Denmark

In 19th century Denmark, two adult sisters live in an isolated village with their father, who is the honored pastor of a small Protestant church that is almost a sect unto itself. Although they each are presented with a real opportunity to leave the village, the sisters choose to stay with their father, to serve to him and their church. After some years, a French woman refugee, Babette, arrives at their door, begs them to take her in, and commits herself to work for them as maid/housekeeper/cook. Sometime after their father dies, the sisters decide to hold a dinner to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. Babette experiences unexpected good fortune and implores the sisters to allow her to take charge of the preparation of the meal.Read More »

Sara, the daughter of a Jehovah’s Witness, is forced to choose between religion and love when she falls for someone outside her faith.

This film is based on a true story. It is one of the finest films I have seen on the Jehovah’s Witnesses and social control. In the last scene, the girl in the train who looks up and smiles at Sara is the “real life-Sara”. The director got the inspiration for the film from reading her story in a national Danish newspaper in 2006.Read More »

After 20 years of no contact, the Norwegian Dancer Øyvind is invited to Denmark to visit his old father and his new girlfriend in their isolated farmhouse, but nothing turns out as Øyvind expects.Read More »

Dreams in Copenhagen is director Max Kestner’s documentary film portrait of Denmark’s capital. COPENHAGEN DREAMS is a film about the physical surroundings that are part of shaping our lives. About the buildings we wake up in, the front doors we walk out of, the streets we traverse. It is also a film about how the way we live our lives affects our physical surroundings. About the places we dream of and the walls onto which we scratch the names of our loved ones, before it’s too late.Read More »

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In a small Norwegian coastal town Katinka Stordal supports her children as a seamstress. Her life is one of poverty, loneliness and constant complaints from her customers. One day she meets a Swedish sailor at the local café who helps her find the strength to break free from her daily routine. But her children, ex-husband and neighbors has no tolerance for this kind of untraditional friendship.Read More »

IMAGES OF A RELIEF
Written and directed by Lars von Trier. Produced by Per Årman. Photographed by Tom Elling. Edited by Tómas Gislason. Costume Design by Manon Rasmussen. Original Music by Pierre de la Rue. Principal cast: Edward Fleming and Kirsten Olesen.
From Lars von Trier by Jack Stevenson (British Film Institute: London, 2002):
Von Trier’s final Film School production, Befrielsesbilleder (Images of a Relief), shot in 1982, was his graduate project and was not a film audiences would laugh at….Read More »

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Though Denmark isn’t generally known for turning out horror films, director Ole Bornedal created a minor splash throughout Europe with Nightwatch, an efficient, atmospheric, and occasionally striking mixture of whodunit and Grand Guignol. Unfortunately American audiences were deprived of the opportunity to see it when Miramax picked up U.S. distribution rights, only to promptly lock the film away while director Ole Bornedal helmed a remake starring Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, and Patricia Arquette. After sitting on the shelf for over a year, the remake was drastically watered down, barely released, and tanked. Now years later, viewers can finally see what all the shouting was about.Read More »

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In a 17th-century Danish village, an old woman is accused of witchcraft. In the shadow of her flight, capture, confession, and burning at the stake, the young wife of the town’s aging pastor falls in love with the pastor’s son…Read More »

At danse Bournonville is a portrait of the Bournonville tradition at the Royal Danish ballet that has survived for 150 years on the basis of a few notes and the memories of the dancers and is the basis of the special nature and global reputation the company enjoys. The film was created in continuation of, and drawing on, Leth and Holmberg’s experience in making Peter Martins – en danser.Read More »