News

Humour and North Korea – an odd match by any standard. Mads Brügger's Sundance winner "The Red Chapel" has caught the attention of many an international festival with its subversive satire on Kim Jong-il's notorious regime.

"The New Tenants", a Danish-American production directed by Joachim Back, is writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen's second Oscar winner.

Anders Østergaard's "Burma VJ" is the first Danish documentary since 1961 to reach the Oscar nominations. Overtaken in the final run by Louie Psihoyos' "The Cove" as best documentary feature, Østergaard's record of the monks' uprising in 2007 still shows an impressive track record of more than 40 honours and awards. Available on DVD at the DFI Film & Bookshop.

"Carlo's Casino", a newly DFI supported 3D animation, is one of three Danish projects pitching at Cartoon Movie in Lyon.

If you're planning a trip to Copenhagen in March, you might consider a visit to the DFI Filmhouse to cruise through the shelves at the film and bookshop, take a break at the café SULT – before you settle down for a film or two in one of the Cinematheque's three cinemas. The March programme pays tribute to Kurosawa, Kate Winslet, Eric Rohmer and the immortal city of Rome.

Two months into 2010 and Danish films have already made their mark at major festivals: Sundance, Rotterdam, Göteborg – and Berlin. Interviewed for the festival publication Nisimazine.eu, DFI Festival Manager Lizette Gram Mygind puts current Danish cinema into perspective.

The relationship between mothers and daughters is a recurring theme in Heidi Maria Faisst's films. Shooting for her second feature film, a story about a young girl's thirst for maternal love, starts 19 March.

Birgitte Stærmose's documentary honoured at Berlin International Film Festival.

Over the course of 2010, the Danish Parliament is set to pass a new Film Policy Accord for the 2011-2014 period. The Danish Film Institute recently published a film-policy proposal, “Set Film Free.” The following is the foreword by Henrik Bo Nielsen, CEO.