Cinema of Denmark
Encyclopedia
Denmark
has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute
. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness and technical innovation.
Danish filmmakers of note include Benjamin Christensen
, Carl Th. Dreyer
, Erik Balling, Gabriel Axel
, Bille August
, Lars von Trier
, Nicolas Winding Refn, Thomas Vinterberg
, Anders Thomas Jensen
and Susanne Bier
.
, a photographer, was the first Dane to make a film. Between the years of 1896 and 1912, he produced around 200 documentary film
s on life in Denmark
. His first film was Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde
(Traveling with Greenlandic Dogs). Furthermore, he produced the first Danish feature film: Henrettelsen
(Capital Execution, 1903). The first film show in Denmark took place in the Panorama cinema on the Town Hall square in Copenhagen
, in June 1896. However, the selection of films had been made and produced abroad.
founded the first Danish film-making company, Nordisk Films Kompagni
. It gained most of its income from the export market of short films. Not until 1909 were other film-producing companies established. In 1910 the number had reached ten. This period is now known as the Golden Age of Danish Cinema. In the spring of 1910, Nordisk Films Kompagni changed its policy of producing only short films and began making feature films. This was largely inspired by the Århus Fotorama company's Den hvide Slavehandel (The White Slave Trade, 1910), which was the first multi-reel
Danish film lasting more than 30 minutes.
With the increasing length of films, there was a growing artistic awareness, which is evident in Afgrunden (The Abyss, 1910). This film launched the career of Asta Nielsen
, who soon became Europe's first great female film star.
The film was an erotic melodrama, which soon became the preferred genre in early Danish Cinema. In 1911, with director August Blom
as the new head of production, Nordisk Film was the first of the major European companies to devote itself entirely to full-length feature films. These films were sold abroad profitably because the technical and photographic quality impressed audiences. Yet, when exporting the films, the erotic elements needed to be toned down in order not to offend the working class audiences. In 1913, Nordisk released the first full length feature movie, Atlantis
directed by Blom
.
After 1913, Danish cinema began to lose its leading foothold in the film industry, with foreign companies having intensified competition in the production of feature length films. Danish cinema had also begun to suffer from a lack of imagination and a willingness to take creative risks on the part of Danish producers. Independent producer Benjamin Christensen had great success with the spy film Det hemmelighedsfulde X (The Mysterious X or Sealed Orders, 1914) and the crime drama Hævnens Nat (Blind Justice or The Night of Revenge, 1916), both of which are major works in the history of the Danish cinema.
, the USA became the leading nation
in film production and Danish exports decreased. In the years following the war
, Dreyer
made an appearance as director at Nordisk Film with the drama Præsidenten (The President, 1919), followed by the ambitious Blade af Satans Bog (Leaves from Satan's Book, 1921), inspired by the American director D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) in both technique and theme. However, Dreyer, as well as Benjamin Christensen, were not permanently connected to the influential Danish film industries and remained loners. As a whole, Danish film in the 1920s was on the decline in spite of the filmmakers' better technical skills. Of most interest at this time were perhaps the so-called Dickens movies directed by the very able A. W. Sandberg
. At one point Denmark again enjoyed some international reputation - by the many farces of the vagabond duo “Fyrtaarnet og Bivognen” (often known by their French names “Doublepat and Patachon”), who were Scandinavian predecessors of Laurel and Hardy
. They were introduced by “Palladium”, the rival of Nordisk Film. Despite these resurgences, at the end of the decade the Danish film industry was on its heels.
In 1929, Nordisk Film Kompagni was established as a sound film
company. The Pastor of Vejlby (1931) reinforced the Nordisk's dominance in the Danish market. The 1930s were dominated by many successes with light comedies. The so-called "folkekomedie" (folk comedy) genre was born, with Barken Margrethe (1934) an important early example. The Depression
and the economic conditions of the film companies prevented more serious film business, and the victory of the sound movie automatically set greater limits on the international possibilities of Danish film. Many popular stars like Marguerite Viby
, Ib Schønberg
and Peter Malberg
had breakthroughs but in spite of many economic successes no further development of the media was seen.
Between 1940 and 1945, the German occupation of Denmark during World War II
provided favourable conditions to start producing more serious art films. Bodil Ipsen with Black Tie (1942) and Melody of Murder (1944) produced a romantic comedy and a psychological thriller of international standard. As a whole, a more sinister tone was expressed in these years, and several parallels to the American film noir (also some years after 1945) can be found. Even the standard of the comedy was lifted, especially by the witty, well-performed and elegant movies directed by the ambitious Johan Jacobsen
, a Danish pupil of Ernst Lubitsch
. The first years after the war still saw a rising standard, and foremost a more social/realist line was maintained by such directors as the married couple Henning-Jensen and the sharp, critical and almost cynical films by Ole Palsbo. But after some years the pre-war conditions reappeared: sentimental comedies, and uncomplicated regionalist movies.
, Ove Sprogøe
and director Erik Balling. Important films of this period include De røde heste
(1950), Far til fire (1953), Kispus
(1956, first Danish film in colour), Støv på hjernen (1961), Sommer i Tyrol (1964), Passer passer piger
(1965), the Olsen Banden-series (1968-1981) and Erik Balling's classic TV-sitcom Huset på Christianshavn
(1970-1977).
In the sixties, Danish cinema became gradually more erotic, with films such as Halløj i himmelsengen (Erik Balling, 1965),
Sytten
(Annelise Meinecke, 1965), Jeg - en kvinde (Mac Ahlberg, 1965) and Uden en trævl (Annelise Meinecke, 1968), several of which made a huge international impression. As a natural progression, in 1969 Denmark became the first country to completely legalize pornography. In the 1970s, a large percentage of all Danish films were sexually oriented, and many mainstream-features with mainstream-actors included sequences with either softcore- or hardcore-pornography, most notably Mazurka på sengekanten (John Hilbard, 1970) and I Jomfruens tegn (Finn Karlsson, 1973) along with their many respective sequels, forming the eight Bedside-films
and six Zodiac-films
.
In 1972, the Danish Film Institute (DFI) was founded to provide state subsidies for hand-picked films. It allocated public funding for feature films based on their artistic merit rather than commercial appeal -- with an emphasis on those films which expressed Danish culture and identity. The DFI reinvigorated the financial viability of the sagging Danish film industry, but later was criticized for becoming too conservative and nationalistic in defining which films represented Danish identity. In one example, Lars von Trier's 1984 debut feature The Element of Crime
struggled to receive funds because it was radically different from the typical Danish film -- and, yet, received international acclaim upon release. In response, the Ministry of Culture in 1989 vastly broadened the DFI's definition of "Danish film" to include any work which contributed to Danish film culture. This allowed state funding of films with greater global appeal and helped foster the international success of a new wave of Danish filmmakers.
With La' os være (Ernst Johansen & Lasse Nielsen, 1975), independent producer Steen Herdel launched a wave of successful teenage-dramas, including Måske ku' vi (Morten Arnfred, 1976), Du er ikke alene
("You Are Not Alone") (Ernst Johansen & Lasse Nielsen, 1978), Mig og Charly (Morten Arnfred & Henning Kristiansen, 1978) and Vil du se min smukke navle? (Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, 1978), all produced by Steen Herdel.
A notable TV-series, Matador
, ran from 1978-1982, and has remained a national favourite. It was directed by Erik Balling.
. A project usually does not get made unless the script, director and cast etc. has been approved by the appointed representatives of the Danish Film Institute. This means that Danish filmmaking is essentially controlled by the state.
In 1983, Lars von Trier
graduated from Den Danske Filmskole
(National Film School of Denmark
) and received international attention with films such as Forbrydelsens element
(1984) and Epidemic
(1987). His strange, innovative ideas were fiercely resisted by Det Danske Filminstitut and drew very small local audiences, but were embraced by the Cannes Film Festival
, where his films were included in the official selections and took home awards.
Released in 1987 was the gay teenage drama Venner for altid
("Friends Forever"), directed by Stefan Henszelman (1960-1991). It won the 1988 Audience Award as Best Feature at the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
The Danish film industry got a major boost in the late 1980s when the movie Babettes Gæstebud
(Babette's Feast), directed by Gabriel Axel
, won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1987, and next year the Best Foreign Film award went to Pelle Erobreren
(Pelle the Conqueror), directed by Bille August
.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, more talented directors started graduating from the National Film School of Denmark, such as Thomas Vinterberg
, Per Fly
and Ole Christian Madsen
.
Also in the late 1980s, Danish cinematographer Mikael Salomon
ended a long career in Danish cinema to become one of Hollywood's most celebrated DPs
, later establishing himself as a successful, Emmy Award
-winning television director.
Danish film in the 1990s was dominated by Lars von Trier
. His films Europa, Breaking the Waves
, The Idiots
, and Dancer in the Dark
received great international attention and were nominated for numerous awards.
The Dogme 95
Collective caught the attention of the international film world with its strict "vows of chastity" or rules for filmmakers that force filmmakers to concentrate on purity of story and the actors' performances rather than special effects and other cinematic devices.
The first Dogme 95 film, The Celebration
(Festen), directed by Thomas Vinterberg
, received many awards on the international film festival circuit and was named by both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle as the best foreign-language film of the year.
The members of the Dogme 95 Collective were von Trier, Vinterberg, Kristian Levring
, and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
. Although the Dogme 95 movement originated in Denmark, filmmakers around the world soon experimented with the rigid guidelines and sought certification for their films as Dogme. Furthermore, Lars von Trier's own Dogme-film Idioterne (1998) started a separate wave of arthouse mainstream films with unsimulated sex
.
Lars von Trier also made history by having his company Zentropa
be the world's first mainstream film company to produce hardcore
pornographic films. Three of these films, Constance
(1998), Pink Prison
(1999) and the adult/mainstream crossover-feature All About Anna
(2005), were made primarily for a female audience, and were extremely successful in Europe, with the two first being directly responsible for the March 2006 legalizing of pornography in Norway
.
, The Bench (Bænken) (2000), Inheritance (Arven) (2003), and Manslaughter
(Drabet) (2005) portrayed Denmark's three distinct social classes and received international acclaim.
The work of Susanne Bier
, particularly Brothers (2004) and After the Wedding
(2006), introduced the world to Danish actors such as Mads Mikkelsen
, Ulrich Thomsen
, and Nikolaj Lie Kaas
. After the Wedding was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Bier's In a Better World
is a 2010 drama starring Mikael Persbrandt
, Trine Dyrholm
and Ulrich Thomsen
in a story which takes place in small-town Denmark
and a refugee camp in Sudan
. The film won the 2011 Golden Globe Award
for Best Foreign Language Film
and the Best Foreign Language Film
at the 83rd Academy Awards
.
Anders Thomas Jensen
first received acclaim as Oscar-winning writer-director of three short films, Ernst & lyset (1996), Wolfgang (1997) and Valgaften (1998), then as screenwriter of such feature films as Mifune's Last Song
(1999), Open Hearts
(2002), Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
(2002), Stealing Rembrandt (2003) and Brothers (2004); and finally as a director of dark and profound feature comedies like The Green Butchers
(2003) and Adam's Apples
(2005).
Other notable Danish directors of the 21st century include Nikolaj Arcel, Christoffer Boe
, Lone Scherfig
, Niels Arden Oplev
, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ole Christian Madsen
, Annette K. Olesen and Christian E. Christiansen
.
The 21st century's first decade proved difficult for a number of Denmark's most established directors, including Lars von Trier
, although things started well with his Nicole Kidman
-starring Dogville
(2003), a provocative stylistic experiment filmed on a black sound stage with little beyond white floor markings to indicate the sets. Its sequel Manderlay
(2005), exploring the issue of slavery, continued this stylistic device but was largely ignored by audiences.
Thomas Vinterberg
, who had gained worldwide recognition with The Celebration
(1998), made two very expensive English-language flops, It's All About Love
(2003) and Dear Wendy
(2005), then tried to retrace his roots with a smaller Danish-language production, En mand kommer hjem (2007), which also flopped painfully, selling only 28.472 tickets.
Around the same time, Bille August
, Lone Scherfig
, and Lars von Trier
also made Danish-language films that flopped both financially and with the critics, leading the Danish financial times Børsen to observe on September 19 2007 that "1990'ernes filmfest er forbi" (the film party of the 1990s has ended).
A change of leadership at the Danish Film Institute in late 2007 was seen by many as an opportunity for reflection and renewal, while others pointed to the generally healthy local box office numbers and denied any crisis. Daily paper Jyllands-posten concluded the situation to be a "krise i en opgangstid" (crisis in a time of growth).
In 2008, Danish films sold over 4 million tickets at the Danish boxoffice, the biggest number since 1981, but the relief was brief, as Danish films in the first five months of 2009 turned out to have the lowest ticket-sales since 2005. Film critic Henrik Queitsch agreed that there was some reason for concern, noting in the Danish Film Institute's monthly program that "the different, the surprising, the odd and the daring" was hardly what characterised Danish films of 2008.
Danish cinema nonetheless remains highly respected internationally, and Danish films (today almost exclusively consisting of social realist dramas, social realist comedies, children's films and documentaries) receive many awards at major international film festivals.
(DFI), which was founded in 1972, and which remains an important source of funding for numerous filmmakers. This has resulted in a much criticized lack of innovation (notably, Dogme95 happened in spite of strong resistance from the Film Institute) and frequent accusations of nepotism
and cronyism
, for example when DFI-employee Mikael Olsen greenlighted 28 million kroner of government subsidy money to his childhood-friend Peter Aalbæk Jensen
, then went on to work for him in a high-ranking position.
The Danish Film Institute however has also achieved a high level of professionalism even if more or less reserved for a few selected genres and production companies (mainly Nordisk Film
, Zentropa
and Nimbus Film
). In February 2008, Nordisk Film
bought half of Zentropa
, which frequently coproduces with Nimbus Film
, but such tax-funded, state-sanctioned monopolies are rarely frowned upon in Denmark.
's “The Red Chapel
,” (Danish: Det Røde Kapel) won the grand jury prize for the best world documentary at the Sundance Film Festival
. Presenting a comic approach to a group's visit to North Korea
, the film explores the development of an enigmatic and totalitarian country.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute
Danish Film Institute
The Danish Film Institute is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest....
. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness and technical innovation.
Danish filmmakers of note include Benjamin Christensen
Benjamin Christensen
Benjamin Christensen was a Danish film director, screenwriter and an actor both in film and on the stage. As a director he is most well known for the 1922 film Häxan and as an actor, he is best known for his performance in the film Michael , in which he plays Claude Zoret, the jilted lover of the...
, Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jr. was a Danish film director. He is regarded by many critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest directors in cinema.-Life:Dreyer was born illegitimate in Copenhagen, Denmark...
, Erik Balling, Gabriel Axel
Gabriel Axel
Gabriel Axel is an Oscar winning Danish film director, actor, writer and producer, best known for the Oscar-winning Babette's Feast , which he wrote and directed....
, Bille August
Bille August
Bille August is a Danish Academy Award winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best...
, Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
, Nicolas Winding Refn, Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production....
, Anders Thomas Jensen
Anders Thomas Jensen
Anders Thomas Jensen is a Danish screenwriter and film director.Jensen won the Oscar for his 1998 film Election Night...
and Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
.
Beginnings
Danish cinema pioneer Peter ElfeltPeter Elfelt
Peter Elfelt was a Danish photographer and film director known as the first film pioneer in Denmark when he began making documentary movies in 1897.-Biography:Peter Elfelt was born Peter Lars Petersen in Denmark on 1 January 1866...
, a photographer, was the first Dane to make a film. Between the years of 1896 and 1912, he produced around 200 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s on life in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. His first film was Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde
Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde
Kørsel med Grønlandske hunde, , is a Danish silent film made in 1897 by the photographer Peter Elfelt. It was the first movie sequence filmed in Denmark. The film, less than one minute in length , shows a Danish colony manager named Johan Carl Joensen driving a sledge pulled by Greenlandic sled...
(Traveling with Greenlandic Dogs). Furthermore, he produced the first Danish feature film: Henrettelsen
Capital Execution
Capital Execution is a 1903 silent film drama directed by Danish photographer Peter Elfelt. Based upon a true story, the short 15-minute film relates the execution of a french woman who is condemned to death for killing her two children...
(Capital Execution, 1903). The first film show in Denmark took place in the Panorama cinema on the Town Hall square in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, in June 1896. However, the selection of films had been made and produced abroad.
The Golden Age
In 1906, cinema owner Ole OlsenOle Olsen (filmmaker)
Ole Olsen was a Danish film producer and the 1906 founder of Nordisk Film.Olsen was born in Tangemose, Denmark.- External links :...
founded the first Danish film-making company, Nordisk Films Kompagni
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
. It gained most of its income from the export market of short films. Not until 1909 were other film-producing companies established. In 1910 the number had reached ten. This period is now known as the Golden Age of Danish Cinema. In the spring of 1910, Nordisk Films Kompagni changed its policy of producing only short films and began making feature films. This was largely inspired by the Århus Fotorama company's Den hvide Slavehandel (The White Slave Trade, 1910), which was the first multi-reel
Reel
A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core...
Danish film lasting more than 30 minutes.
With the increasing length of films, there was a growing artistic awareness, which is evident in Afgrunden (The Abyss, 1910). This film launched the career of Asta Nielsen
Asta Nielsen
Asta Nielsen , was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta...
, who soon became Europe's first great female film star.
The film was an erotic melodrama, which soon became the preferred genre in early Danish Cinema. In 1911, with director August Blom
August Blom
August Blom was a Danish film director, production leader and pioneer of silent films during the "golden age" of Danish filmmaking from 1910 to 1914.-Career:...
as the new head of production, Nordisk Film was the first of the major European companies to devote itself entirely to full-length feature films. These films were sold abroad profitably because the technical and photographic quality impressed audiences. Yet, when exporting the films, the erotic elements needed to be toned down in order not to offend the working class audiences. In 1913, Nordisk released the first full length feature movie, Atlantis
Atlantis (1913 film)
Atlantis is a 1913 Danish silent film directed by August Blom, the head of production at the Nordisk Film company, and was based upon the 1912 novel by Gerhart Hauptmann. It starred an international cast headlined by Danish matinee actor Olaf Fønss and Austrian opera diva Ida Orloff. The film was...
directed by Blom
August Blom
August Blom was a Danish film director, production leader and pioneer of silent films during the "golden age" of Danish filmmaking from 1910 to 1914.-Career:...
.
After 1913, Danish cinema began to lose its leading foothold in the film industry, with foreign companies having intensified competition in the production of feature length films. Danish cinema had also begun to suffer from a lack of imagination and a willingness to take creative risks on the part of Danish producers. Independent producer Benjamin Christensen had great success with the spy film Det hemmelighedsfulde X (The Mysterious X or Sealed Orders, 1914) and the crime drama Hævnens Nat (Blind Justice or The Night of Revenge, 1916), both of which are major works in the history of the Danish cinema.
1920s to 1940s
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the USA became the leading nation
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
in film production and Danish exports decreased. In the years following the war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jr. was a Danish film director. He is regarded by many critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest directors in cinema.-Life:Dreyer was born illegitimate in Copenhagen, Denmark...
made an appearance as director at Nordisk Film with the drama Præsidenten (The President, 1919), followed by the ambitious Blade af Satans Bog (Leaves from Satan's Book, 1921), inspired by the American director D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) in both technique and theme. However, Dreyer, as well as Benjamin Christensen, were not permanently connected to the influential Danish film industries and remained loners. As a whole, Danish film in the 1920s was on the decline in spite of the filmmakers' better technical skills. Of most interest at this time were perhaps the so-called Dickens movies directed by the very able A. W. Sandberg
A. W. Sandberg
A. W. Sandberg was a Danish film director and screenwriter. He directed 42 films between 1914 and 1937.He was born in Viborg, Denmark and died in Bad Nauheim, Germany. He was the father of Danish film producer Henrik Sandberg.-External links:...
. At one point Denmark again enjoyed some international reputation - by the many farces of the vagabond duo “Fyrtaarnet og Bivognen” (often known by their French names “Doublepat and Patachon”), who were Scandinavian predecessors of Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
. They were introduced by “Palladium”, the rival of Nordisk Film. Despite these resurgences, at the end of the decade the Danish film industry was on its heels.
In 1929, Nordisk Film Kompagni was established as a sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
company. The Pastor of Vejlby (1931) reinforced the Nordisk's dominance in the Danish market. The 1930s were dominated by many successes with light comedies. The so-called "folkekomedie" (folk comedy) genre was born, with Barken Margrethe (1934) an important early example. The Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the economic conditions of the film companies prevented more serious film business, and the victory of the sound movie automatically set greater limits on the international possibilities of Danish film. Many popular stars like Marguerite Viby
Marguerite Viby
Marguerite Viby was a Danish actress of stage, film and television. Considered one of the great comedy actresses of Danish cinema, Viby received honorary Bodil and Robert Awards in 2000 for lifetime achievement...
, Ib Schønberg
Ib Schønberg
Ib Christian Albert von Cotta Schønberg was a Danish film actor, and is considered one of the leading actors of Danish film in the 20th century.-Early life:...
and Peter Malberg
Peter Malberg
Peter Malberg was a Danish actor best known for his role as Onkel Anders in the Far Til Fire movies. Peter was originally educated as a painter, but his job at Århus Theatre as a scenic painter along with the fact that his older brother Henrik was an actor, eventually led to him being in theater-...
had breakthroughs but in spite of many economic successes no further development of the media was seen.
Between 1940 and 1945, the German occupation of Denmark during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
provided favourable conditions to start producing more serious art films. Bodil Ipsen with Black Tie (1942) and Melody of Murder (1944) produced a romantic comedy and a psychological thriller of international standard. As a whole, a more sinister tone was expressed in these years, and several parallels to the American film noir (also some years after 1945) can be found. Even the standard of the comedy was lifted, especially by the witty, well-performed and elegant movies directed by the ambitious Johan Jacobsen
Johan Jacobsen
Johan Jacobsen was a Danish film director.Jacobsen was born in Aarhus in 1912. His parents were theatre manager Jacob Jørgen Jacobsen and actress Christel Holch . He made his first films at the film studio Palladium that also produced the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer...
, a Danish pupil of Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
. The first years after the war still saw a rising standard, and foremost a more social/realist line was maintained by such directors as the married couple Henning-Jensen and the sharp, critical and almost cynical films by Ole Palsbo. But after some years the pre-war conditions reappeared: sentimental comedies, and uncomplicated regionalist movies.
1950s to 1970s
A large stream of family comedies ("Lystspil") and class-conscious folk comedies ("folkekomedier") were produced from the 1950s to late 1970s/early 1980s. Here a lot of Danish stars were born, such as Dirch PasserDirch Passer
Dirch Hartvig Passer was a celebrated Danish actor. He was greatly renowned for his improvisational skills and, with a filmography comprising 90 movies, one of Denmark's most prolific actors....
, Ove Sprogøe
Ove Sprogøe
Ove Wendelboe Sprogøe Petersen was a Danish actor. Born in Odense, his parents were Arthur and Inger Sprogøe. He married Eva Rasmussen in 1945, with whom he had three children. One of these is actor Henning Sprogøe....
and director Erik Balling. Important films of this period include De røde heste
De røde heste
The Red Horses, , is a 1950 Danish romantic drama directed by Alice O'Fredericks and Jon Iversen, based on the popular novel by Morten Korch. The film stars Poul Reichhardt and Tove Maës as young newlyweds who try to save an old family farm by winning a horse race...
(1950), Far til fire (1953), Kispus
Kispus
Kispus is a 1956 Danish romantic comedy written and directed by Erik Balling. The film was the first Danish feature movie to be filmed in color.-Synopsis:...
(1956, first Danish film in colour), Støv på hjernen (1961), Sommer i Tyrol (1964), Passer passer piger
Passer passer piger
Passer passer piger is a 1965 Danish comedy film directed by Sven Methling and starring Helle Virkner.-Cast:* Helle Virkner - Fru Henriksen* Poul Reichhardt - Hr. Henriksen* Jan Priiskorn-Schmidt - Peter* Dirch Passer - Alf Thomsen...
(1965), the Olsen Banden-series (1968-1981) and Erik Balling's classic TV-sitcom Huset på Christianshavn
Huset på Christianshavn
Huset på Christianshavn was an 84-part television drama series broadcast in Denmark between 1970 and 1977. It was produced by the Nordisk Film company for the national broadcasting corporation, DR...
(1970-1977).
In the sixties, Danish cinema became gradually more erotic, with films such as Halløj i himmelsengen (Erik Balling, 1965),
Sytten
Sytten
Sytten is a 1965 Danish coming-of-age sex comedy directed by Annelise Meineche and starring Ole Søltoft and Ghita Nørby. Søltoft plays a 17-year-old high school student who discovers the youthful excesses of sexual desire during his summer vacation in 1913...
(Annelise Meinecke, 1965), Jeg - en kvinde (Mac Ahlberg, 1965) and Uden en trævl (Annelise Meinecke, 1968), several of which made a huge international impression. As a natural progression, in 1969 Denmark became the first country to completely legalize pornography. In the 1970s, a large percentage of all Danish films were sexually oriented, and many mainstream-features with mainstream-actors included sequences with either softcore- or hardcore-pornography, most notably Mazurka på sengekanten (John Hilbard, 1970) and I Jomfruens tegn (Finn Karlsson, 1973) along with their many respective sequels, forming the eight Bedside-films
Bedside-films
The Bedside-films is a series of eight feature films directed by John Hilbard in 1970-1976, and form part of the wave of erotic films from Denmark.The eight films are connected by the Danish word "sengekant" in the title of each film...
and six Zodiac-films
Zodiac-films
The Zodiac-films is a series of six feature films from 1973-1978, and form part of the wave of erotic films from Denmark.The Six films are connected by a zodiac-starsign in the title of each film. They were produced by the film company Happy Film. The first film was directed by Finn Karlsson, the...
.
In 1972, the Danish Film Institute (DFI) was founded to provide state subsidies for hand-picked films. It allocated public funding for feature films based on their artistic merit rather than commercial appeal -- with an emphasis on those films which expressed Danish culture and identity. The DFI reinvigorated the financial viability of the sagging Danish film industry, but later was criticized for becoming too conservative and nationalistic in defining which films represented Danish identity. In one example, Lars von Trier's 1984 debut feature The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime is the first feature film directed by noted Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. The film, released in 1984, is also the first in the director's Europa trilogy...
struggled to receive funds because it was radically different from the typical Danish film -- and, yet, received international acclaim upon release. In response, the Ministry of Culture in 1989 vastly broadened the DFI's definition of "Danish film" to include any work which contributed to Danish film culture. This allowed state funding of films with greater global appeal and helped foster the international success of a new wave of Danish filmmakers.
With La' os være (Ernst Johansen & Lasse Nielsen, 1975), independent producer Steen Herdel launched a wave of successful teenage-dramas, including Måske ku' vi (Morten Arnfred, 1976), Du er ikke alene
Du er ikke alene
You Are Not Alone is a 1978 Danish coming-of-age film written by Lasse Nielsen and Bent Petersen, directed by Lasse Nielsen and Ernst Johansen and produced by Steen Herdel.- Synopsis :...
("You Are Not Alone") (Ernst Johansen & Lasse Nielsen, 1978), Mig og Charly (Morten Arnfred & Henning Kristiansen, 1978) and Vil du se min smukke navle? (Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, 1978), all produced by Steen Herdel.
A notable TV-series, Matador
Matador (TV series)
Matador is a Danish TV series produced between 1978 and 1981. It is set in the fictional Danish town of Korsbæk between 1929 and 1947. It follows the lives of a range of characters from across the social spectrum, focusing specifically on the rivalry between the families of two businessmen: The...
, ran from 1978-1982, and has remained a national favourite. It was directed by Erik Balling.
The 1980s
Since the start of the 1980s, the Danish film industry has been completely dependent on state funding through Det Danske FilminstitutDanish Film Institute
The Danish Film Institute is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest....
. A project usually does not get made unless the script, director and cast etc. has been approved by the appointed representatives of the Danish Film Institute. This means that Danish filmmaking is essentially controlled by the state.
In 1983, Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
graduated from Den Danske Filmskole
National Film School of Denmark
TheNational Film School of Denmark is an independent institution under the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs. It was established in 1966 and is based on Holmen in the harbour of Copenhagen.-History:...
(National Film School of Denmark
National Film School of Denmark
TheNational Film School of Denmark is an independent institution under the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs. It was established in 1966 and is based on Holmen in the harbour of Copenhagen.-History:...
) and received international attention with films such as Forbrydelsens element
The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime is the first feature film directed by noted Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. The film, released in 1984, is also the first in the director's Europa trilogy...
(1984) and Epidemic
Epidemic (film)
Epidemic is a 1987 film directed by Lars von Trier. It is the second of Trier's films known collectively as the Europa trilogy. The other two films in the trilogy are The Element of Crime and Europa ....
(1987). His strange, innovative ideas were fiercely resisted by Det Danske Filminstitut and drew very small local audiences, but were embraced by the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, where his films were included in the official selections and took home awards.
Released in 1987 was the gay teenage drama Venner for altid
Venner for altid
Venner for altid, Friends Forever in English is a Danish film produced in 1986 and released at the beginning of 1987. It was directed by Stefan Henszelman to a script by himself and Alexander Kørschen, was shown to large audiences in New York, Washington, D.C...
("Friends Forever"), directed by Stefan Henszelman (1960-1991). It won the 1988 Audience Award as Best Feature at the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
The Danish film industry got a major boost in the late 1980s when the movie Babettes Gæstebud
Babette's Feast
Babette's Feast is a 1987 Danish film directed by Gabriel Axel. The film's screenplay was written by Axel based on the story by Isak Dinesen , who also wrote the story which inspired the 1985 Academy Award winning film Out of Africa...
(Babette's Feast), directed by Gabriel Axel
Gabriel Axel
Gabriel Axel is an Oscar winning Danish film director, actor, writer and producer, best known for the Oscar-winning Babette's Feast , which he wrote and directed....
, won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1987, and next year the Best Foreign Film award went to Pelle Erobreren
Pelle the Conqueror
Pelle the Conqueror is a 1987 Danish film by Bille August that tells the story of two Swedish immigrants to Denmark, a father and son, who try to build a new life for themselves...
(Pelle the Conqueror), directed by Bille August
Bille August
Bille August is a Danish Academy Award winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best...
.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, more talented directors started graduating from the National Film School of Denmark, such as Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production....
, Per Fly
Per Fly
Per Fly Plejdrup is a Danish film director, generally credited simply as Per Fly. He is married to Danish actress Charlotte Fich. They have the children Anton and Aksel together.-Biography:...
and Ole Christian Madsen
Ole Christian Madsen
Ole Christian Madsen is a Danish film director and script writer, responsible for several movies and TV series that has achieved success in Denmark. Among the most successful projects are the movies Flammen og Citronen, Prague, Nordkraft and the TV series Rejseholdet and Edderkoppen...
.
Also in the late 1980s, Danish cinematographer Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon is a Danish filmmaker, cinematographer of The Abyss and Backdraft , and director of Band of Brothers ....
ended a long career in Danish cinema to become one of Hollywood's most celebrated DPs
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, later establishing himself as a successful, Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning television director.
The 1990s
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
. His films Europa, Breaking the Waves
Breaking the Waves
Breaking the Waves is a 1996 film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Emily Watson. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 1970s, it tells the story of an unusual young woman, Bess McNeill, and of the love she has for Jan, her husband. The film is an international co-production led by Lars...
, The Idiots
The Idiots
The Idiots is a 1998 Danish film directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme '95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2...
, and Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark is a 2000 Danish musical drama film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Icelandic singer Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Joel Grey...
received great international attention and were nominated for numerous awards.
The Dogme 95
Dogme 95
Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vow of Chastity". These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and...
Collective caught the attention of the international film world with its strict "vows of chastity" or rules for filmmakers that force filmmakers to concentrate on purity of story and the actors' performances rather than special effects and other cinematic devices.
The first Dogme 95 film, The Celebration
The Celebration
The Celebration is a 1998 Danish film, produced by Nimbus Film and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Its original Danish title is Festen , and it was released under this title in the UK....
(Festen), directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production....
, received many awards on the international film festival circuit and was named by both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle as the best foreign-language film of the year.
The members of the Dogme 95 Collective were von Trier, Vinterberg, Kristian Levring
Kristian Levring
Kristian Levring is a Danish director born in 1957. He was the fourth signatory of Dogme95 movement in cinema.-Biography:He lived eight years in France. He graduated in editing at the National Film School of Denmark and has edited a large number of documentaries and feature films besides directing...
, and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen is a Danish film director, musician, and song writer. He was one of the founders and practitioners of the Dogme95 project, for creating films without artificial technology or techniques.-Early career:...
. Although the Dogme 95 movement originated in Denmark, filmmakers around the world soon experimented with the rigid guidelines and sought certification for their films as Dogme. Furthermore, Lars von Trier's own Dogme-film Idioterne (1998) started a separate wave of arthouse mainstream films with unsimulated sex
Unsimulated sex in film
Unsimulated sex in mainstream cinema was at one time restricted by law and self-imposed industry standards such as the Motion Picture Production Code. Films showing explicit sexual activity were confined to privately distributed underground films, such as stag films or "porn loops"...
.
Lars von Trier also made history by having his company Zentropa
Zentropa
Europa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....
be the world's first mainstream film company to produce hardcore
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
pornographic films. Three of these films, Constance
Constance (1998 film)
Constance is an erotic film for women, directed by Knud Vesterskov and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa...
(1998), Pink Prison
Pink Prison
Pink Prison is an erotic film for women, directed by Lisbeth Lynghøft and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa....
(1999) and the adult/mainstream crossover-feature All About Anna
All About Anna
All About Anna is a Danish pornographic film released in 2005, directed by Jessica Nilsson and starring Gry Bay and Mark Stevens. The film is explicit in its exploration of sexual relationships...
(2005), were made primarily for a female audience, and were extremely successful in Europe, with the two first being directly responsible for the March 2006 legalizing of pornography in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
The 21st century
A trilogy directed by Per FlyPer Fly
Per Fly Plejdrup is a Danish film director, generally credited simply as Per Fly. He is married to Danish actress Charlotte Fich. They have the children Anton and Aksel together.-Biography:...
, The Bench (Bænken) (2000), Inheritance (Arven) (2003), and Manslaughter
Manslaughter (2005 film)
Manslaughter is a 2005 Danish film written and directed by Per Fly. The film stars Jesper Christensen and Pernilla August as well as Fly's wife Charlotte Fich....
(Drabet) (2005) portrayed Denmark's three distinct social classes and received international acclaim.
The work of Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
, particularly Brothers (2004) and After the Wedding
After the Wedding
After the Wedding is a 2006 Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sidse Babett Knudsen. The film was a critical and popular success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost out to The Lives of Others.In 2009 it was announced that...
(2006), introduced the world to Danish actors such as Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Mikkelsen
' is a Danish actor.-Life and career:Mikkelsen was born in the Østerbro area of Copenhagen, the son of Bente Christiansen and Henning Mikkelsen, a cab driver. He is the brother of actor Lars Mikkelsen. After attending Århus Theatre School, he made his film debut in the movie Pusher...
, Ulrich Thomsen
Ulrich Thomsen
Ulrich Thomsen is a Danish actor.Thomsen was born in Fyn, Denmark and graduated from the Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance in 1993, after which playing on several theatres in Copenhagen, such as Dr. Dantes Aveny, Mungo Park and Østre Gasværks Teater.His film debut was in...
, and Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Nikolaj Lie Kaas is a prominent Danish actor whose career rose in the 1990s and who is still actively working today. He is also the host of the annual Zulu Comedy Galla on Danish TV....
. After the Wedding was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Bier's In a Better World
In a Better World
In a Better World is a 2010 Danish-Swedish drama thriller film written by Anders Thomas Jensen and directed by Susanne Bier. The film stars Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, and Ulrich Thomsen in a story which takes place in small-town Denmark and a refugee camp in Africa.A Danish majority...
is a 2010 drama starring Mikael Persbrandt
Mikael Persbrandt
Mikael Åke Persbrandt is a Swedish actor. In Swedish films he usually has lead roles and “tough guy” parts. He is perhaps most famous for his recurring role as the no-nonsense police officer Gunvald Larsson in the latest installment of the Martin Beck movies...
, Trine Dyrholm
Trine Dyrholm
Trine Dyrholm is a Danish actress, singer and songwriter. Dyrholm received national attention when she placed third in the Danish, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix as a 14-year-old singer. Four years later, she again achieved national recognition when she won the Bodil Award for Best Actress in her debut...
and Ulrich Thomsen
Ulrich Thomsen
Ulrich Thomsen is a Danish actor.Thomsen was born in Fyn, Denmark and graduated from the Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance in 1993, after which playing on several theatres in Copenhagen, such as Dr. Dantes Aveny, Mungo Park and Østre Gasværks Teater.His film debut was in...
in a story which takes place in small-town Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and a refugee camp in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. The film won the 2011 Golden Globe Award
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
for Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
and the Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
.
Anders Thomas Jensen
Anders Thomas Jensen
Anders Thomas Jensen is a Danish screenwriter and film director.Jensen won the Oscar for his 1998 film Election Night...
first received acclaim as Oscar-winning writer-director of three short films, Ernst & lyset (1996), Wolfgang (1997) and Valgaften (1998), then as screenwriter of such feature films as Mifune's Last Song
Mifune's Last Song
Mifune's Last Song , 1999, is the third film to be made according to the "Dogme 95" group rules. It was directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen. The film was a great success in Denmark and an international blockbuster, ranked among the ten best-selling Danish films worldwide.It was produced by Nimbus...
(1999), Open Hearts
Open Hearts (2002 film)
Open Hearts , is a 2002 Danish drama film directed by Susanne Bier using the minimalist filmmaking techniques of the Dogme 95 manifest. It stars Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sonja Richter and Paprika Steen. Also referred to as Dogme #28, Open Hearts relates the story of two couples whose lives...
(2002), Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself is a Danish-Scottish film from 2002. Harbour and his suicidal brother inherit their father's second hand bookstore in their native Glasgow. Their lives become entangled with Alice and her daughter Mary after the two visit the shop...
(2002), Stealing Rembrandt (2003) and Brothers (2004); and finally as a director of dark and profound feature comedies like The Green Butchers
The Green Butchers
The Green Butchers is a 2003 Danish film starring Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Line Kruse, written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen. It is a black comedy featuring two butchers, Svend "Sweat" and Bjarne, who start their own shop to get away from their arrogant boss...
(2003) and Adam's Apples
Adam's Apples
Adam's Apples is a 2005 Danish comedy-drama film directed by Anders Thomas Jensen. The film revolves around the theme of the Book of Job. The main roles are played by Ulrich Thomsen and Mads Mikkelsen.- Plot :...
(2005).
Other notable Danish directors of the 21st century include Nikolaj Arcel, Christoffer Boe
Christoffer Boe
Christoffer Boe is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is an established and well-known not only in Denmark, but all through the world. Among his international awards there are FIPRESCI Director of the Year at San Sebastián International Film Festival and Golden Camera at Cannes Film...
, Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...
, Niels Arden Oplev
Niels Arden Oplev
Niels Arden Oplev is a writer-director from Denmark.-Biography:He directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the film based on Stieg Larsson's novel of the same title and won critical acclaim internationally. Oplev decided to not continue directing the second and third parts of the Millennium...
, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ole Christian Madsen
Ole Christian Madsen
Ole Christian Madsen is a Danish film director and script writer, responsible for several movies and TV series that has achieved success in Denmark. Among the most successful projects are the movies Flammen og Citronen, Prague, Nordkraft and the TV series Rejseholdet and Edderkoppen...
, Annette K. Olesen and Christian E. Christiansen
Christian E. Christiansen
-Biography:A graduate of Kalundborg Gymnasium and the National Film School of Denmark, he worked in lower positions on a number of Danish films before producing his first hit movie, Nynne , a comedy directed by Jonas Elmer...
.
The 21st century's first decade proved difficult for a number of Denmark's most established directors, including Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
, although things started well with his Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
-starring Dogville
Dogville
Dogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...
(2003), a provocative stylistic experiment filmed on a black sound stage with little beyond white floor markings to indicate the sets. Its sequel Manderlay
Manderlay
Manderlay is the 2005 sequel to the film Dogville. It is the second part of Lars von Trier's projected USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy. Bryce Dallas Howard replaces Nicole Kidman in the role of Grace Mulligan. The film co-stars Willem Dafoe, replacing James Caan...
(2005), exploring the issue of slavery, continued this stylistic device but was largely ignored by audiences.
Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production....
, who had gained worldwide recognition with The Celebration
The Celebration
The Celebration is a 1998 Danish film, produced by Nimbus Film and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Its original Danish title is Festen , and it was released under this title in the UK....
(1998), made two very expensive English-language flops, It's All About Love
It's All About Love
It's All About Love is a 2003 film written and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Its narrative can be classified as apocalyptic science fiction, but Vinterberg prefers to call it "a dream". Unlike the director's earlier Danish-language films, It's All About Love is entirely in English and stars...
(2003) and Dear Wendy
Dear Wendy
Dear Wendy is a 2005 film directed by Thomas Vinterberg, and starring Jamie Bell, Bill Pullman, Mark Webber and Alison Pill among others.It is a co-production of Denmark, Germany, France and the UK.The script was written by Lars von Trier....
(2005), then tried to retrace his roots with a smaller Danish-language production, En mand kommer hjem (2007), which also flopped painfully, selling only 28.472 tickets.
Around the same time, Bille August
Bille August
Bille August is a Danish Academy Award winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best...
, Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...
, and Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
also made Danish-language films that flopped both financially and with the critics, leading the Danish financial times Børsen to observe on September 19 2007 that "1990'ernes filmfest er forbi" (the film party of the 1990s has ended).
A change of leadership at the Danish Film Institute in late 2007 was seen by many as an opportunity for reflection and renewal, while others pointed to the generally healthy local box office numbers and denied any crisis. Daily paper Jyllands-posten concluded the situation to be a "krise i en opgangstid" (crisis in a time of growth).
In 2008, Danish films sold over 4 million tickets at the Danish boxoffice, the biggest number since 1981, but the relief was brief, as Danish films in the first five months of 2009 turned out to have the lowest ticket-sales since 2005. Film critic Henrik Queitsch agreed that there was some reason for concern, noting in the Danish Film Institute's monthly program that "the different, the surprising, the odd and the daring" was hardly what characterised Danish films of 2008.
Danish cinema nonetheless remains highly respected internationally, and Danish films (today almost exclusively consisting of social realist dramas, social realist comedies, children's films and documentaries) receive many awards at major international film festivals.
Danish Film Institute
Danish filmmaking remains influenced by the state through the Danish Film InstituteDanish Film Institute
The Danish Film Institute is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest....
(DFI), which was founded in 1972, and which remains an important source of funding for numerous filmmakers. This has resulted in a much criticized lack of innovation (notably, Dogme95 happened in spite of strong resistance from the Film Institute) and frequent accusations of nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
and cronyism
Cronyism
Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy....
, for example when DFI-employee Mikael Olsen greenlighted 28 million kroner of government subsidy money to his childhood-friend Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Peter Aalbæk Jensen is a Danish film producer who in 1992 with director Lars von Trier founded the Danish film company Zentropa and later its huge studio complex Filmbyen....
, then went on to work for him in a high-ranking position.
The Danish Film Institute however has also achieved a high level of professionalism even if more or less reserved for a few selected genres and production companies (mainly Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
, Zentropa
Zentropa
Europa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....
and Nimbus Film
Nimbus Film
Nimbus Film is Denmark's third largest film production company.Nimbus Film has to date produced more than 30 feature films and many shorts and documentaries....
). In February 2008, Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
bought half of Zentropa
Zentropa
Europa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....
, which frequently coproduces with Nimbus Film
Nimbus Film
Nimbus Film is Denmark's third largest film production company.Nimbus Film has to date produced more than 30 feature films and many shorts and documentaries....
, but such tax-funded, state-sanctioned monopolies are rarely frowned upon in Denmark.
Danish films nominated for César Award for Best Foreign Film
- 1997 - Breaking the WavesBreaking the WavesBreaking the Waves is a 1996 film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Emily Watson. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 1970s, it tells the story of an unusual young woman, Bess McNeill, and of the love she has for Jan, her husband. The film is an international co-production led by Lars...
(Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
) (won) - 1999 - The CelebrationThe CelebrationThe Celebration is a 1998 Danish film, produced by Nimbus Film and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Its original Danish title is Festen , and it was released under this title in the UK....
(Thomas VinterbergThomas VinterbergThomas Vinterberg is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production....
) - 2001 - Dancer in the DarkDancer in the DarkDancer in the Dark is a 2000 Danish musical drama film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Icelandic singer Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Joel Grey...
(Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
)
Danish films nominated for César Award for Best European Union Film
- 2004 - DogvilleDogvilleDogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...
(Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
)
Danish films nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=AftertheWeddingForeignLanguageNominee- 1956 - QivitoqQivitoqQivitoq is a 1956 Danish film directed by Erik Balling and starring Poul Reichhardt and Astrid Villaume. An intense romantic drama, the movie was filmed entirely on location in Greenland...
(Erik Balling) - 1959 - PawPaw (film)Paw is a 1959 Danish film directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen.-Plot:A boy from the Caribbean, affected by the deaths of his parents and maiden aunt, escapes to the Danish forest.-Cast:* Edvin Adolphson - Anders...
(Astrid Henning-Jensen) - 1961 - Harry and the ButlerHarry and the ButlerHarry and the Butler is a 1961 Danish film directed by Bent Christensen. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film...
(Bent Christensen) - 1987 - Babette's FeastBabette's FeastBabette's Feast is a 1987 Danish film directed by Gabriel Axel. The film's screenplay was written by Axel based on the story by Isak Dinesen , who also wrote the story which inspired the 1985 Academy Award winning film Out of Africa...
(Gabriel AxelGabriel AxelGabriel Axel is an Oscar winning Danish film director, actor, writer and producer, best known for the Oscar-winning Babette's Feast , which he wrote and directed....
) (won) - 1988 - Pelle the ConquerorPelle the ConquerorPelle the Conqueror is a 1987 Danish film by Bille August that tells the story of two Swedish immigrants to Denmark, a father and son, who try to build a new life for themselves...
(Bille AugustBille AugustBille August is a Danish Academy Award winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best...
) (won) - 1989 - Waltzing RegitzeWaltzing RegitzeWaltzing Regitze, also known as Memories of a Marriage, is a 1989 Danish drama directed by Kaspar Rostrup. Based upon a popular Danish novel by Martha Christensen, the film is an unsentimental portrait of the history and changes of a middle-aged couple's marriage, told through flashbacks during a...
(Kaspar RostrupKaspar RostrupKaspar Rostrup is a Danish film director. Two of his films won the Best Film prize at the Bodil Awards : Jeppe på bjerget and Waltzing Regitze . The latter was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.-External links:...
) - 1996 - All Things FairAll Things FairAll Things Fair is a 1995 Swedish drama film directed by Bo Widerberg, about a sexual relationship between a teacher and her 15 year old student in southern Sweden during World War II. Bo Widerberg's son Johan Widerberg stars as the boy and Marika Lagercrantz plays the teacher...
(Bo Widerberg) (Swedish/Danish coproduction) - 2007 - After the WeddingAfter the WeddingAfter the Wedding is a 2006 Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sidse Babett Knudsen. The film was a critical and popular success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost out to The Lives of Others.In 2009 it was announced that...
(Susanne BierSusanne BierSusanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
) - 2011 - In a Better WorldIn a Better WorldIn a Better World is a 2010 Danish-Swedish drama thriller film written by Anders Thomas Jensen and directed by Susanne Bier. The film stars Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, and Ulrich Thomsen in a story which takes place in small-town Denmark and a refugee camp in Africa.A Danish majority...
(Susanne BierSusanne BierSusanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
) (won)
Danish films nominated for Best European Film
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Europ%C3%A4ischer_Filmpreis/Bester_europ%C3%A4ischer_Film&oldid=28454835- 1988 - Pelle the ConquerorPelle the ConquerorPelle the Conqueror is a 1987 Danish film by Bille August that tells the story of two Swedish immigrants to Denmark, a father and son, who try to build a new life for themselves...
(Bille AugustBille AugustBille August is a Danish Academy Award winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best...
) - 1996 - Breaking the WavesBreaking the WavesBreaking the Waves is a 1996 film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Emily Watson. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 1970s, it tells the story of an unusual young woman, Bess McNeill, and of the love she has for Jan, her husband. The film is an international co-production led by Lars...
(Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
) (won) - 1998 - The CelebrationThe CelebrationThe Celebration is a 1998 Danish film, produced by Nimbus Film and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Its original Danish title is Festen , and it was released under this title in the UK....
(Thomas VinterbergThomas VinterbergThomas Vinterberg is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production....
) - 1999 - Mifune's Last SongMifune's Last SongMifune's Last Song , 1999, is the third film to be made according to the "Dogme 95" group rules. It was directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen. The film was a great success in Denmark and an international blockbuster, ranked among the ten best-selling Danish films worldwide.It was produced by Nimbus...
(Søren Kragh-JacobsenSøren Kragh-JacobsenSøren Kragh-Jacobsen is a Danish film director, musician, and song writer. He was one of the founders and practitioners of the Dogme95 project, for creating films without artificial technology or techniques.-Early career:...
) - 2000 - Dancer in the DarkDancer in the DarkDancer in the Dark is a 2000 Danish musical drama film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Icelandic singer Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Joel Grey...
(Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
) (won) - 2001 - Italian for BeginnersItalian for BeginnersItalian for Beginners is a 2000 Danish romantic comedy film written and directed by Lone Scherfig. The film stars Anders W. Berthelsen, Lars Kaalund and Peter Gantzler. The film was made by the austere principles of the Dogme 95 movement, including the use of hand held video cameras and natural...
(Lone ScherfigLone ScherfigLone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...
) - 2002 - Lilja 4-ever (Lukas MoodyssonLukas Moodysson- External links :*...
) (Swedish/Danish/Estonian coproduction) - 2003 - DogvilleDogvilleDogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...
(Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
) - 2004 - A Hole in My HeartA Hole in My HeartA Hole in My Heart is a 2004 Swedish drama film written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, starring Thorsten Flinck, Sanna Bråding, Björn Almroth and Goran Marjanovic...
(Lukas MoodyssonLukas Moodysson- External links :*...
) (Swedish/Danish coproduction) - 2005 - Brothers (Susanne BierSusanne BierSusanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
)
Danish directors nominated for Best European Director
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Europ%C3%A4ischer_Filmpreis/Beste_Regie&oldid=24610001- 2003 - Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
, DogvilleDogvilleDogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...
(won) - 2005 - Susanne BierSusanne BierSusanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
, Brothers - 2006 - Susanne BierSusanne BierSusanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
, After the WeddingAfter the WeddingAfter the Wedding is a 2006 Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sidse Babett Knudsen. The film was a critical and popular success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost out to The Lives of Others.In 2009 it was announced that...
Sundance Film Festival award
On 30 January 2010 in Los Angeles, Mads BrüggerMads Brügger
Mads Brügger is a Danish filmmaker and TV host.His Danes for Bush and The Red Chapel are ironic documentaries filmed in United States and North Korea.On Danish DR2 channel he has been host on the talkshow Den 11...
's “The Red Chapel
The Red Chapel
-External links:* The official film website* at the Sundance Film Festival website, including trailer* from The Hollywood Reporter...
,” (Danish: Det Røde Kapel) won the grand jury prize for the best world documentary at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. Presenting a comic approach to a group's visit to North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, the film explores the development of an enigmatic and totalitarian country.
See also
- Cinema of the world
- World cinemaWorld cinemaWorld cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...
- European cinema
- Bodil AwardsBodil AwardsThe Bodil Awards are the major Danish film awards given by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics . The awards are presented annually at a ceremony in the Imperial Cinema in Copenhagen. Established in 1948, it is one of the oldest film awards in Europe...
- Robert awards
- Nordisk FilmNordisk FilmNordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
- ZentropaZentropaEuropa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....
- Nimbus FilmNimbus FilmNimbus Film is Denmark's third largest film production company.Nimbus Film has to date produced more than 30 feature films and many shorts and documentaries....
- Dogme 95Dogme 95Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vow of Chastity". These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and...
- Advance PartyAdvance Party (film series)Advance Party is the name given to a concept of three films which are all to follow a set of rules proposed by executive producers Gillian Berrie, Lone Scherfig and Anders Thomas Jensen. The concept came out of discussion between Lars von Trier, Berrie, Scherfig and Jensen. Each film is to be...
- Danish television dramaDanish television dramaDanish television dramas have represented an important and popular aspect of Danish television, especially since the 1970s. There is little doubt that the most successful drama series was Matador which has been frequently rebroadcast and released on DVD....
Sources
- Marguerite Engberg: Dansk stumfilm. De store år, vol. 1-2. Copenh. 1977 (summary in English)
- Ebbe Villadsen: Danish Erotic Film Classics (2005)
- David Bordwell: Essay on Danish Cinema, in Film #55, Denmark 2007
- Danish Film Institute
- Steele Review
- About all Danish cinemas (In Danish)
- Danish cinema
- Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs