Anders Thomas Jensen

Sex, animal cruelty, Jesus and politics! Movies evoke emotions - some more than others. In this documentary, Maria Månson explores the Danish films that have outraged, angered, provoked... and have put Denmark on the cinematic map. This is a celebration of those who dared to step across the accepted border between good and bad.

Danish film has never felt stronger on the international stage than it did with the Dogme films, which at the world premiere of 'The Party' and 'The Idiots' during the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 put Denmark on the film world map. Another eight films under the strict Dogme rules followed and created great international careers for several of the talents in front of and behind the handheld camera. Thomas Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Paprika Steen, Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Iben Hjejle, Anders W. Berthelsen, Lone Scherfig, Sonja Richter and many more of the country's greatest filmmakers look back on when Denmark became Dogme.

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

The last wish of the dying "Monk" is for his foster child, Harald, to find his real son, Ludvig. But the latter is currently in a Swedish prison cell...

Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.

Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.

Two bumbling scrap metal thieves - father and son - steal the wrong painting during a museum heist. The painting turns out to be the only original Rembrandt painting in Denmark, and all hell breaks loose. What do you do when you've got Interpol, the Danish police and the entire Danish underworld on your heels? And who was this Rembrandt guy anyway?

A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.

A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.

Svend and Bjarne work for a butcher in a small Danish town. Fed up with their boss' arrogance, they decide to start their own butcher shop. After dismal beginnings, an unfortunate accident happens which coincides with a large order of meat. One hasty decision leads to another and soon the business thrives. In the meantime, Bjarne has to deal with his twin brother who has been in coma for years following a gruesome car accident.

Svend and Bjarne work for a butcher in a small Danish town. Fed up with their boss' arrogance, they decide to start their own butcher shop. After dismal beginnings, an unfortunate accident happens which coincides with a large order of meat. One hasty decision leads to another and soon the business thrives. In the meantime, Bjarne has to deal with his twin brother who has been in coma for years following a gruesome car accident.

Henrik helps his uncle clear out a rich man's villa after the owner went bankrupt and committed siucide. During the clearance he finds a book that gives minute details of perfect crimes.

Max is a programmer, Nicoline is a chef, and they are both young, in love, and ambitious. Then lightning strikes: they have a baby. From that day on, nothing is ever the same again. Max, who has just been promoted, is certain he has everything well in hand. He has just invented the LifeOrganizer interactive personal scheduler designed to make life easier. But having to endure a baby with colic, piled-up washing and missed deadlines, Max and Nicoline's bachelor lifestyle is put to the test. There are only 24 hours in a day, or are there? With many wacky smiles and lashings of gallows-humour Peter Gren Larsen depicts the stressed out situation young couples face when baby throws a spanner in your career. Max and Nicoline go through an awful lot, including a trial separation, before they accept that kids change your life.

When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.

While changing the pipes in the tanningbeds at Golden Sun, Tommy meets the owner. A middleaged former Miss Fyn called Susse. Slowly an unusual love affair begins. Tommy's two friends Ole & Flemming give him tips on how to give Golden Sun some masculine appeal. Susse just happens to have a sleazy lawyer that does not appreciate the new look.

A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

Count Axel is a comedy that takes place somewhere in the Nordic countries in 1783. It's a classic comedy about mixed identities, with strong elements of contemporary humour and satire.

Bennie, a clumsy criminal who's touchy about his weight, teams up with his adoptive father's biological (serial killer) son, his employees who in his absence turned his snack-bar into a quiche bakery, a suicidal manic-depressive woman and a Yugoslavian who keeps blowing things up unintended. They need to get 300000 Euro to get Bennies father a new liver.

Tony has recently been released from a sentence for violent behaviour. He promises to improve his ways and is finally granted a few hours alone with his two children. They celebrate the reunion by going to the movies to see a new film by the famous, critically acclaimed Danish director Claus Volter. But the film is not the masterpiece it is said to be on the poster; the children are crying and Tony cannot get the money back he spent on tickets and candy. Tony does not give up; he seeks out Claus Volter in order to get an explanation and a refund. It is however easier said than done to get money out of a world-renowned filmmaker.

The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.

Ordinary Jan has no easy life. He is by far the most unpopular employee at work. At home it's even worse. His marriage with the not so ordinary Bente is on the verge of a breakdown. Jan's boss finally sends him into group therapy where an unlikely friendship emerges between Jan and the two mechanics Rudy and Alf.

Michael needs a change in his life, so when he hears about clinical trials for a new anti-depressant, he signs up to be a guinea pig - without telling his family. Because of dangerous side effects, the trial is subsequently abandoned but Michael continues to take the pills. Having lost all control, Michael's repressed instincts resurface with a force and violence that no-one could have predicted.

A prying neighbor, a glassy-eyed drug dealer, and a husband brandishing both a weapon and a vendetta make up the welcome wagon. Set amidst the as-yet-unopened boxes and the hopes for a fresh start of two men on what might just be the worst moving day ever. Their new apartment reveals its terrifying history in a film that is by turns funny, frightening, and unexpectedly romantic.

An english tv-team discovers a special white flower in the indonesian rainforest, but they never get to investegate it further, before the danish recluse Severin has shot them down. A danish special enforcement with a psychiatrist in front is sent off, and they find out, that Severin claims, that he is 129 years old, and it's the flower, which keeps him young. Soon all hunts the white flower, which apparently gives eternal life.

When Albert's best friend Egon goes missing, Albert embarks on an adventure to find him. Along the way he meets Sabrina and together they must save Egon.

Skagerrak is the story of being hit by happiness when you least expect it. In their late twenties and tired of partying their way around the world, Danish Marie and Irish Sophie come ashore in Northern Scotland. After another drunken night they are soon parted from all their accumulated cash. Out of money and out of luck ambitious Sophie pressures Marie into accepting a lucrative job as surrogate mother. Months on, Marie finds herself alone, life having taken a dramatic turn. Heavily pregnant, and wanting to terminate her pregnancy, she's on the run from the future parents, searching for Sophie's old flame, Ken. In a case of mistaken identity, Marie ends up in hiding with three strange men in a seedy Glasgow garage. But then happiness strikes again.

On election night we meet Peter, an idealistic young man, who suddenly discovers he has forgotten to vote. On his way to the polls he encounters a variety of taxi drivers, all racist in their way and Peter has to decide whether to stand up for his convictions or getting to the polls on time. The film won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Ida, a Danish hairdresser who has lost her hair to cancer, returns home from the hospital one day to find her husband is cheating on her. She decides to travel to Italy on her own for her daughter's wedding, but discovers on arriving that the wedding gathering will present its own challenges.

Ida, a Danish hairdresser who has lost her hair to cancer, returns home from the hospital one day to find her husband is cheating on her. She decides to travel to Italy on her own for her daughter's wedding, but discovers on arriving that the wedding gathering will present its own challenges.

The businessman Ernst has just landed in the airport and is on his way home to his wife. Its raining heavy outside and therefore he takes a hitchhiker with him. They start a conversation about the value of life and soon it becomes evident to the spectators that the hitchhiker is Jesus Christ, but Ernst is in too much of a rush to go back to his wife to notice.

The businessman Ernst has just landed in the airport and is on his way home to his wife. Its raining heavy outside and therefore he takes a hitchhiker with him. They start a conversation about the value of life and soon it becomes evident to the spectators that the hitchhiker is Jesus Christ, but Ernst is in too much of a rush to go back to his wife to notice.

This sequel to the box office hit All for One finds the previously tight-knit trio dispersed: Nikolai is on parole, while brothers Ralf and Timo are planning a heist involving the unlikely combination of unsalted butter, a strict diet and a helicopter. When their seemingly impossible heist succeeds, Nikolai asks to borrow some money to start over. The brothers reject him, but when all three of them are tricked by a fish-loving banking executive, they are forced to team up again.

A composer with a straining birth name is caught between his mother fixation and his need to father his own ambitions. Oscar nominated short film from 1997

Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine – until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong.

In 1870s America, a peaceful American settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. His cowardly fellow townspeople then betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone.

Café Hector is the new in-place for the chic, high-flying, articulate jet-set, where steaming cups of cappuccino accompany their trendy chit-chat. Uffe is definitely not "in." He can't get a cappuccino, but he is given permission, just this once, to use the toilet. But Uffe is prepared for the situation. He can't take any more humiliation and he is armed!

A psychological drama about Ulrich, a workaholic whose life takes a drastic turn when he is involved in a fatal accident. As his guilt grows, his life slowly crumbles around him. Next, an unpleasant event from his past rears its unforgiving head.

During the final days of WWII, chaos ruled. The German submarine U-461 went down along with its entire crew just off the coast of Denmark. U-461 however, was no ordinary submarine. 50 years after the war ended, two brothers go scuba diving for fun and discover that their every move is being watched and that some things should just be left alone.

Men & Chicken is a black comedy about two outcast brothers who, by getting to know their unknown family, discover a horrible truth about themselves and their relatives.

Men & Chicken is a black comedy about two outcast brothers who, by getting to know their unknown family, discover a horrible truth about themselves and their relatives.

The Shamer's daughter, Dina, has unwillingly inherited her mother's supernatural ability. She can look straight into the soul of other people. When the sole heir to the throne is wrongfully accused of the horrible murders of his family, it is up to Dina to uncover the truth, but soon she finds herself whirled into a dangerous power struggle with her own life at risk.

The psychological thriller "Murk" tells the story of Jacob, who is investigating into the circumstances surrounding his sister's death on her wedding night.

Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine – until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong.

A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.

Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.

Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.

The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.

Denmark, 1755. Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer a Danish heath reputed to be uncultivable, with an impossible goal: to establish a colony in the name of the king, in exchange for a royal title. A single-minded ambition that the ruthless lord of the region will relentlessly seek to put down. Kahlen's fate hangs in the balance: will his endevours bring him wealth and honour, or cost him his life...?

A composer with a straining birth name is caught between his mother fixation and his need to father his own ambitions. Oscar nominated short film from 1997

Jackie is a CCTV operator. One day, a man shows his face on her monitor, a man she hoped never to see again. Now she has no choice and is compelled to confront him.

Hugo is 18 years old, works in a garage in a provincial town, plays pool with his mates and dates teenage Betina. Hugo wants something else, but he doesn't know what - and it's hard for him to pull himself together. Until he meets student nurse Ester, who is in her 20s.

An upcoming remake of 'Riders of Justice' by Michael Schwartz & Tyler Nilson.

Anker is released from prison after a fourteen year sentence for robbery. Anker’s brother, Manfred, is the only one who knows where the money from the heist is. Meanwhile, Manfred has developed a mental illness, causing him to forget where the loot is stashed. Together, the brothers now embark on an unexpected journey to both locate the money and discover who they really are.

A collection of short films by 16 European directors.

A collection of short films by 16 European directors.

Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims foul play, Markus suspects his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.

HELD FOR RANSOM tells the true story of Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye who was held hostage for 398 days in Syria by the terror organization ISIS along with several other foreign nationals including the American journalist, James Foley. The film follows Daniel’s struggle to survive in captivity, his friendship with James, and the nightmare of the Rye family back home in Denmark as they try to do everything in their power to save their son. At the center of this crisis, we find hostage negotiator, Arthur, who plays a pivotal role in securing Daniel’s release.

A remake of the 2005 film "Adam's Aebler." The criminal Adamos, serving his prison sentence in a social rehabilitation community, encounters the blind devotion of Father Ivan. A black comedy with confident sarcasm, cynicism, and irony.

On election night we meet Peter, an idealistic young man, who suddenly discovers he has forgotten to vote. On his way to the polls he encounters a variety of taxi drivers, all racist in their way and Peter has to decide whether to stand up for his convictions or getting to the polls on time. The film won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.

Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims foul play, Markus suspects his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.

Experience an alternative take on attraction with Boys On Film. Bad Romance explores the darker side with a collection of edgy and sexy short films, including: Alain Hain's "Curious Thing" starring Danny Bernardy and Matthew Wilkas; Christoph Scheermann's "Cake and Sand" starring Bartholomew Sammut and Jan Andreesen; Michael Rozanov's "Watch Over Me" starring Guy Kapulnik and Davidi Hoffman; Joachim Back's "The New Tenants" starring David Rakoff and Jamie Harrold; Kim Jho Gwang-soo's "Just Friends?" starring Lee Je-hoon and Yeon Woo-jin; Étienne Desrosiers's "Mirrors" starring Xavier Dolan, Stéphane Demers, and Julie Beauchemin; Christopher Banks's "Communication" starring Rudi Vodanovich and Alexander Campbell; Tomer Velkoff's "The Traitor" co-starring Shmulik Goldstein; Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein's "The Strange Ones" starring David Call, Tobias Campbell, and Merritt Wever; and Tamer Ruggli's "Cappuccino" starring Benjamin Décosterd and Manuela Biedermann.

Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims foul play, Markus suspects his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.

Arvid is an ordinary bank clerk who lives a rather unassuming life with his dear girlfriend. But his life is turned completely upside down when he bravely manages to avert a robbery against the bank where he works.

Kresten, newly wed, is on the threshold of a great career success in his father-in-law’s company. But when the death of his own father takes him back to his poverty-stricken childhood home, far out in the country, his career plans fall apart. For one thing he has to deal with his loveable, backward brother, who is now all alone; for another, he meets a stunning woman who comes to the farm as a housekeeper, in disguise of her real profession as a call-girl.

Anker is released from prison after a fourteen year sentence for robbery. Anker’s brother, Manfred, is the only one who knows where the money from the heist is. Meanwhile, Manfred has developed a mental illness, causing him to forget where the loot is stashed. Together, the brothers now embark on an unexpected journey to both locate the money and discover who they really are.

Detective Katrine Ries Jensen and legal psychiatrist Thomas Schaeffer form a special unit at the Copenhagen Police investigating serial killings. A case from Schaeffer’s past crops up. As a young psychologist, he held back from sending a patient, who was manically drawing the details of a traffic accident, to a secure hospital. Now these bloody scenes resurface, enacted as real killings.

When a homeless Romani boy is arrested at the Danish border for possession of a missing public servant's passport, police inspector Carl Mørck and Department Q are tasked with finding the connection.

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

A Danish officer, Michael, is sent away to the International Security Assistance Force operation in Afghanistan for three months. His first mission there is to find a young radar technician who had been separated from his squad some days earlier. While on the search, his helicopter is shot down and he is taken as a prisoner of war, but is reported dead to the family.

Seeking funds for her orphanage in India, Isabelle travels to New York to meet Theresa, a wealthy benefactor. An invitation to attend a wedding ignites a series of events in which the past collides with the present while mysteries unravel.

The last wish of the dying "Monk" is for his foster child, Harald, to find his real son, Ludvig. But the latter is currently in a Swedish prison cell...

Herluf lives a complacent life with his wife Inger-Lise. Their daily routines are only interrupted by their daughter's marriages, the third now about to take place. But Herluf's problems are more serious than an indecisive daughter, his wife is cheating on him and he's started forgetting things at work. And one day Herluf doesn't return home.