Ekke Nekkepenn

A short animated film telling the Frisian folktale of merman Ekke Nekkepenn, who falls in love with a human girl and threatens to marry her unless she finds out his name.

You can currently watch the film in the traveling exhibition De Kraak, which is shown at various locations along the coast of the North Sea.

Directed, created and animated by Anne Breymann
Sound Design: Michal Krajczok
Voice: Martin Steyer
Production: Spinbarg
Based on the story Ekke Nekkepenn by Christian Peter Hansen (1858)

Can you love a sea monster?
Dive into an enchanting world, filled with stories. The Kraken, a mythical, giant octopus will show the way. He will demonstrate how humans have always tried to live together with the sea’s wild nature. The Kraken will show how things can go terribly wrong, but also what beautiful things can come from it. 
De Kraak is a cross-border, multimedia installation by Foundation Production House Spinbarg. It offers a special view of the past, present and future of our relationship with the Wadden Sea, constructed as a love story. As the basis for this multimedia installation Spinbarg uses old folktales from the North Sea, which focus on the relationship between humans and legendary sea and coastal creatures. The themes of these stories are reminiscent of problems of our time, such as overfishing, rising water levels and the consequences of endless economic growth.