Malene Choi's fiction feature film debut 'The Quiet Migration' is participating in the festival's Panorama section featuring what is new, daring, unconventional and wild in today’s cinema. Here it competes for the Panorama Audience Award. Additionally, the film is nominated for a Best First Feature Award, which will be handed out by a jury to a nominated film across the various Berlinale sections at the end of the festival.
The director, along with Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen, wrote the script for the quiet drama, which revolves around transnational adoption and the difficult formation of kinship in adoptive families. In the film, Carl lives on his parents' farm in Jutland, but he doesn't fit in and dreams of finding his own place and his roots in South Korea.
'The Quiet Migration' centers on the ties of blood and belonging and not belonging as adoptees try to find themselves and their place in the adoptive family.
The Shift
Amalie Maria Nielsen's graduation film from independent film school 18Frames, 'The Shift,' is participating in the Generation Kplus competition. In the short film, Milo lives in a youth institution for troubled girls, where educator Nicki is the only close relationship she has. But behind the thin walls of the institution, rumours fly back and forth between the girls, and one day Milo overhears something she wishes she hadn't. The short film was written with Oscar Anker Wiedemann. It is also nominated for a Teddy Award, which is Berlinale's queer award.
Agent
TV 2 Danmark and Zentropa's drama-comedy series 'Agent' has been selected for Berlinale Series. In the series, written and directed by Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Joe works as an agent for artists in the entertainment industry. He has big plans for his mother's old family business, but unfortunately, not everything goes according to plan. The fast-paced show-business satire has cameos from Danish film stars including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Ulrich Thomsen.
European Film Market (EFM)
Four Danish films will premiere at the European Film Market in Berlin for international buyers, distributors and film festivals. The documentaries 'Apolonia, Apolonia' (winner of the main award at IDFA) and 'Twice Colonized' and the feature films 'Copenhagen Does Not Exist' and 'Superposition' will be taking part in one of the largest film markets in the world.
Danish filmmakers are involved in various international productions
The Mexican-Danish feature film 'Tótem', coproduced by Paloma Productions' Per Damgaard Hansen, portrays the young father and painter Tona over a day, as he celebrates his birthday but also bids farewell, exploring the themes of loss and preparation. 'Tótem' received support from the Danish Film Institute's minor scheme and is participating in the main program of Berlinale.
The Canadian-Greenlandic-Danish VR project 'Tartupaluk', blending 360° live-action video and motion-capture animation, presents a prototype at Forum Expanded Exhibition. The island of Tartupaluk situated between the far north of Greenland and Canada has become an independent and flourishing Inuit nation in the VR project, directed by Greenlandic Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and produced by Emile Hertling Péronard for Ánorâk Film. It has received early development support from the Danish Film Institute.
'Under the Sky of Damascus' will premiere in Panorama Dokumente, exploring the context of Syrian women and their suppression while drawing parallels to one of the director's personal stories. The documentary is amoung others produced by Sigrid Dyekjær for Real Lava.
Milad Alami's second feature film 'Opponent', selected for Panorama, is a Swedish production following an Iranian refugee fighting both his self-identity and opponents in the wrestling ring. Alami, who graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2011 and debuted with 'The Charmer' in 2017 has reunited with Danish film workers Olivia Neergaard-Holm as editor and Sebastian Winterø as Director of Photography on 'Opponent'.
The Norwegian series 'Architect' is the directorial debut of Kerren Lumer-Klabbers a Danish graduate of the Norwegian Film School, the series is selected for Berlinale Series and is a collaboration with Danish Director of Photography David Bauer, who is a graduate of the National Film School of Denmark.
In addition, outside Berlinale, the HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award is taking place, with Martin Dirkov nominated for his music in 'Holy Spider'. This marks the third collaboration between Dirkov and Ali Abbasi, following 'Border' and 'Shelley'.