Dogme95 and children of Copenhagen
On March 13, 1995, Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg signed the manifesto of the Dogme95 film movement in Copenhagen. Based on ten rules known as "the vow of chastity", this manifesto advocates a more sober, raw cinema, devoid of all visual artifice, in obvious reaction to the blockbusters of the time, where form (artifice, studio creations and special effects) took precedence over production authenticity (natural light, shooting on location, sound recording during shooting...). The first film made according to this charter, named Dogme #1, was Vinterberg's Festen (1998). The film did not fully comply with all the Dogme95 rules, in particular that of shooting in 35 mm, as the director chose to shoot in video format. The same year, Lars von Trier shot Dogme #2: Les Idiots. 2000 saw the release of Dancer in the Dark, starring singer Björk and winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes; and 2011 saw the multiple Oscar-nominated Melancholia. Lead actress Kirsten Dunst won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in the film. More recent films include the two-part Nymphomaniac (2013) and The House that Jack Built (2018). Thomas Vinterberg, meanwhile, is known for It's all about love (2003) and The Hunt (2012), telling the disturbing story of a schoolmaster unjustly accused of pedophilia. In 2012, Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for this challenging lead role. In 2018, Vinterberg shot the highly spectacular (and therefore far from Dogme95 ideals) Kursk, starring Mathias Schoonaert, which recounts the disastrous events of the homonymous submarine, while in the same year, Danish director Rasmus Kloster Bro's multi-award-winning Cutterhead kept viewers on the edge of their seats, trapped with its protagonists in the tunnels of the CPH metro under construction. In the same vein of blood-curdling thrillers, Gustav Mölller's debut feature, The Guilty, takes place in a police call center, where a young woman is kidnapped and the policeman on duty tries to track her down by tracing her phone.
And then, among the Copenhagen filmmakers, three female figures are also emblematic. Astrid Henning-Jensen, born in 1914, was one of Denmark's only female filmmakers for over fifty years. She won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1978 for Children of Winter. Susanne Bier owes her fame to After the Wedding (2007, Oscar-nominated) and the beautiful Revenge (2011), which won the Golden Globe as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In 2018, she directed the disturbing Bird Box with John Malkovich and Sandra Bullock, distributed by the Netflix platform. Finally, Lone Scherfig is responsible for Italian for Beginners (2000), made as part of Dogme95, followed by Une éducation (2009), Un jour (2011) and The Riot Club (2014), set in England. Recently, in 2019, Lone Scherfig shot A Winter in New York in Copenhagen.
Institutes and events
In 1966, the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs inaugurated the Danish National Film School. This institution, based in Holmen in Copenhagen harbor, is the brainchild of the Danish Film Institute and counts Lars Von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg and Pernille Fischer Christensen(Someone You Love, 2014) among its most prestigious students. In Copenhagen's city center, you'll also find the Danish Film Institute's Maison du Cinéma, also home to the city's cinematheque, the Filmhusetwhere films from all over the world and of all genres are archived and made available to the public. Other activities include events, seminars, screenings and meetings with artists and directors. Not to mention the Café & Restaurant SULT, named after Henning Carlsen's classic film.
As for festivals, in March the Danish city hosts the CPH DOX Festival, Scandinavia's largest film festival devoted to documentary films. Every year, Copenhagen cinemas screen over 200 documentaries from all over the world. The festival also aims to support independent and experimental films. In the first half of April, it's the turn of the CPH PIX Film Festival. New cinematic visions and expressions. A true celebration of cinema from all over the world, of all genres, accompanied by concerts, special events and the presence of international directors. Finally, between October and November, MIX Copenhagen Film takes up residence in the city. Founded in 1986 by the National LGBTQ+ Association, the festival features screenings, awards ceremonies, writing competitions, parties..
Copenhagen on the international scene
A film shot in 2015 truly puts the Danish capital's most beautiful locations in the spotlight: Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl. A moving story based on the life of Danish artist Lili Elbe, the first transgender person to undergo surgery. Throughout the film, we catch glimpses of iconic Copenhagen landmarks such as the Stock Exchange, Snaregade, Nyhavn, Nyboder and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Breathtakingly sensitive, the film received three nominations at the 2016 Golden Globes and four at the Oscars. Actress Alicia Vikander, who plays Lili Elbe's wife, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In 2021, Thomas Vinterberg's incredible and disturbing Drunk won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Other films to have passed through Copenhagen include Umberto Lenzi's Murder by Interim (1971), Terence Young's Blood Bonds (1979) with Audrey Hepburn, and recently Brian de Palma's Domino: The Silent War (2019) with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
On the small screen
But it's the Danish TV series that are increasingly making the headlines: The Killing (2007-2012), Broen (2011-2018), Borgen (2010-2022), The Rain (2018-2020) or Enfer Blanc (2020). The latter, filmed in the Danish capital, Greenland or the Faroe Islands, feature the Øresund Strait and relations with Sweden, migration issues, the country's geopolitical context against an ecological backdrop... In 2021, the new detective series October, adapted from Søren Sveistrup's novel of the same name, hit the Netflix platform.
Today, thanks to the success of these thrillers, travelers are keen to discover Copenhagen in a different light. The Borgen series tells the story of Birgitte Nyborg, a charismatic politician who unexpectedly becomes Denmark's first female minister. Borgen ("castle" in Danish) is the nickname of Christiansborg Castle, the seat of the three branches of government: Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court. Sign up for the Nordic Noir Tour, and follow your guide as he takes you in the footsteps of the characters from these hit Danish TV series.
