Johannes Nyholm on How to Film Contemporary Surrealism

The Giant is a film that's nearly impossible to pin down. Director Johannes Nyholm describes it as a western, a cheesy sports movie, a drama, a surrealistic fantasy, and a dark comedy all rolled into one. It follows the daily life of an autistic and severely deformed little person named Rikard. His main ambition in life is to win the Scandinavian Championship of pétanque, a European bowling game much like bocce ball. Oh, also, there is a 200 foot giant by his side nearly every step of the way. On this week's episode of The No Film School Podcast, we deconstruct the film's veiled themes, and with the aid of it's Swedish director, piece them back together to reveal how surrealism can weave together a more meaningful message than your average run-of-the-mill drama. Nylholm is a DIY filmmaker through and through, he didn’t go to film school instead teaching himself as many tools as he could through shooting, editing, VFX and animation first for music videos and then his own shorts. He is living proof that, with the correct tools in place, you can create a movie that doesn’t cost much even though it looks like it does.

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