WW2 rEsistAncE drAmA rEALitY BOrEs mE sEmAinE dE LA critiQUE With more than half a million tickets sold since its Henrik Ruben Genz brings the grotesque tale of his Young Man Falling, an experimental film with a release on March 28, Ole Christian Madsen’s Flame Terribly Happy to life in stark, carefully composed captivating visual style directed by Martin de Thurah, & Citron has proven to be one of Danish cinema’s images, recalling the American provinces of Edward is in the official selection of the 47th International greatest successes in recent years. Hopper’s lonesome tableaux or classic westerns. Critics’ Week. PAGE 3 PAGE 6 PAGE 18 l1l FiLm IS PUBLISHEd# BY tHE dANISH63 FiLm INSTITUtE / may 2008 PAGE 2 / FILM#63 / CANNES SPECIAL ISSUE l1l FILM#63/ CANNES ISSUE INSIDE 77ô2%3)34!.#%ô$2!-!ô 2%!,)49ô"/2%3ô-% 3%-!).%ô$%ô,!ô#2)4)15% 7ITHôMOREôTHANôHALFôAôMILLIONôTICKETSôSOLDôSINCEôITSô (ENRIKô2UBENô'ENZôBRINGSôTHEôGROTESQUEôTALEôOFôHISô 9OUNGô-ANô&ALLING ôANôEXPERIMENTALôkLMôWITHôAô RELEASEôONô-ARCHô ô/LEô#HRISTIANô-ADSENSô&LAMEô 4ERRIBLYô(APPYôTOôLIFEôINôSTARK ôCAREFULLYôCOMPOSEDô CAPTIVATINGôVISUALôSTYLEôDIRECTEDôBYô-ARTINôDEô4HURAH ô ô#ITRONôHASôPROVENôTOôBEôONEôOFô$ANISHôCINEMASô IMAGES ôRECALLINGôTHEô!MERICANôPROVINCESôOFô%DWARDô ISôINôTHEôOFkCIALôSELECTIONôOFôTHEôTHô)NTERNATIONALô GREATESTôSUCCESSESôINôRECENTôYEARSô (OPPERSôLONESOMEôTABLEAUXôORôCLASSICôWESTERNSô #RITICSô7EEKô FICTIOn IN tHE sErVICE OF TRUtH ô 0!'%ô 0!'%ô 0!'%ô Ole Christian Madsen’s Flame & Citron merges history-writing with psychological l1l portraits, adding new facets to the story of the Danish WW2 resistance. PAGE 3 &),-ô)3ô05",)3(%$#ô"9ô4(%ô$!.)3(ô&63),-ô).34)454%ôô-!9ô rEALITY BOrEs mE Henrik Ruben Genz’ new film Terribly Happy is another adaptation of an Erling Jepsen novel, following up last year’s big hit, The Art of Crying directed by Peter Schønau Fog — although Genz’ film is all its own. PAGE 6 Terribly Happy Photo: Karin Alsbirk POWEr GAmE IN An ICE-cOLd WOrLd Civilisation is a wonderful thing, Kristian Levring says. But we need to keep in mind that people are animals who need a certain freedom. That’s the subject of all his films, including his latest, Fear Me Not. PAGE 9 TROELL’s mOmENTS You rarely see two countries acting as equal partners on a film. The Danish-Swedish Everlasting Moments by Swedish auteur Jan Troell is the happy exception. Danish producer Thomas Stenderup tells about his collaboration with Troell. PAGE 12 Fear Me Not Photo: per Arnesen dANISH ASTROnAUTS mAKE FIRST BEEr rUn tO sAtURN FiLm#63 / cAnnEs issUE Cultivating a unique style and encouraging young animators to develop creative May 2008 solutions on a low budget — that’s the philosophy behind the second computer- animated feature from Danish animation studio A. Film. PAGE 15 PUBLisHEd BY Danish Film Institute sEmAINE dE LA CRITIQUE EditOrs Agnete Dorph Stjernfelt, Susanna Neimann Young Man Falling, an experimental film with a captivating visual style directed EditOriAL tEAm Annemarie Hørsman by Martin de Thurah, is in the official selection of the 47th International trAnsLAtiOns Glen Garner Everlasting Moments Photo: nille Leander Critics’ Week. PAGE 18 dEsiGn Rasmus Koch Studio Ad Morten C. Bak tYPE Cendia, Millton, Akzidenz-Grotesk PrOdUcEr On tHE mOVE PAPEr Munken Lynx 100 g Louise Vesth is one of 22 young producers travelling to Cannes to participate PrintEd BY Schultz Grafisk in Producers on the Move. Among Vesth’s recent achievements is an Oscar circULAtiOn 7,000 issn 1399-2813 nomination for the short film At Night by Christian E. Christiansen. PAGE 19 cOVEr Mads Mikkelsen and Thure Lindhardt in Ole Christian Madsen’s Flame & Citron EXPrESSIONIST GENRE FiLm Photo: Alzbeta Jungrová Danish cinema is no longer all dogmas. It’s genres, too. Among the new style- conscious films is Kasper Barfoed’s The Candidate. Cinematographer Manuel Journey to Saturn. Framegrab Alberto Claro was in charge of its documentary-expressionist feel. PAGE 20 FILM is published by the Danish Film Institute (DFI) prior to the festivals at Cannes, Amsterdam and Berlin. LOW-BUdGEt dANISH FiLMS sEt tHE PAcE Tougher earnings opportunities and a need for innovation are putting the brakes All articles are written by freelance film critics and journalists. on medium-budget Danish films. Now, many companies focus on inexpensively made films, while high-budget productions also are gaining ground. PAGE 22 The Danish Film Institute is the national agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film CROSSING BOUNDARIEs and cinema culture. The Institute’s operations The ThinkTank on Film and Film Policy was formally set up in June 2007 with extend from participation in the development and production of feature films, shorts and the support of the Danish Film Institute. One focus of the initial work is on the documentaries, over distribution and marketing, The Candidate Photo: Rolf Konow factors that affect the ability of films to access international markets. PAGE 24 to managing the national film archive and the cinematheque. TROUBLE tURNS mE On Subscriptions: [email protected] Meta Louise Foldager, Lars von Trier’s producer, is busy preparing his new thriller, Antichrist – and she has other projects in the works. PAGE 26 dANISH FiLm INSTITUtE Gothersgade 55 nEWs DK-1123 COpEnHAGEn K Jesper Christensen returns as Mr White in Bond 22, Lone Scherfig filming in DEnMARK T +45 3374 3400 London, Mads Mikkelsen in German thriller, European Film Awards in Denmark, [email protected] / [email protected] film about the Danish national football team, new DFI manager, etc. PAGE 28 producer Meta Louise Foldager Photo: Christian Geisnæs FLAME & CITRON / DIRECTOR OLE CHRISTIAN MADSEN / FILM#63 / PAGE 3 FICTION IN THE SERVICE OF TRUTH xxx Photo: xxx Flame & Citron Photo: Erik Aavartsmark Ole christian madsen’s Flame & Citron merges history-writing with psychological portraits, adding new facets to the story of the danish resistance. With more than half a million tickets sold since its release on march 28, the film has proven to be one of danish cinema’s greatest successes in recent years. BY sOPHiE EnGBErG sOnnE Danish people: those who quietly submitted and director puts it, is “loosely based on real events”. It those who dared take up arms against a superior wasn’t easy, he says. There is no tradition for such “Do you remember April 9? I bet you do. Everyone force. Among those who dared were two resistance free historical films in Denmark. does.” The line, from Ole Christian Madsen’s new fighters known as Flame and Citron — the first named “I think we’re incredibly puritanical about our own film Flame & Citron, refers to the day Germany for his flaming red hair, the other for his job as a history in this country,” Madsen says. “It bugs me that occupied Denmark in 1940. A fateful day, the first mechanic at the Citroën car factory. Madsen’s film demands for historical accuracy stand in the way of in five years of German occupation that divided the is the product of eight years of research and, as the interpreting the truth in a way that, though it may not PAGE 4 / FILM#63 / FLAME & CITRON / DIRECTOR OLE CHRISTIAN MADSEN Flame & Citron Photo: Britta Krehl correspond absolutely to reality, is somehow more true. their handles, Flame and Citron. “They were two of We lack an understanding that fiction can play an active the most flamboyant characters in the resistance. role in shaping our identity. It’s a shame, because it There were very few like them,” Madsen says. means we have no real sense of our history.” “Making them the leads in my film, I could lean on the mythology that surrounds them.” cOntEnt dictAtEs stYLE Working on Flame & Citron, Madsen debated whether tHE stOrY OF FLAmE And citrOn to take the straight path and do docudrama-style “Flame, a friendly but phlegmatic character, was rendition or let fiction have more of a say. “I chose the obsessed with firearms at an early age,” Madsen latter,” he says. “Because to me, it’s an outrage that fic- says. “He grew up in Asserbo, north of Copenhagen, tion was never allowed to help narrate Danish history. where his father ran a fancy hotel. When he was Flame & Citron Photo: Alzbeta Jungrová “Even so, I tried to keep a soft touch style-wise nine years old, he brought home a rifle and shot out of respect for the film’s subject. It’s important to down the neighbour’s weathervane. Flame had “Though Citron was among the ‘older’ members of break free of the period description when doing a a complicated and hateful relationship with his the resistance – he was 33 when he died – he opera- film like Flame & Citron. Essentially, I made the film father who was friendly to the Germans and very ted on the street level,” Madsen says. “Assassinations the way I would have, had it been set in the present. subservient to authority. When his father sent him usually fell to younger members because it took a I don’t keep long shots longer because it’s a historical to Germany to apprentice as a waiter, he developed sense of recklessness that tends to have passed in film. There are no horse-drawn wagons or cackling a powerful hatred of fascism. Returning to Denmark, someone with wife and kids and responsibilities. hens streaking through the frame. Much of the he joined the navy and learned how to shoot – he “Both Flame and Citron were enormously well stylistic effort involved eliminating the distance to was marksman of the year in 1941. He was 19, just a suited for war. They kept on fighting, even when 1944, trying to leap across 60 years and make them kid, when he joined the resistance.” everything and everybody around them told them disappear for the audience.” Citron, 10 years his senior, was a completely not to,” Madsen says. Madsen graduated from the National Film School different type, more or less a dropout from his social Portraying the two “illegals”, as the resistance of Denmark in 1993, in the same class as Per Fly and set.