After meeting Thursday, 20 September, for its final voting, the Danish Oscar committee announced Gustav Möller's 'The Guilty' as Denmark's official entry for the 2019 Foreign Language Oscar category.
The Guilty
Alarm dispatcher and former police officer Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to save the endangered woman.
'The Guilty' was chosen from a shortlist of three titles, comprising also Bille August's 'A Fortunate Man' and Hlynur Pálmason's 'Winter Brothers'. Read press release from 27 August: Three films picked for national Osar shortlist.
About The Guilty
'The Guilty' by Gustav Möller takes place over one single night at an emergency call center, following a policeman's race against time to save a kidnapped woman, with the phone as his only tool. The film won the Audience Award at its world premiere at Sundance and has since met with a warm critical reception across the board.
In Denmark, 139,000 tickets have been sold since it premiered in June, and in France, so far 260,000 cinemagoers have seen the thriller. The film is to be released in US theatres on 19 October by Magnolia Pictures, which also saw the US launch of the three Danish Oscar nominated films 'A Royal Affair,' 'The Hunt' and 'A War.'
'The Guilty' is Gustav Möller's feature debut. He wrote the script with Emil Nygaard Albertsen, and Lina Flint for Nordisk Film Spring has produced with support from the Danish Film Institute's talent scheme New Danish Screen.
Danish Oscar Committee
The Danish Oscar submitting committee is set up by the Danish Film Institute and national film industry organisations.
The Committee consists of chairman Claus Ladegaard (CEO, Danish Film Institute), Tivi Magnusson (Danish Producers), Mette-Ann Schepelern (Danish Directors), Jan Weincke (Danish Cinematographers), Nanna Frank Rasmussen (Danish Film Critics), Mette Schramm (Danish Cinemas) and Marianne Moritzen (Head of Fiction, Danish Film Institute).
Oscars 2019 / the dates
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the five nominations for the title as Best Foreign Language Film on 22 January. The 2019 winners will be announced on Oscar Night taking place in Los Angeles on 24 February.
Ten years of Danish films and the Oscars
Below is an overview of the last ten years of Danish Oscar entries in the Foreign Language category (by awards ceremony year):
2018 You Disappear / Peter Schønau Fog
2017 Land of Mine / Martin Zandvliet / Oscar nomination
2016 A War / Tobias Lindholm / Oscar nomination
2015 Sorrow and Joy / Nils Malmros
2014 The Hunt / Thomas Vinterberg / Oscar nomination
2013 A Royal Affair / Nikolaj Arcel / Oscar nomination
2012 Superclásico / Ole Christian Madsen / Oscar shortlist
2011 In a Better World / Susanne Bier / Oscar winner
2010 Terribly Happy / Henrik Ruben Genz
2009 Worlds Apart / Niels Arden Oplev