The 2020 Film Package

Before the Frost

Michael Noer, 2019

As winter approaches in rural 1850s Denmark, an old farmer, Jens, and his family face starvation. With the harsh circumstances and the prospect of yet another tough winter, Jens agrees to ally with the neighbouring family in a marriage between his daughter and their son. However, when the rich farmer at a nearby farm wants to buy Jens’s land, he sees a chance to provide him and his family with an even better life.

The Return

Malene Choi, 2018

Two Danish-Korean adoptees return for the first time to the country they were once born in. Confronted with the spirit of their motherland and the personal stories of fellow adoptees they meet in the city of Seoul, Karoline and Thomas are hurled into an emotionally disorienting journey that forces both of them to question and face their own destiny and identity. Operating in a hybrid field between fiction and documentary, the film is based partly on the director’s own experiences, partly on stories by other adoptees.

Sticks & Stones

Martin Skovbjerg, 2018

Simon arrives in Vesterby from Copenhagen. He is an outsider in a brand new place and alone until he meets Bjarke – Vesterby’s alpha male and heir to the local speaker factory. The two start challenging each other in intimate and transgressive actions as they forge a friendship.

That Time of Year

Paprika Steen, 2018

This year at Katrine and Mads' house the family will once again be united for Christmas Eve, and on a traditional holiday like this, there has to be room for everyone: the divorced parents, the youngest sister and her new husband and not least the teenage daughter of the family, struggling to get her mother's attention. Underneath the surface, the explosion lurks as flammable as dry spruce and when the truth starts to appear, the illusion of holiday peace we so deeply insist on shatters.

The Purity of Vengeance

Christoffer Boe, 2018

In an old apartment in Copenhagen, some craftsmen make a scary discovery. Behind a fake wall, they find three mummified bodies sitting around a dining table with a free space ready. Carl Mørck and Assad from Department Q now have to find out who the mummies are and for whom the fourth place is intended.

Vitello

Dorte Bengtson, 2018

Vitello is a boy with lots of appetite, energy and drive. He lives alone with his mum in a town house. Vitello is not the type who gets bored easily.

Wildwitch

Kaspar Munk, 2018

12-year-old Clara is just like any other girl until one day when she is scratched by a mysterious, black cat. Soon after, Clara discovers that she can communicate with the cat and that she belongs to a family of wild witches, who have a strong connection to nature and animals. It turns out that Clara is a particularly special wild witch, whose blood can set free the ancient and evil witch, Bravita Bloodyoung.

My Little Dog Maestro 10:10 – Hero of the Day

Maria Mac Dalland, 2019

Autumn has come. Thomas and Maestro are out for a walk, when they spot a little dog out in a lake, whimpering and almost drowning. Thomas jumps into the ice cold water and recues the little dog.

Hugo & Holger

Teddy Halkier Kristiansen, 2019

Our main character Hugo is always dreaming about getting a dog. When he finally meets Holger, his wish comes true, thinking he's a big puppy dog. But Holger is in fact a baby elephant, who willingly becomes Hugo’s puppy.

Patrimonium

Carl Olsson, 2019

A film about the noble landed gentry, constantly renegotiating the borders between history and modernity. Through scenic tableaus and a strong sense for detail, the film paints a world of tradition and perfection – and in it man, striving to fit into the grandeur of an idea.

Rediscovery

Phie Ambo, 2019

47 children are given free rein on an abandoned construction site in Copenhagen, where nature has long since taken over. Here, they will go to school for ten weeks and discover what nature has to teach them. The film is told through scenes with the children, but also with nature’s voice as a continuous narrator: "For what does it mean to learn something? How do you know what you’ve learned from feeling my wind in your hair or my rain on your cheeks? How can you measure what you sensed in your belly as you sat in the top of my tallest chestnut tree? Where does it settle in you?"

The Reformist – a female Imam

Marie Skovgaard, 2019

Sherin Khankan is opening one of Europe’s first mosques run by female imams. The Mosque’s members aim to confront and challenge the fear surrounding Islam and call for a new feminist agenda breaking with established gender hierarchies. Sherin is impatient.

Heartbound – a different kind of love story

Janus Metz, Sine Plambech, 2018

Sommai, a former sex worker from Pattaya, lives in windswept Northern Jutland. 25 years ago she came to Thy to marry Niels, and ever since she has helped women from her village in Thailand marry Danish men. One of these women is Sommai's niece, Kae.

The Raven and the Seagull

Lasse Lau, 2018

A journey along the beautiful west coast of Greenland and its proud Inuit culture. We meet a modern Greenland in an ongoing struggle fitting in with the many assumptions left by the colonial past and present, trying to reckon this with the future. 300 years of colonial history has set an imprint in the faces of two nations.