Danish films at IDFA 2016

Max Kestner's "Amateurs in Space" is selected for the Feature-length Competition at the big doc fest in Amsterdam, which also has its eye on three debuting directors in the First Appearance Competition. 

This guide brings a complete list of Danish participation at IDFA 2016 – including links (right) to factsheets containing synopses and credits. 

Find interviews with each of the filmmakers on our festival site dfi.dk/idfa, or select them below.

For Danish projects at IDFA Forum, see What's Pitching at IDFA Forum 2016.

FEATURE-LENGTH COMPETITION

Amateurs in Space / Max Kestner
Max Kestner, who made his name with films such as "Max by Chance" and "Blue Collar White Christmas," tells us the story of two men and their shared boyhood dream of travelling into space – in their own spaceship. Producer Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær for Danish Documentary Production Read interview Daring Dreams and Fraught Friendship

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FIRST APPEARANCE COMPETITION

Venus / Lea Glob, Mette Carla Albrechtsen
The film is an investigation of female desire in the year 2016, spotlighting a generation of young women and their perceptions of themselves as sexual beings. Glob's "Olmo and the Seagull," co-directed with Petra Costa, was selected for IDFA 2015. Producer Kirstine Barfod for House of RealRead interview Women's Voices on Sexuality

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Dream Empire / David Borenstein
The film takes us to China and provides insight into a looming housing bubble and a grotesque dimension of the Chinese real estate market, where remote ghost towns for a few hours are turned into surreal, globalised cities buzzing with life by way of hired extras posing as celebrities, entrepreneurs, businessmen, models and much more. Producer Jesper Jack for House of Real Read interview The Weird World of the Chinese Building Boom

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Who We Were / Sine Skibsholt
The director zooms in on a couple, Kristian and Mette Line, who have led a life like so many others with a family, a house of their dreams and plans for the future – until one day Kristian suffers a stroke, damaging one third of his brain and forever taking away their life as they once knew it. Producer Helle Faber for Made in CopenhagenRead interview Intimate Encounter

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BEST OF FESTS

The War Show / Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon
A film about the Arab Spring in Syria, it follows co-director Obaidah Zytoon and her friends travelling from euphoria to tragedy as the violence spreads in the country. "The War Show" won the main prize at Venice Days and was praised by the international press, both in Venice and later at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Producer Miriam Nørgaard, Alaa Hassan for Fridthjof Film Read interview 

Road Trip to Hell

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Those Who Jump / Estephan Wagner, Moritz Siebert
The film portrays the everyday life of Abou who is both protagonist and cameraman as we follow his tireless attempt, together with thousands of other African migrants, to climb the fence into the Spanish enclave of Melilla. The film won the Ecumenical Award at the Berlinale and has since screened at more than a dozen festivals worldwide. Producer Heidi Elise Christensen, Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real Read interview Do We Really Need More Fences like Melilla?

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PANORAMA

The Wait / Emil Langballe
We follow the Afghan girl Rokhsar Sediqi, who lives in Denmark with her family. They have repeatedly been refused asylum and are now waiting for the final decision – a wait that is sure to change Rokhsar forever. Producer Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen Read interview Living in Limbo

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THE QUIET EYE

A Place Called Lloyd / Sebastian Cordes
Taking part in a special programme focusing on "slow documentary," the film pays a visit to Bolivia's proud air carrier LAB that went bankrupt in 2008, where the employees nonetheless still come to work in the hope that their company will one day take off again. "A Place Called Lloyd" premiered last year at CPH:DOX. Producer Niels Michael Wee for Breidablik Film Read interview Slow is Beautiful

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CO-PRODUCTIONS WITH DANISH PARTICIPATION

Mogadishu Soldier / Torstein Grude / Norway-Finland-Denmark
Factsheet on IDFA.nl
Production: Piraya Film
Danish producer: Peter Engel for Wingman Media
IDFA programme: Feature-length Competition
Read Co-produce with People You Like

How to Meet a Mermaid / Coco Schrijber / Netherlands-Denmark-Belgium
Factsheet on IDFA.nl
Production: Zeppers Film & TV
Danish producer: Jesper Jack for House of Real
IDFA programme: Feature-length Competition

Shadow World / Johan Grimonprez / USA-Belgium-Denmark
Factsheet on IDFA.nl
Production: Louverture Films
Danish producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real
IDFA programme: Paradocs

EDITING PANEL

Niels Pagh Andersen, editor, is invited to take part in a special programme dedicated to documentary editing, Assembling Reality, as the editor on the Norwegian-Finnish-Danish co-production "Mogadishu Soldier" selected for IDFA's main competition.

Pagh Andersen is a prominent figure in Danish documentary film editing with such titles as Joshua Oppenheimer's Oscar nominated "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence", Pirjo Honkasalo's "Concrete Night" and Kristina Lindström and Maud Nycander's "Palme." Read Co-produce with People You Like

DOCLAB ACADEMY

"Shared Individual," a virtual reality performance directed by Johan Knattrup Jensen in collaboration with Makropol and Bombina Bombast, is world premiering in IDFA's programme for new talent in interactive media and documentary storytelling. See more at idfa.nl.

DANES IN JURIES

Tine Fischer, head of CPH:DOX / jury member for the Dutch Competition
Monica Hellström, producer of Final Cut for Real / jury member for the Kids & Docs Competition

See IDFA awards to Danish films previous years

IDFA 16-27 November 2016

Amateurs in Space

Max Kestner, 2016

The two friends, Peter and Kristian, share a boyhood dream of traveling into space in their own home-built space rocket. If they succeed, the two Danes will write themselves into the annals of history as the world's first amateurs to go into space. Peter and Kristian, who are the only people on the project full-time, have gathered a small group of spaceflight enthusiasts who contribute to the project alongside their regular jobs.

Venus – Naked Female Confessions

Lea Glob, Mette Carla Albrechtsen, 2017

Two female directors are looking for women to take part in an erotic film – based on their own sexual experiences. 100 curious women reacts to the casting call and shows to an audition, but the casting takes an unexpected turn. Slowly the women begin to take over the interviews, with their own deeply personal stories.

Dream Empire

David Borenstein, 2016

Yana is a 24-year-old rural migrant who recently arrived in Chongqing to pursue her "Chinese Dream." Drawn by the glamour and easy riches of China's historic real estate boom, she opens a foreigner rental agency designed to help Chinese real estate developers market their new developments. But this business takes a dubious turn as her foreigners are increasingly used in a surreal effort to turn remote rural ghost towns into "globalized booming cities" on the days that outside investors and political leaders visit.

Who We Were

Sine Skibsholt, 2016

A life like so many others: Kristian and Mette Line have been together for 12 years. In the beginning it was all about falling in love, travelling the world and careers. Later, it grew from a life of just “you and me” into a family and now they have two children named Celeste and Cyron.

The War Show

Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon, 2016

In March 2011, radio host Obaidah Zytoon and her circle of friends join the street protests against President Bashar al-Assad, as the Arab Spring reaches Syria. Knowing their country would be changed forever, this group of artists and activists begin filming their lives and the events around them. But as the regime’s violent response spirals the country into a bloody civil war, their hopes for a better future will be tested by violence, imprisonment and death.

Those Who Jump

Moritz Siebert, Estephan Wagner, Abou Bakar Sidibé, 2016

In northern Morocco lies the Spanish enclave of Melilla: Europe on African Land. On the mountain above live over a thousand hopeful African migrants, watching the border fence. Abou from Mali is one of them – the protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it.

The Wait

Emil Langballe, 2016

Rokhsar Sediqi, 14, lives in Denmark with her mother, father and five siblings. In her spare time she plays on the local football team. Around five years ago Rokhsar and her family fled from Afghanistan, and after six months on the run they ended up in Denmark and applied for asylum.

A Place Called Lloyd

Sebastian Cordes, 2015

When Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, one of the world's oldest airlines, went bankrupt in 2008, many of their employees decided to just continue working. To this day, seven years later, they still check life vests, stitch covers for plane seats and manage their books despite their planes remaining grounded. The film portrays these employees and their daily lives at the airline that doesn't fly.

Niels Pagh Andersen

Film editor. Born in 1958.

Niels Pagh Andersen is one of Danish documentary film's most prolific editors.

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