-year old are waiting to gain entry into a night club, the parents are at an UFO meeting, except for Shel’s dad, and that is only because his parents are divorced.

At their age, it would not be too much to assume their parents would have some idea where or what their kids are doing, even in a small town, yet none of the parents had any idea what or where their kids were. James shared that his parents do not ask him questions. Shel, the follow the rules guy, mom appeared to be the only parent that had a clue where her son was  supposed to  be, spending the night at Brad’s house.

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The small town of Brighton is not plagued by drive-by shootings and gang violence. Yet, these 13 year old kids are confronted with the trauma of drug addition, alcoholism, suicide and divorce that can have devastating consequences just the same. Turning 18 does not always give them a lot to look forward to, especially considering they are just 13 years of age and already going to night clubs.

As they so often do, teenagers think their parents do not know anything and are totally clueless. It is certainly the case, with the UFOs citing that the kids’ parents take seriously and devote a lot of their too. There was never a balance between the critically important concerns and issues of their children and outside forces that affect their home, community, and town like UFOs.

Cinematographer Gris Jordana does a great job telling a vast range of compelling stories from the gritty space behind the Pulse building. It provides a great opportunity to hear the dialogue of the talented ensemble of young actors. One of the many memorable lines was a conversation between Amy and Shel. Shel ask, “why would they want to believe that?” Amy responds, “so they won’t have to believe anything else.” Those words go a long way in explaining why people can take a specific position and not have any rational in support of their position. We can now stop asking why? She was asked, why did she wet on herself and she said, “why do people do anything they do?”.  The none verbal dialogue of James who drew portraits of the Brighton Seven, people who had succumbed to the many tragedies facing the teenagers and their communities, that he left on the graffitied filled walls of the back of the building.

Roda captures the sad and grim stories told with visuals of the back of the building with the trash bins, walls full of graffiti.

Music Supervisor Susan Jacobs and music featuring The Alarm, Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones, The Velvet Underground and others works well with the sometimes intense, emotional and funny scenes.

18 to Party is an enjoyable film, that goes a long way in telling the intimate struggles,  concerns, and family dynamics of a group of young teenagers as they wait behind the building for the opportunity for what they thought to be important, being   allowed to get in line, for getting in line for entry into the Pulse club.

Distributor: Giant Pictures
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Starring: Enzo Cellucci, Alivia Clark, Ashling Doyle, Tanner Flood, James Freedson-Jackson, Oliver Gifford, Nolan Lyons, Sam McCarthy, Ivy Miller, Taylor Richardson, Erich Schuett, Kevin Daniel Carey
Written & Directed by: Jeff Roda
Produced by: Nikola Duravcevic, Emily Ziff Griffin, Andrew Cahill, Stephanie Marin Production Company: Asterion Pictures in association with Cahill Bros
Editor: Kate Williams
Cinematographer:: Gris Jordana 
Production Designer: Sam Bader
Costume Designer: Ava Lopez
Music: Dylan Neely, featuring the music of: The Alarm, Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones, The Velvet Underground and many more

Still 5

KOKO DI KOKO DA: Review

KokoDiKokoDa US Poster
KokoDiKokoDa US Poster

Bottom line:  Work it out so it will not work you over
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Director: Johannes Nyholm (THE GIANT)

Starring: Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jackobson, Brandy Litmanen
Language: Swedish and Danish with English subtitles
Rating: Not Rated 
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Deal with the demons from within before you can take on the demons from without

Tobias (Leif Edlund), Elin (Ylva Gallon) and their daughter, Maja (Katarina Jacobson) travel to Demark to celebrate Maja’s 8th birthday. Wearing their finest rabbit painted faces, they enjoy the  day before her birthday with an enjoyable lunch. After lunch, Maja came upon a music box that played the Swedish nursey rhyme, Our Rooster Is Dead, that had her mesmerized. Her parents purchase the music box as a birthday present and have it gift wrapped. Things take a sudden horrific turn when Elin and Maja suffer from an allergic reaction to the shellfish they had for lunch in director Johannes Nyholm’s film KOKO DI KOKO DA.

Determined to celebrate their daughter and work on their crumbling marriage, Tobias and Elin set off on a  camping trip that is soon anything but celebratory when three characters , Mog, a man with a straw hat (Peter Belli), Sampo, a huge giant of a man (Morad Baloo Khatchadorian) who carries a dead dog, and Cherry, a young woman with long black hair (Brandy Litmanen) with a vicious dog on a leach that is pictured on the music box, comes to life and torments Tobias and Elin over and over and over again.

Leif Edlund in Johannes Nyholm’s KOKO-DI KOKO-DA (Credit: Dark Star Pictures)
Leif Edlund in Johannes Nyholm’s KOKO-DI KOKO-DA (Credit: Dark Star Pictures)

The bright, cheery atmosphere of Tobias, Elin, and Maja enjoying their lunch date, their laughter, their faces painted as rabbits shows the love, happy, and fun times the family shared. The changes in lighting as they arrived at their camping site in the forest.

Cinematographers Johan Lundborg and Tobias Holem-Flyckt keeps the  fear going strong with the  images depicted in the dark and creepy woods as three of Satan’s own torments them.
Olof Cornéer and Simon Ohlsson music scores provides suspense

After leaving the gas station, in route to the forest, Elin and Tobias are on the verge of a heated discussion because of  Tobias’ perceived in difference to Elin and his constant joking, when Elin  says to Tobias, “why don’t you say what you actually mean, for once?  Tobias then tells her  “I love you”. The line was a great neutralizer and diffuse the situation so they can at least start on the same page.

The two times the film transitioned into an old school curtain puppet show animation with three rabbits representing the family to tell the story of Maja death and the old rooster adds a surprising and unique element to the storytelling.

Considering how much Tobias liked to joke, it made for some funny moments in an otherwise deeply disturbing film, when Tobias, scarred to death, runs around frantically in his underwear.

Koko-Di Koko Da  conveys a powerful message of the importance of people confronting and learning to deal with issues of grief and pain that resides in oneself, because if not, life will become one big loop, with  the pain and sorrow endlessly replaying over and over and over again, making the life’s obstacles difficult to overcome.

Distributed in North America by: Dark Star Pictures
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Starring: Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jacobson, Peter Belli, Morad Baloo Khatchadorian, Brandy Litmanen
Production Company: Johannes Nyholm Production and Beofilm
Director/Scriptwriter/Producer: Johannes Nyholm
Director of Photography: Johan Lundborg, Tobias Höiem-Flyckt
Executive Producer: Peter Hyldahl
Co-Producer: Maria Møller Christoffersen
Produced by: Penelope JulieBruun Bjerregaard
Assistant producer: Maria Møller Christoffersen
Co-producer: Peter Hyldahl
Executive producer: Johannes Nyholm
Cinematographers: Tobias Höiem-Flyckt, Johan Lundborg
Editor: Johannes Nyholm
Music: Olof Cornéer, Simon Ohlsson