EDITORIAL. We'll admit it. We Danes can get a little smug sometimes. Maybe it's part of being from a small country. We're so proud when someone does well. It rubs off on everyone. We all feel a little bigger, a little more important. When Noma, for the second year running, is crowned as the best restaurant in the world. When Copenhagen is named the coolest city on Earth. When the TV series "The Killing" beats "Mad Men" in Britain. When Susanne Bier wins an Oscar and there is a Danish imprint on at least half a dozen films this year at Cannes, we just can't seem to stop cheering.
INTERVIEW. Pulling himself out of his depression with "Antichrist", Lars von Trier is back to pique the world with "Melancholia", a film about a subject as provocative as the end of the world. Ironically, it seems that the director, more than anything, has made a film that piques himself. As he tells Per Juul Carlsen, he's not sure he actually likes it. "Melancholia" may even be his first mainstream film.
INTERVIEW. Following "Bronson" and "Valhalla Rising", the Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, with a cool cast including Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, is kicking in the doors to the Official Competition at Cannes with his Hollywood-produced action drama "Drive".
INTERVIEW. Ever since "Happy Now" earned her the Premier Prix de la Cinéfondation at Cannes in 2004, Frederikke Aspöck, a graduate of NYU, has been feeling the pressure of expectation. The award came with a guarantee that her first feature would be shown in Cannes, and so it is that the Danish director is now debuting for the second time at the Cannes festival, this time with "Out of Bounds".
INTERVIEW. Complex emotions are played out in Rúnar Rúnarsson's first feature film "Volcano", a Danish production selected for Directors' Fortnight. The Icelandic director's uniquely condensed style attracted attention early on in his three awardwinning short films "The Last Farm", "2 Birds" and "Anna".
NEW FEATURE. Birgitte Stærmose's feature film debut "Room 304" is a multi-plot drama in which the visual style and the exploration of the wordless intimacy between characters carry as much weight as the elegantly told story revolving around a mysterious gunshot. Stærmose's awardwinning short film "Out of Love" has screened at festivals worldwide.
INTERVIEW. A passion for cinema is what drives Jesper Morthorst, this year's Danish Producer on the Move in Cannes. He believes that a knack for spotting talent and the ability to work in a close creative partnership with the director are cardinal virtues for any producer who wants to succeed.
INTERVIEW. After his tense WW 2 blockbuster "Flame & Citron", Ole Christian Madsen is back with a light love story about the passion for women, football, tango and wine. Shooting in Argentina, the first time ever for a Danish film crew, turned out to be a blast of fresh experience and inspiration, not least for the director. "SuperClásico" is Madsen's first comedy.
INTERVIEW. As Christoffer Boe's new feature "Beast" shows, making a film doesn't have to be complicated. With the right idea and the necessary determination, you can start shooting tomorrow. Nicolas Bro, Boe's favourite actor, saw the potential right away.
INTERVIEW. "Teddy Bear" is about a Danish bodybuilder who goes to Thailand looking for love. Mads Matthiesen's debut feature is a sign of a new trend in Danish cinema that finds directors of narrative films consciously working in the documentary spirit and style.
INTERVIEW. In his Sundance winner "The Red Chapel", media prankster Mads Brügger travelled to North Korea as a communist theatre director. Now, in "The Ambassador", he has abandoned his role-playing. Or has he? In the Central African Republic on a diplomatic passport, he tries to start up a match factory with a workforce of Pygmies. Per Juul Carlsen asks why.
INTERVIEW. After a spin around the festival circuit with "Applause", Martin Pieter Zandvliet set his sights on directing a warts-and-all biopic about Denmark's greatest comedian, Dirch Passer. Three decades after his too-early death, "A Funny Man" tells the tragic story of a man who lived for attention and found himself trapped in his own legend. By Jacob Wendt Jensen.