Danish films at Berlin 2017

OVERVIEW. Daniel Borgman's "Loving Pia," a story about an intellectually disabled woman who finds love, is selected for Forum, while the hostage series "Below the Surface" is premiering in Berlinale Special Series. Find more details on Danish films traveling to Berlin 9-19 February.

Director Daniel Borgman and producer Katja Adomeit's feature film Loving Pia will be making its world premiere at the Berlinale as part of Forum, the section dedicated to films with an artistic, experimental edge.

"I've always made films about outsiders," says Borgman in our Berlin interview. "There's something about the able worldview that I don't like. Or any kind of dominant perspective really. It pre-supposes a predefined way of seeing things and of communicating, and I think it's very limiting and narrow." 

The hostage series Below the Surface is selected for Berlinale Special Series, the section inaugurated in 2015 as an acknowledgement of the boom in serial storytelling. Festival audiences will be presented with the first two episodes of the series.

Kasper Barfoed is creator, head writer and concept director of the series, based on an original idea by writers Adam Price ("Borgen") and Søren Sveistrup ("The Killing"). SAM Productions is producing for Kanal 5 of Discovery Networks Denmark. Established in 2014, SAM is a screenwriter-based TV production company led by Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen, Adam Price, Søren Sveistrup and StudioCanal.

"It's a clear part of our profile that we are writer-based and put a lot of focus on the creative process," says Foldager Sørensen in our Berlin interview Exciting Times in a Booming Market.

See the Danish participation at the Berlinale 2017 below and find details in factsheets right.


Danish participation at Berlin 2017

  • Loving Pia / feature film / dir. Daniel Borgman / prod. Adomeit Film / Forum
  • Below the Surface / crime thriller series / dir. Kasper Barfoed / prod. SAM Productions / Berlinale Special Series
  • A Trip to Mars (1918) / feature film / dir. Holger-Madsen / Retrospective

Co-productions

  • Strong Island / documentary / dir. Yance Ford / US-DE-DK / DK prod. Final Cut for Real / Panorama Documente
  • Sami Blood / feature film / dir. Amanda Kernell / SE-DK / DK prod. Nordisk Film / NATIVe
  • Sumé / documentary / dir. Inuk Silis Høegh / GL-DK-NO / DK prod. Bullitt Film / NATIVe
  • Half&Half / short film / dir. Aka Hansen / GL-DK / DK prod. Uilu Stories / NATIVe

More names

  • Esben Smed / actor in "Letters for Amina" / Shooting Star