Carl Th. Dreyer Award to Anders Østergaard

Of course we Danes must have an award carrying the name of Dreyer:

“Every year on Dreyer’s birthday, the Carl Th. Dreyer Memorial Fund awards a prize primarily to a young film director, or other artist working in film, in recognition of an outstanding artistic performance. The fund is financed by the annual earnings from Gaumont’s distribution of The Passion of Joan of Arc.”

A press release of today communicates that the prize this year goes to Anders Østergaard (cv according to DFI’s website): Director, born 1965. Graduated from the Danish School of Journalism in 1991 after training at Central Television, London. Worked as a copywriter at an advertising agency and as a researcher on documentary programmes. Awarded Best Documentary at Odense International Film Festival in 1999 for “Troldkarlen”/”The Magus”. Writer-director on the international coproduction “Tintin et moi” (2003), and the documentary about one of Denmark’s most popular rock bands “Gasolin” (2006) which had a successful run at the domestic boxoffice with nearly a quarter million admissions. “Burma VJ” (2008) received an Oscar nomination and has taken home a record-breaking number of international awards, including IDFA’s Joris Ivens and Movies That Matter. Also from 2008 is “Så kort og mærkeligt livet er”, about Danish poet Dan Turèll.

And this comment from me – An obvious choice or the award, Østergaard has developed his own original and playful take on how to treat creatively the past, shown brilliantly through his last work “1989”, shown all over Europe. On top of that he is an excellent and inspiring teacher, who can be strongly recommended to film schools and professional documentary gatherings.