The Ambassador Putin's Kiss Ballroom Dancer the Will Love
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Film is published#73 by the Danish Film institute / November 2011 iDFA issue 2011 The AmbAssAdor PuTin’s Kiss Ballroom dancer The Will love addicT The kid and The cloWn karen Blixen PAGe 2 / FiLm#73 / idFA ISSUE 2011 editorial / short news / FiLm#73 / PAGe 3 iF you don’T Go To exTremes, 10 14 why even Go? / ediTorial Director Janus Metz onboard the good ship Activ. Framegrab 05 16 22 If you don’t go to extremes, why even go? the Danish COBRA artist Asger Jorn physical and violent visual tale, Rupture once said. His words naturally spring to mind when looking at the current crop of From Helmand centres on a woman and issues like Danish documentaries. They go to extremes. They have guts and they take chances – to the End of sexuality, instinct and death. While artistically, thematically and personally. Hamre challenged Metz’s artistic tem- the World perament and method, the filmmaker A prime example is journalist and master of role-playing Mads Brügger. The cover also recognised a shared interest in the of this magazine shows him dancing with a group of plastered Pygmies celebrating taboo and the subconscious. INSIDE his plan to build a match factory in their village. Elsewhere in the magazine, a critic JANUS mETZ established his “Armadillo went quite far in describ- asks, “Is it okay for Brügger to travel in an African country as a diplomat, while international documentary ing the shadow sides of the human filming his experiences as a documentarian and a reporter?” And the answer is, “Of credentials in 2010 when he psyche,” Metz says. “I wanted to go 03 Editorial and short news 24 Karen Blixen — Behind her mask course not! That’s why The Ambassador hits home so hard.” And perhaps that’s took home the top prize from into that space and explore it further. / iDFA Reflecting images: Panorama why it was picked to open the world’s most important documentary film festival. the Critic’s Week in Cannes for In a way, I was working with the same 05 The Ambassador Karen Blixen, an icon in Danish literary history, his tough film about a group of story but within an abstract framework. / iDFA Feature-length Competition once told Morten Henriksen’s father that she had There is no doubt that The Ambassador is out to provoke and stir debate – about the Danish soldiers in Afghanistan. The chance to work in a fictional uni- Mads Brügger takes his intricate role-playing to a formed a pact with the devil. film’s journalistic methods and handling of its characters. Now the director is plunging into verse unleashed a virtual image storm Film#73 Amsterdam issue new level in The Ambassador. The questionable nature a collective project about the end in me.” November 2011 of his method is part of the message. 26 Four Danish films at iDFA Forum But there is also no doubt that Brügger, putting himself on the line, is trying to tell a of the world, because “it sounded From the nooks and crannies of the Published by Danish Film Institute different truth about North and South, and the extent of our compassion, than the too cool”. human mind, Metz is now venturing Editor Susanna Neimann (SN) 09 The Ambassador in perspective 28 Hybrid films one presented to us in yet another well-intentioned primetime fundraising show. into a new collective film project. Co-editor Annemarie Hørsman (AH) That a diplomatic passport can be bought points to a The trend of mixing the methods and vocabulary of That’s where his method is vindicated. Tracking a group of soldiers over six The Expedition to the End of the World is Editorial support Lars Fiil-Jensen (LFJ), Anders Budtz-Jørgensen (ABJ), Anne Marie key feature of Brügger’s film and the world we live in fiction and documentary is not new, says Jakob Høgel, months in Afghanistan’s Helmand a journey into the innermost recesses Kürstein, Malene Flindt Pedersen, Klara Grun- today, says researcher Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen. artistic director of New Danish Screen. The Ambassador is supported by New Danish Screen, the talent development Province, Armadillo exposes the of northern Greenland’s fjord systems ning-Harris, Helle Hansen, Dorte Høeg Brask subsidy scheme whose purpose includes inspiring innovation of cinematic language human consequences of sending aboard the ship Activ. Loaded with Translations Glen Garner 10 Putin’s Kiss 30 To watch out for and storytelling. Investigation and experimentation are encouraged to keep young people to war as ideals clash scientists and artists, the ship is the frame Design Rasmus Koch Studio / iDFA Feature-length Competition AD/design Pernille Volder Lund Meet two documentary directors to watch out for. cinematic aesthetics alive and in motion. Talents get a chance to see if their offbeat with reality. The fear of sudden death around a story about the origin of the Type Holton, Akzidenz-Grotesk, Cendia Seduction and politics are two sides of the same coin, ideas will translate to the big and small screens. makes the soldiers increasingly wary world, the demise of humankind and Paper Munken Lynx 100 g Lise Birk Pedersen discovers in her new film from Russia. 31 Turning and cynical about the Afghans they life continuing on the planet. Having Printed by Rosendahls-Schultz Grafisk Charles Atlas and Åsa Mossberg joined forces on The courage to go to extremes can be manifested in a multitude of ways. The Danish were sent out to help. finished first leg of the expedition, Circulation 4,000 iSSN 1399-2813 (print version) 14 Ballroom Dancer Atlas and Antony’s new film Turning. documentaries at IDFA are products of filmmakers having the energy, skill and The film was a big hit in Danish however, Metz is anything but pes- iSSN 1903-7511 (online version) / iDFA First Appearance Competition courage to go all the way. cinemas and is now in wide interna- simistic. Cover The Ambassador. Photo by Johan Stahl For two years Andreas Koefoed and Christian Bonke 32 CPH:DOX, lAB AND ART tional distribution. Armadillo triggered “We are probably trying to be a Winthereik followed Slavik, the former number one in Latin dance. Scandinavia’s largest documentary festival is constantly Energy to track their characters at moments when life’s drama comes to a head – “an explosion of attention”, launching little bit funny at the expense of the Most of the articles are written by freelance film critics and journalists. looking to inspire new creative collaborations. in the arena of big politics or in the most intimate of relationships. The skill to find Metz into a whole new orbit on the in- doomsday hysteria of the climate de- 16 The Will the cinematic device that is just right for resolving the story. And the courage to insist ternational film circuit. But more than bate. But the big question is whether FILM is the Danish Film institute’s / iDFA Reflecting images: Panorama 33 Omar Shargawi on a personal approach and a personal artistic expression. anything, Armadillo meant a year away our civilisation is just a tiny parenthesis international festival magazine We come extremely close to Henrik’s ups and downs in 1/2 Revolution is an eyewitness account of the Arab Spring. from active film production, as Metz between two ice ages and whether our Issued prior to the three festivals in Berlin, Christian Sønderby Jepsen’s story about a famliy split to Good documentaries need skilled filmmakers, an open-minded audience – and a had to service audiences and journal- enterprising nature will also be our Cannes and Amsterdam, the magazine pieces by a heavy past. 34 Why Poverty? broad framework. Here I’m thinking of the film-policy framework. A system that ists all over the world. undoing. As a civilisation – and in the brings articles and interviews presenting A new international project speaks about global poverty promotes innovation and focuses on talent development. A system that is willing to Now, after a much-needed hiatus on film – we have set the stage for an end- the films in competition, films in progress, 19 Love Addict young talents and news stories. Catalogue through human stories. take risks. And, of course, it takes money. the heels of all the hoopla, including ing where everything goes wrong. The in the reverse section gives a view of cur- / iDFA Reflecting images: masters an extended stay in New York with his question is whether it will go wrong in rent Danish documentaries and short films. A development grant helped Pernille Rose Grønkjær 36 Kaspar Astrup Schröder Denmark’s new Film Agreement has improved the opportunities for funding the family, the 37-year-old director is back. the cool way or the uncool way.” SN jumpstart her next film after the success of The Monastery. What’s up? The director is out next summer development and production of documentary films in critical ways. Individual With the Danish artist Christina The Danish Film Institute is the national agency responsible for supporting and en- with a new film from Japan. films really do have a better framework now. This is happening amidst a global Hamre, Metz earlier this year made a The Expedition to the End of the couraging Danish film and cinema culture. 22 The Kid and the Clown financial crisis. It’s happening because of, and out of respect for, the high artistic work entitled Rupture under a project World is co-directed by Janus Metz and / iDFA Reflecting images: Panorama 37 Helle Hansen quality contributed by Danish documentarians in recent years. And with it comes an funded by the Danish Film Institute’s Daniel Dencik and produced by Michael Danish Film institute Shooting her film about Tobias and the hospital clown Meet the Danish Film Institute’s new film commissioner.