Press
release 31.01.2002
MINOR
MISHAPS
CATCH THAT
GIRL
Danish filmmakers entered 2002 strong-minded
and confident, following a year which saw a climb in the national market
share and an increase in overall admissions at the box office. This year
some 15 Danish films will be represented at the 52nd International Film
Festival in Berlin. A feature film debut has been chosen for the main
programme, while three children's films have been selected for
Kinderfilmfest.
Screening in the
competition programme will be Zentropa and debuting director Annette K.
Olesen's "Minor Mishaps", a story about an ordinary family thrown into
chaotic circumstances - an improvised drama Mike Leigh style with an
underlying grotesque humour. Olesen has already begun preparation on her
next feature, a Dogme film for Zentropa.
During the past
decade Danish children's films have enjoyed extensive exposure at Berlin's
Kinderfilmfest. This year three films have been invited to participate in
the competition programme: debuting director Hans Fabian Wullenweber and
Nimbus' January release of their super-charged, action film "Catch That
Girl"; Tomas Villum Jensen and Moonlight's "My Sister's Kids", a family
comedy enjoyed by nearly half a million cinema-goers in Denmark; and
Cæcilia Holbek Trier and Crone Film's "Send More Candy", a story about two
pre-teen girls whose holiday in the country, initially tedious for them,
turns out to be a memorable experience.
"Minor Mishaps"
and "Catch That Girl" will also be competing for the new Premiere First
Movie Award. The Award will be presented for the first time at the 52nd
Berlin International Film Festival.
The four competing
films will also be programmed in the European Film Market together with
five other feature films, three of which are romantic comedies, each with
a distinct form of humour and personal expression: "Mona's World" -
a bubbling, warm story in which the protagonists transform their
dreams into reality - produced by Per Holst Film and directed by Jonas
Elmer, whose debut feature was the accomplished "Let's Get Lost"; debut
director and actress Hella Joof's box office hit, the side-splitting
"Shake It All About", a gay-hetero ménage à trois, produced by Angel Film
and ApolloMedia; and the critically appraised "One-hand Clapping", an
irresistible thoroughbred comedy about the fact that it is never too late
to find love, directed by veteran Gert Fredholm and produced by Zentropa.
The fourth film is "Chop Chop" - welcomed by critics as a gutsy, potent
comedy, and daring contrast to the gentle humour of recent Danish comedies
- a Zentropa production directed by Niels Arden Oplev, whose first feature
"Portland" competed at Berlin in 1996. Finally, there is the "Olsen Gang
Junior" - with its thrilling plot involving national anti-heroes, Egon,
Benny and Kjeld, but this time the lense is focused on their youth -
directed by Peter Flinth, whose debut feature, multi-award-winning
"Eye of the Eagle", was screened at Kinderfilmfest Berlin in
1997.
Also screening at
the European Film Market will be six feature-length documentaries, five of
which have been given or will be given a theatrical release: Sami Saif and
Phie Ambo's "Family", a heart-rending story about Sami's search for his
father in Yemen; the film scooped the Joris Ivens Award in Amsterdam in
November. Jon Bang Carlsen's "Portrait of God", described as a 'modern
humanist profession of faith'; Katrine Borre's poignant portrait of the
modern sailor in "Faith, Love and Charity"; and Sidse Stausholm and Mikala
Krogh's controversial "Detour to Freedom", about a young woman and her
mother who were convicted of smuggling narcotics on their way out of
Thailand. Jesper Jargil's "The Purified", a confrontation with the Dogme
brethren and the final part of Jargil's trilogy "The Kingdom of
Credibility", will be screened by invitation only. The sixth film is
Robert M. Fox' "Flash of a Dream", about photographer Jacob Riis (renowned
in the US for his publication of 'How the Other Half Lives') whose
photographic depiction of New York at the end of the late 1890's lead to
social reforms. Articles on each of these documentary films can be
obtained at www.dfi.dk from the 6th of
February.
A catalogue of DFI
feature films as well as a catalogue for short and documentaries will be
available at the Danish Stand at the European Film Market.
Together with
producers, directors and sales agents, the DFI team promoting Danish film
at festivals worldwide - Jimmy Bredow, Anne Marie Kürstein, Annette
Lønvang, Sanne Pedersen, Pernille Munk Skydsgaard, and press coordinator
Lars Fiil-Jensen - will be present at the European Film Market to assist
you in any way possible. We wish you a warm welcome at the
Danish Stand, Scandinavian Office, Berlin International Film Festival.
Telephone +49 30 253 58 318.
At the Danish
Film Institute website you will find a schedule of screening times and
events. Here you will also find information on individual titles together
with press photos. www.dfi.dk/sitemod/moduler/index_english.asp?pid=7970
For further
information,
Danish Film
Institute
Pernille Munk
Skydsgaard:t +45 3374 3506 / m +45 2482 3758Anne-Marie
Kürstein:t +45 3374 3609 / m +45 4041 4697Lars
Fiil-Jensen:t +45 3374 3559 / m +45 2032 8121Vicki
Synnott:t +45 3374 3438 / m +45 2094 5869