A total of 30 Danish films will be presented at Göteborg International Film Festival (27 January-6 February), the largest film festival in Scandinavia.
Mads Matthiesen's "Teddy Bear" has its European premiere at the festival and is selected for the Nordic Competition, where it has the chance to win the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film.
In "Teddy Bear", the 38-year-old 140 kg bodybuilder Dennis still lives at home with his mother who has driven every ounce of machismo and confidence out of him. Verging on desperation, Dennis goes to Thailand to try his luck with one of the many petite girls in Asia's candy land. But Dennis' naive picture of love soon gets some big bruises.
International sales are handled by The Neighbours. Read interview with Mads Matthiesen in FILM#72.
Nordic Light: Denmark
The festival brings Danish film into focus in the section "Nordic Light: Denmark", featuring 14 new Danish films, five features and nine documentaries, including "Love is in the Air" by Simon Staho, "Superclásico" by Ole Christian Madsen and "The Ambassador" by Mads Brügger.
A number of older Danish films will be presented in a retrospective series of six features and six short films, where the shorts are directed by the Danish directors who visit the festival with features films or participate in seminars. In addition, Rúnar Rúnarssons "Volcano" will be shown in the section Nordic Light, and finally two graduation films from The National Film School of Denmark will be shown in the short film program.
All Danish films will be shown 1 February, which is "Danish day", filled with Danish film premieres, seminars and a Danish party.
The Danish film miracle 2.0
The festival holds two seminars with connection to Danish films: A master class with director Lone Scherfig and a seminar on Danish documentary versus Danish feature films, featuring directors Eva Mulvad, Birgitte Stærmose and Mads Matthiesen and artistic director of the talent fund New Danish Screen, Jakob Høgel. New Danish documentary is highlighted by the festival as "the Danish film miracle 2.0" with the opportunity to give the film industry a creative injection in the same league as the Dogme films in the 1990s.
"In the debate about the need for a new manifesto, the new documentaries are often mentioned as a innovative example of where progress is and how it influences the feature films. We discuss this topic at the seminars", says head of Nordic programme Mirja Hildbrand.
The Danish focus at Göteborg International Film Festival is one of several initiatives launched on the occasion of the Danish EU Presidency to bring Europeans closer to Danish films and their creators.
Danish films at Göteborg International Film Festival:
Dragon Award Best Nordic Film
Teddy Bear by Mads Matthiesen
Nordic Light: Denmark
Love Is in the Air by Simon Staho
Out of Bounds by Frederikke Aspöck
Miss Julie by Linda Wendel
Superclásico by Ole Christian Madsen
Room 304 af Birgitte Stærmose
The Ambassador by Mads Brügger
The Samurai Case by Eva Mulvad
Au Pair by Nicole N. Horanyi and Heidi Kim Andersen
Love Addict by Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Karen Blixen – Behind Her Mask by Morten Henriksen
1/2 Revolution by Omar Shargawi
The Will by Christian Sønderby Jepsen
Putin's Kiss by Lise Birk Pedersen
A Kind Of Paradise by Andreas Johnsen
Danish retrospective – feature films
Notebook from China by Jørgen Leth
Nightwatch by Ole Bornedal
Breaking the Waves af Lars von Trier
Italian for Beginners by Lone Scherfig
Brothers by Susanne Bier
Go with Peace Jamil by Omar Shargawi
Danish retrospective – short films
Dennis by Mads Matthiesen
The Vicious Circle by Lone Scherfig
Me as Usual by Martin Pieter Zandvliet
Sophie by Birgitte Stærmose
Happy Now by Frederikke Aspöck
Nordic Light – feature films
Volcano by Rúnar Rúnarsson
Nordic Light – short films
Wig Studio by Sofie Tønsberg
Meeting My Father Kasper Top Hat by Lea Glob
Göteborg International Film Festival 27. januar-6. februar