Danish doc award to Mira Jargil and Christian Sønderby Jepsen

The filmmaking duo of Mira Jargil and Christian Sønderby Jepsen, who are also partners in life, are receiving this year’s Roos Award – for the films they have made together and for being distinguished cinematic artists in their own right.

Mira Jargil

Director. Born 1981. Graduated as documentary director from the National Film School of Denmark in 2011.

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The Roos Award is presented annually in recognition of an outstanding achievement in Danish documentary filmmaking. The awards ceremony took place on Monday, 8 October, during the annual inspirational seminar for the Danish documentary community, DOKDAG, at the Danish Film Institute.

In their filmographies, titles like 'Side by Side' (2009), 'The Time We Have' (2011), 'The Will' (2011), 'Dreaming of a Family' (2013), 'Till Death Do Us Part' (2015) and 'Natural Disorder' (2015) testify to the two directors’ ability to portray human life in all its complexity, pain and beauty.

The art of portraying people with wonder and tenderness 

The award committee consists of film editor and last year’s Roos Award-winner Anders Villadsen, CEO of the Danish Film Institute Claus Ladegaard and head of the DFI’s documentary unit Ane Mandrup. Explaining its choice, the committee said:

Christian Sønderby Jepsen

Director. Born 1977. Graduated as documentary director from the National Film School of Denmark in 2007.

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"For the directors Mira Jargil and Christian Sønderby Jepsen, story material is right at hand. In little events and close relations, they masterfully unfold universal stories of life, love and people struggling to live the life they want.

"Their character-driven stories successfully combine an insistent dwelling on the most intimate, vulnerable situations with a dramaturgical tightness and visual abundance to equal Hollywood and Netflix.

"They seek out people in existential dilemmas and portray them at such close range and with such authenticity, respect and dignity that we, the audience, are swept along on their journey, sharing their tenderness and wonder at life’s variety and the human ability to face life’s great challenges."

Moviegoers can soon look forward to more films by Mira Jargil and Christian Sønderby Jepsen, produced via their joint production company, Moving Documentary – among them 'Reunited', about a mother making the heartbreaking decision to flee alone from Syria to Denmark, leaving her two children behind.

Read more on the filmmakers' company website, movingdoc.dk.

Dreaming of a Family

Mira Jargil, 2013

Per is part of a father's group for disadvantaged single dads at the social services department. Per has been drinking and smoking hash for a lifetime, but is now clean in his seventh year. His eight-year-old daughter Ilse has been placed in a foster home and Per's big wish is to reunite Ilse with her mother, Christina, who she hasn't seen since she was around six months old.

The Time We Have

Mira Jargil, 2011

Ruth and Arne have known each other since they were young and fell in love. They married and have since experinced 67 close and eventful years together. Now Ruth is dying, and Arne must say goodbye to the love of his life.

Natural Disorder

Christian Sønderby Jepsen, 2015

24-year-old Jacob Nossell is really bright, but he does not fit the typical idea of the perfect life. Jacob is living with cerebral palsy, a congenital physical disability. In addition to affecting his speech, it causes muscle cramps and stiffness.

The will

Christian Sønderby Jepsen, 2011

Henrik is in deep trouble. His girlfriend has split, his drug and alcohol abuse have gotten totally out of hand, and he is deeply in debt. When everything seem most dire and his problems almost insurmountable, a door to new life is opened when Henrik's wealthy grandfather dies and leaves him a huge fortune.