Evoking the imaginary worlds of the Quay Brothers and Phillippe Genty, [Strings] is a remarkable, Shakespearian epic cast entirely with puppets! Before committing suicide, ancient ruler Kahro repents of his evildoing in a note to his heir, Hal. Kahro's malevolent brother Nezo destroys the note and blames the death on a despised minority, sending Hal on a quest for revenge that turns into an odyssey of discovery about his true history. The voice talent includes Ian Hart, Derek Jacobi and Julian Glover. "Traditional marionettes, with their strings, challenge the notion of suspending belief. Danish director Anders Ronnow Klarlund circumvents the problem by making the threads part of the story and tying characters to the gods that control them and each other. "The story mixes love, war and revenge in a fantasy landscape that is half Middle Earth and half the Middle East around the time of Solomon. The look is surprisingly sumptuous thanks to atmospheric lighting, meticulous direction and sets that add to a feel that is hyper-real rather than theatrical." - Screen International --- D Anders Ronnow Klarlund P Niels Bald S Naja Marie Aidt WS Trust Film TD 35mm/col/2004/92mins Anders Ronnow Klarlund was born in Denmark in 1971. His films include [The Eighteens] (1996), [Possessed] (1999), [At the End of the World] (2000).