D Like Documentary, D like Denmark

A quick copy-paste (almost) note on the fact that the wonderful Krakow Film Festival, in its celebration of its 60th edition (!), dedicates its special section to documentaries from Denmark. The programme director of the festival, Barbara Orlicz-Szczypula, has this comment in the press release:

 

Denmark is another country of the Baltic Sea region, which we will take a closer look at. This year’s selection proves, however, that the Danish filmmakers, just like the Polish ones, are more eager to go abroad with their cameras. The variety of topics they deal with is surprising and engaging. In the programme, we will watch both several psychological portraits of the contemporary human, as well as fascinating stories about distant cultures.

I nodded when I read the words about ”going abroad” remembering my time as film consultant at the Danish Film Board (now part of Danish Film Institute). I often asked the makers: Why not a film that has its theme here in Denmark? „Too boring”, some said openly. And yet, not to be forgotten, Danish documentary heroes like Jørgen Roos, Jon Bang Carlsen, Jørgen Leth and Anne Wivel have made great documentaries about Denmark and Danes.

The selection made by the Polish festival looks like below – we have reviewed and praised all of them, except for the new film by Anders Østergaard and the one by Jannik Splidsboel. We will catch up on that.

“Dziecko miłości” / “Love Child,” dir. Eva Mulvad, 112’, 2019

“Fotograf wojny” / “Photographer of War,” dir. Boris Benjamin Bertram, 78’, 2019

“Front grubych” / “Fat Front,” dir. Louise Detlefsen, Louise Unmack Kjeldsen, 87’, 2019

“Podróż zimowa” / “Winter Journey,” dir. Anders Østergaard, 87’, 2019

“U barbera” / “Q’s Barbershop,” dir. Emil Langballe, 60’, 2019

“Współczesny mężczyzna” / “A Modern Man,” dir. Eva Mulvad, 84’, 2017

“Z głębi lądu” / “Dreams from The Outback,” dir. Jannik Splidsboel, 84’, 2019

https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/d-like-documentary-d-like-denmark/

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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