FROZEN DEAD GUY
Director/Producer
A documentary film about how Grandpa Bredo—albeit frozen and (arguably) dead—has imbued Nederland, Colorado with a unique spirit of life. [In Production]
Background. Bredo Morstøl—also known as Grandpa Bredo—died in Norway in 1989. Entranced by the idea of life extension, his grandson, Trygve, decided to cryonically freeze his grandfather. Grandpa Bredo eventually ended up frozen on dry ice in a shed at the top of a mountain in Nederland, Colorado—in the hopes that he would one day be reanimated. The family, deported from the US in the 90s, pays a caretaker to put 1200 pounds of dry ice on Grandpa Bredo every two weeks. Over the past three decades, Grandpa has gone from persona-non-grata to the town’s most famous and beloved resident. Frozen Dead Guy Days is a festival that draws 25,000 people to a tiny town every March to celebrate the Spring—and the dead—or, in a sense, it's a celebration of life. Those in Nederland live in close proximity to death—it’s part of their narrative. And in acceptance of death, the people in Ned have cultivated a spirit of joy, eccentricity, belonging. But what happens wen you refuse to accept grief—refuse to accept the inevitable? This is a film about how to live in the face of death: death our unique burden of humanity.
Elyse has been working on this film since 2017. Every chance she has, she heads out to Nederland, Colorado to immerse herself more into this town. She hopes to complete the film in 2023 and is currently looking for additional funding.