Henning Kristiansen

Cinematographer. Born 2/6 1927, died 2/11 2006.

Henning Kristiansen started out as a camera trainee at Palladium Film in 1946. He continued in the company until 1951 and was employed by Nordisk Film in 1952. Here, he served as a director of photography from 1953 to 1960, after which he continued as a freelancer.

During his 50 years as a cinematographer, Kristiansen left his mark as a skilled craftsman and visionary visual artist on several key Danish films – among others, Knud Leif Thomsen's "The Duel" (1962), "School for Suicide" (1964), "Tine" (1964) and "Jazz All Around" (1969), Henning Carlsen's "A World of Strangers" (1962), "What About Us?" (1963), "Sult" (1966) and "Oh, to Be on the Bandwagon!" (1972), Gerd Fredholm's "The Case of the Missing Clerk" (1971), Peter Brook's "King Lear" (1971) two of the Olsen Gang instalments (1974 and 1976) and Gabriel Axel's Oscar winner "Babette's Feast" (1987).

Along with Morten Arnfred he directed the youth drama "Me and Charly" (1978), which won a Danish Bodil Award for Best Film in 1978, and followed up on his own with "Charly and Steffen" (1979), which was less successful.

Henning Kristiansen received a Bodil Honorary Award for his cinematography on "What About Us?" and "School for Suicide" in 1964. In 1989 he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for "Babette's Feast".

Henning Kristiansen taught at the National Film School of Denmark in 1980-87. In 1992-97, he was chair of the Danish Association of Cinematographers, where he became an honorary member in 2002. He released the memoir "Min egen filmhistorie" (My own film history) in 2005.