The AmbAssAdor PuTin's Kiss Ballroom dancer The Will love addicT The kid and The cloWn karen ...

19 Pages·2011·2.57 MB·English

#73
Film is published by the Danish Film institute / November 2011
iDFA issue 2011
The AmbAssAdor
PuTin’s Kiss
Ballroom dancer
The Will
love addicT
The kid and The cloWn
karen Blixen
idFA issue 2011 editorial / short news
PAGe 2 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 3
iF you don’T Go
To exTremes,
why even Go?
10 14
/ ediTorial
Director Janus Metz onboard the good ship Activ. Framegrab
22
05 16
If you don’t go to extremes, why even go? the Danish COBRA artist Asger Jorn From Helmand physical and violent visual tale, Rupture
once said. His words naturally spring to mind when looking at the current crop of centres on a woman and issues like
to the End of
Danish documentaries. They go to extremes. They have guts and they take chances – sexuality, instinct and death. While
artistically, thematically and personally. Hamre challenged Metz’s artistic tem-
the World
perament and method, the filmmaker
inside A prime example is journalist and master of role-playing Mads Brügger. The cover also recognised a shared interest in the
of this magazine shows him dancing with a group of plastered Pygmies celebrating taboo and the subconscious.
his plan to build a match factory in their village. Elsewhere in the magazine, a critic JANUS mETZ established his “Armadillo went quite far in describ-
asks, “Is it okay for Brügger to travel in an African country as a diplomat, while international documentary ing the shadow sides of the human
filming his experiences as a documentarian and a reporter?” And the answer is, “Of credentials in 2010 when he psyche,” Metz says. “I wanted to go
03 Editorial and short news 24 Karen Blixen — Behind her mask course not! That’s why The Ambassador hits home so hard.” And perhaps that’s took home the top prize from into that space and explore it further.
/ iDFA Reflecting images: Panorama why it was picked to open the world’s most important documentary film festival. the Critic’s Week in Cannes for In a way, I was working with the same
05 The Ambassador Karen Blixen, an icon in Danish literary history, his tough film about a group of story but within an abstract framework.
/ iDFA Feature-length Competition once told Morten Henriksen’s father that she had There is no doubt that The Ambassador is out to provoke and stir debate – about the Danish soldiers in Afghanistan. The chance to work in a fictional uni-
Mads Brügger takes his intricate role-playing to a formed a pact with the devil. film’s journalistic methods and handling of its characters. Now the director is plunging into verse unleashed a virtual image storm
Film#73 Amsterdam issue new level in The Ambassador. The questionable nature a collective project about the end in me.”
November 2011
of his method is part of the message. 26 Four Danish films at iDFA Forum But there is also no doubt that Brügger, putting himself on the line, is trying to tell a of the world, because “it sounded From the nooks and crannies of the
different truth about North and South, and the extent of our compassion, than the too cool”. human mind, Metz is now venturing
Published by Danish Film Institute
Editor Susanna Neimann (SN) 09 The Ambassador in perspective 28 Hybrid films one presented to us in yet another well-intentioned primetime fundraising show. into a new collective film project.
Co-editor Annemarie Hørsman (AH) That a diplomatic passport can be bought points to a The trend of mixing the methods and vocabulary of That’s where his method is vindicated. Tracking a group of soldiers over six The Expedition to the End of the World is
Editorial support Lars Fiil-Jensen (LFJ),
key feature of Brügger’s film and the world we live in fiction and documentary is not new, says Jakob Høgel, months in Afghanistan’s Helmand a journey into the innermost recesses
Anders Budtz-Jørgensen (ABJ), Anne Marie
today, says researcher Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen. artistic director of New Danish Screen. The Ambassador is supported by New Danish Screen, the talent development Province, Armadillo exposes the of northern Greenland’s fjord systems
Kürstein, Malene Flindt Pedersen, Klara Grun-
ning-Harris, Helle Hansen, Dorte Høeg Brask subsidy scheme whose purpose includes inspiring innovation of cinematic language human consequences of sending aboard the ship Activ. Loaded with
Translations Glen Garner 10 Putin’s Kiss 30 To watch out for and storytelling. Investigation and experimentation are encouraged to keep young people to war as ideals clash scientists and artists, the ship is the frame
Design Rasmus Koch Studio
/ iDFA Feature-length Competition Meet two documentary directors to watch out for. cinematic aesthetics alive and in motion. Talents get a chance to see if their offbeat with reality. The fear of sudden death around a story about the origin of the
AD/design Pernille Volder Lund
Type Holton, Akzidenz-Grotesk, Cendia Seduction and politics are two sides of the same coin, ideas will translate to the big and small screens. makes the soldiers increasingly wary world, the demise of humankind and
Paper Munken Lynx 100 g Lise Birk Pedersen discovers in her new film from Russia. 31 Turning and cynical about the Afghans they life continuing on the planet. Having
Printed by Rosendahls-Schultz Grafisk Charles Atlas and Åsa Mossberg joined forces on The courage to go to extremes can be manifested in a multitude of ways. The Danish were sent out to help. finished first leg of the expedition,
Circulation 4,000
14 Ballroom Dancer Atlas and Antony’s new film Turning. documentaries at IDFA are products of filmmakers having the energy, skill and The film was a big hit in Danish however, Metz is anything but pes-
iSSN 1399-2813 (print version)
iSSN 1903-7511 (online version) / iDFA First Appearance Competition courage to go all the way. cinemas and is now in wide interna- simistic.
Cover The Ambassador. Photo by Johan Stahl For two years Andreas Koefoed and Christian Bonke 32 CPH:DOX, lAB AND ART tional distribution. Armadillo triggered “We are probably trying to be a
Winthereik followed Slavik, the former number one in Latin dance. Scandinavia’s largest documentary festival is constantly Energy to track their characters at moments when life’s drama comes to a head – “an explosion of attention”, launching little bit funny at the expense of the
Most of the articles are written by freelance
looking to inspire new creative collaborations. in the arena of big politics or in the most intimate of relationships. The skill to find Metz into a whole new orbit on the in- doomsday hysteria of the climate de-
film critics and journalists.
16 The Will the cinematic device that is just right for resolving the story. And the courage to insist ternational film circuit. But more than bate. But the big question is whether
Film is the Danish Film institute’s / iDFA Reflecting images: Panorama 33 Omar Shargawi on a personal approach and a personal artistic expression. anything, Armadillo meant a year away our civilisation is just a tiny parenthesis
international festival magazine
We come extremely close to Henrik’s ups and downs in 1/2 Revolution is an eyewitness account of the Arab Spring. from active film production, as Metz between two ice ages and whether our
Christian Sønderby Jepsen’s story about a famliy split to Good documentaries need skilled filmmakers, an open-minded audience – and a had to service audiences and journal- enterprising nature will also be our
Issued prior to the three festivals in Berlin,
Cannes and Amsterdam, the magazine pieces by a heavy past. 34 Why Poverty? broad framework. Here I’m thinking of the film-policy framework. A system that ists all over the world. undoing. As a civilisation – and in the
brings articles and interviews presenting A new international project speaks about global poverty promotes innovation and focuses on talent development. A system that is willing to Now, after a much-needed hiatus on film – we have set the stage for an end-
the films in competition, films in progress,
19 love Addict through human stories. take risks. And, of course, it takes money. the heels of all the hoopla, including ing where everything goes wrong. The
young talents and news stories. Catalogue
/ iDFA Reflecting images: masters an extended stay in New York with his question is whether it will go wrong in
in the reverse section gives a view of cur-
rent Danish documentaries and short films. A development grant helped Pernille Rose Grønkjær 36 Kaspar Astrup Schröder Denmark’s new Film Agreement has improved the opportunities for funding the family, the 37-year-old director is back. the cool way or the uncool way.” SN
jumpstart her next film after the success of The Monastery. What’s up? The director is out next summer development and production of documentary films in critical ways. Individual With the Danish artist Christina
The Danish Film Institute is the national
with a new film from Japan. films really do have a better framework now. This is happening amidst a global Hamre, Metz earlier this year made a The Expedition to the End of the
agency responsible for supporting and en-
couraging Danish film and cinema culture. 22 The Kid and the Clown financial crisis. It’s happening because of, and out of respect for, the high artistic work entitled Rupture under a project World is co-directed by Janus Metz and
/ iDFA Reflecting images: Panorama 37 Helle Hansen quality contributed by Danish documentarians in recent years. And with it comes an funded by the Danish Film Institute’s Daniel Dencik and produced by Michael
Danish Film institute Shooting her film about Tobias and the hospital clown Meet the Danish Film Institute’s new film commissioner. obligation. An obligation to keep going to extremes. Otherwise, why even go? talent scheme New Danish Screen that Haslund-Christensen for Haslund Film.
Gothersgade 55 / DK-1123 Copenhagen K
Angus, Ida Grøn wanted to make sure that the story teamed up four filmmakers with four The film is pitching at FORUM, see
T [phone] / [email protected]
www.dfi.dk/English took precedence over her ego as a filmmaker. 37 DFi Key Contacts Henrik Bo Nielsen, CEO artists to create a film/installation. A page 26.
short news The AmbAssAdor / mads brügger / idFA FeATure-LenGTh ComPeTiTion
PAGe 4 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 5
imagination with a story of makers with his film that looks at the “The interesting thing for me is to
humanity’s encounter with problems of storing nuclear waste, explore what an encounter with
alien intelligent life. focusing on the construction of a other intelligent life would mean to
Finnish repository that is supposed to humanity’s self-image,” the filmmaker
Michael Madsen recently went to last for 100,000 years. At heart, Into says. He wants the film to take a square
Moscow to present his film Into Eternity Eternity is propelled by philosophical look at such an encounter: How would
at a science film festival. In France the wonder at humankind: What does our we receive them, speak to them, treat
radioactive waste management agency, attempt to master a time horizon of them? If we were to give them an
Andra, has asked the filmmaker to 100,000 years really say about us? Essential Guide to us and planet Earth,
start a think-tank focusing on how to Madsen brings a similar sense of what would be in it?
communicate with the future about wonder to his next project, The Visit, “We are planning a visual setup
radioactive waste. At the University which turns science fiction into reality creating a kind of pseudo-3D-effect.
of California Madsen recently gave with a single intriguing question: How This is to thematise the different view
Director Michael Madsen
a lecture in conjunction with an would we react if we got visitors from of reality that such an encounter would
Photo: Søren Solkær Starbird
interdisciplinary course entitled outer space? In fact, the premise is not entail,” Madsen says. Coming from
Speculative Futures. And in New York just science fiction. The UN has an a visual-arts background, he always
his film was shown at the UN as a office in Vienna who ultimately would makes experiments with form central
Visitors from
precursor to a summit on nuclear safety. be the ones dealing with an alien visit. to the experience of his films. In the
Outer Space “I got an email from my American “My project is a partnership same vein, Madsen has just completed
distributor saying that Into Eternity was with the United Nations Office for Denmark’s first 3D documentary, The
on Hillary Clinton’s desk. It’s interesting Outer Space Affairs which thinks Average of the Average, on objectivity
How would we react if we were to me that the film is starting to up scenarios for a visit to Earth by versus subjectivity.
visited by aliens? miCHAEl move into real power circles. That’s intelligent extraterrestrial life,” Madsen “The visual concept in The Visit will
mADSEN, who is delighted necessary, of course, for anything to says. “It took my producer, Lise Lense- either be shit or gold,” Madsen adds
to see his awardwinning happen,” Madsen says. “The film lives Møller, and me four months to get wryly. “But it’s never been seen before,
documentary Into Eternity as a phenomenon out there, and I find our first meeting with them, because I’d say.” AH
moving into real political that real-life dimension exciting.” they took us for ufologists. When they
power forums, continues his Beyond winning a string of realised that we were actually looking The Visit is produced by Lise Lense-
speculative reflections in his awards, Madsen has managed to raise to showcase their knowledge, they Møller for Magic Hour Films and is
next project which tests our awareness among central decision- wholeheartedly came on board. pitching at FORUM, see page 27.
Funding for Danish To Re-wire By studying Buddhist monks Davidson
has found that it is possible to re-
Documentaries up to 50% the Brain Director Mads Brügger in The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik
wire the brain. Some of the effects
are increased levels of altruism,
compassion and calm.
wAy over The line
Danish documentaries are Furthermore, the DFI has set up an in her new documentary In Free the Mind we meet three
thriving: films by skilled international office led by producer Free the Mind, awardwinning characters, two vets and a 5-year-old
directors are making a Noemi Ferrer to strengthen cross- director Phie Ambo follows child, who all participate in Davidson’s
difference in the world and border cooperation and help one of the world’s leading research program to learn yoga and
new talents are coming up create international financing and neuroscientists whose research breathing in order to concentrate better
strong. The artistic and popular partnerships regarding Danish shows that meditation literally and be more aware of them-selves
success of the films is matched documentaries as well. can change the brain. and their surroundings. For Phie Ambo
by political support, both in In terms of distribution, the films who, like the professor, practices
terms of production and are reaching a wider audience than For years Dr. Richard J. Davidson of meditation on a daily basis, it is very
distribution. before. The share of DFI-supported the University of Wisconsin has done good news that we all have the potential Of course mads Brügger goes over the line. He stretches his long legs and To anyone blissfully deluding themselves that Mother Africa,
films shown in primetime on the research into mankind’s ability to to change at any stage in life. SN purposefully takes several steps beyond the rules, both written and unwritten. The humanity’s womb, is finally recovering after years of civil war,
The new Film Agreement 2011-2014 public service TV stations has gone up create positive changes in the brain Ambassador isn’t honourable reporting. it’s morally reprehensible, deceitful even. massacres and general post-colonial madness: Don’t see this
has upped the Danish Film Institute’s from 2% to 25% over the past years. and reconcile with anxiety and fear. Free the Mind is produced by Sigrid film. It offers no hope.
funds for development and production The Danish Film Institute distrib- Now he sets out to discover whether Dyekjær for Danish Documentary BY PER JUUl CARlSEN
of documentaries to 46.5 million kroner utes more than 1,000 shorts and meditation is what will finally allow Production. Release in Spring 2012. DiPlOmATiC immUNiTY
(approx. 6.2 million euros) annually, an documentaries on its streaming war veterans to lead a normal life, www.freethemindthemovie.com That’s exactly why The Ambassador is so refreshingly The Ambassador’s journalistic impropriety mainly lies in
increase of 50%. service Filmstriben.dk, which is by relieved of stress and anxiety. provocative, shocking and, indeed, truthful. In a time when Brügger’s method. He didn’t travel to the Central African
On top of that, the two Danish now a stable success. A full 98% of the Dr Richard Davidson is on a the media have no qualms about treating politicians like reality Republic as a conventional journalist jotting things down on
public service TV stations, DR and population has access to the films via mission. He wants to make the world show contestants and no one seems to question whether his notepad. He went as the diplomat Mr Cortzen – which is
TV 2, are committed to buying 10 their local library, while two thirds of a better place. And the change must breaking the news first is always such a good idea, it’s more not, by the way, a false identity.
million kroner (approx. 1.3 million the country’s schoolchildren and their come from within the brain itself. than welcome to see someone deliberately cross the line and Early in the film, Mads Johan Brügger Cortzen, as is our
euros) of broadcast rights every year. teachers can watch the films in the Davidson conducts an unusual raise important questions. Is the line really in the right place? protagonist’s full name, visits a pair of shady characters who
The number of films that the classroom via a school subscription. experiment. He is going to teach Who even put it there? And isn’t it better to cross the line in offer to provide him with a diplomatic passport from an
Danish Film Institute will be support- It is the Danish Film Institute’s goal American war veterans breathing an original manner than unthinkingly and uncritically toe it? African nation. In Portugal, one of them, a British former elite
ing has been reduced, equalling more to make documentaries freely available and yoga. Davidson’s research shows Indirectly, though loudly and clearly, Mads Brügger raises soldier, takes Brügger aside and, not knowing that Brügger
funds for fewer films, which will online for all Danes in the next few that the brain is plastic, which means those questions in The Ambassador, a film that paints an is carrying a concealed camera, tells him that the title of
strengthen the economy of individual years. that we can actively contribute to the unfathomably grim but also surprisingly funny picture of ambassador is immense valuable. If he uses it right, he could
projects. The aim is to ensure reason- shaping of our own personalities and an Africa that is being ruthlessly raped by everyone, from take an enormous amount of wealth out of Africa, protected
able financing and promote more Get the latest news on Danish film at thereby change our life journey to Europeans and North Americans to Indians, Russians and by diplomatic immunity. If he screws up, he could end up dead
ambitious films. dfi.dk/English. the better. Chinese. in a ditch.
Director Phie Ambo Photo: Christoffer Boe
The AmbAssAdor / mads brügger / idFA FeATure-LenGTh ComPeTiTion mads brügger on the ambassador
PAGe 6 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 7
Is it okay for mAds brüGGer on
Brügger to travel in
The AmbAssAdor
an African country
as a diplomat,
while filming his
experiences as a
documentarian I wanted to make an Africa
and a reporter? film that had funny moments
Of course not. amidst all the horror and I
That’s precisely why wanted to make a documentary
The Ambassador that took Africa back to Graham
hits home so hard. Greene and The Wild Geese
– Africa of the 1970s. You can
find that in the Central African
Republic, a country that hardly
anyone ever heard about.
The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik
diplomat act gets him into situations that are beyond absurd.
At one point, he visits a Pygmy village to find workers for his
match factory – in some parts of Africa, Pygmies are believed
to have magical powers, which would obviously be an advantage
for Brügger’s matches. As if it were the most natural thing in
the world, Brügger’s African connections have plied the entire
village with alcohol, including the children.

QUEASY mORBiD HUmOUR
Clinking glasses with Mr Gilbert, Brügger pulls out a bottle
of Möet & Chandon champagne, telling him it’s the last thing
Hitler drank before he took his own life in the bunker. This
The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik
prompts Brügger’s African assistant to tell a story of how Hitler
had a pillow stuffed with the pubic hair of Jewish women. The
... a film about Africa stripped
Africans conclude that Hitler was full of funny stories. The
whole grotesque affair is a good example of the picture of of NGOs, sarongs, Bono, child
Africa painted in The Ambassador. It’s queasy, morbid humour
soldiers and kids with bloated
of the highest grade.
There are dozens of such moments. One of the best and bellies, a film about the kind
most complex comes when Brügger takes a boat ride on a
of people you never see in
gorgeous river with two helplessly drunk Pygmies to the
sound of Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land. Irony documentaries on Africa:
The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik doesn’t get much more biting than that. The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik
white businessmen and the

This essay first aired on DR TV’s As he waits for the Liberian authorities to process his new FETiSHiSTiC BOYHOOD DREAm diplomats, the fat cats in the Going to Africa and playing a diplomat wouldn’t be a problem
arts programme Filmland. title, Brügger travels to the Central African Republic on a fake But, is it okay for Brügger to travel in an African country as a urban centres, all the people for me. Diplomats aren’t always asking to see each other’s ID.
diplomatic passport. “If Congo is Africa’s heart, the Central diplomat, while filming his experiences as a documentarian and
For further information on The African Republic is the continent’s appendix,” he says. It is a a reporter? Is it okay that Brügger is clearly acting out an old, who are in Africa having a But instead of playacting, I figured I’d go all in. The role of the
Ambassador, see reverse section. forgotten country that has suffered the vagaries of several fetishistic boyhood fantasy of strutting around darkest Africa great time. diplomat is a lot like that of a journalist. They both have to
mad presidents. According to the country’s chief of security, a in long riding boots, chomping on a cigarette holder? Of course
go see everybody, talk to everybody. They get access to state
Frenchman, the Republic is still being cynically controlled by not. That’s precisely why The Ambassador hits home so hard.
its former colonial overlord, France. This is no simple documentary. It scolds, it provokes, it secrets and a country’s most powerful people. Only, diplomats
hurts and it asks questions that are a lot more complicated,
can operate far beyond any ethical boundaries and still remain
DRUNKEN PYGmiES unpleasant and, not least, entertaining than any conventional
Under the cover story that he is looking to open a match factory, piece of journalism could ever make them. respected members of society.
Brügger, aka Mr Cortzen, acts like a caricature of a white man The Ambassador is far from pure in its tone or in its heart,
whooping it up in Africa. Without much effort, he hooks up with precisely because it knows the questions are so much more
a mine owner, Monsieur Gilbert, who is up for some shady interesting when you step out of the norms. Balancing on
business with Mr Cortzen. Since so much money is already umpteen moral precipices, the film is at times so grotesque that
flowing under the table, the Liberian ambassador meets with you can barely believe your eyes. It’s way over the line. But the Quotes are from Per Juul Carlsen’s interview with
very little resistance wherever he goes. crucial thing is that it crosses the line with an ingenuity that Mads Brügger, The Man with the Yellow Hat Gone
It’s all thoroughly disillusioning. Meanwhile, Brügger’s any reporter must admire Bad, in FILM#72, available on dfi.dk/English.
The AmbAssAdor / mads brügger’s method The AmbAssAdor / in PersPeCTive
PAGe 8 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 9
brüGGer’s influences and events around us. Two roLe- Rastapopoulos and the Man with the diplomatic titles available on a market
“The people around me finish Yellow Hat from Curious George, basis to supplement the revenues of
my story – they top my excesses. PLAys Brügger’s factional character plays on either corrupt officials and/or the
When I say something ‘horrible’, all the postcolonial clichés. Yet, the fact government itself.
they double it,” Brügger says. “I play brüGGer that he supposedly holds diplomatic This “commercialisation of
PerFormaTive around with archetypes – the ‘black’
status makes his project eerily real, sovereignty” can be seen in a range
fantasy of a white man – and create sTyLe thereby giving the audience a glimpse of different areas. Liberia, the country
a phantasmagorical figure. I code my
into the normally impenetrable world of from which Brügger obtained his
persona down to the smallest details, in
international diplomacy. papers, is incidentally also the world’s
a near-semiotic orgy of meanings.”
Danes for Bush (2004) Brügger’s diplomatic papers allow largest shipping nation. Since the 1960s
JoUrnaliSm Indeed. The persona of Cortzen
This satirical TV series follows two him certain freedoms and protection, Liberia has made a lucrative business
is the product of countless cultural
fake personas, Mads Cortzen and Jacob even in a country such as the Central of registering international ships
references, everything from Tintin (Dr
Boeschou, starry-eyed believers in the African Republic. Under the Vienna under Liberian flag so they can avoid
Müller) to Curious George (The Man
American way and staunch supporters Convention on Diplomatic Relations taxation, criminal prosecution and labor
with the Yellow Hat), Graham Greene’s
of President Bush, as they travel anyone with full diplomatic status enjoys requirements otherwise applicable in
The Honorary Consul and Herzog’s
around America in a camper to get criminal immunity in the host country. the shipping company’s own country.
Echoes from a Sombre Empire.
out the vote for “Dubya”. Wearing red On top of that the Convention provides Similarly, commercial fishing
As Brügger stresses, this painstaking
blazers and wielding buttons, balloons that diplomats are allowed to carry a along the West African coast is today
coding of a character is crucial, even if
and bumper stickers, they try to ”diplomatic bag” intended for official use. dominated by European vessels since
a lot of it doesn’t make it into the film.
“I familiarised myself with the dos convince ordinary Americans to give In reality the “bag” is a flexible concept the EU has bought up national fishing
and don’ts of diplomatic life. It gives Bush four more years. and may constitute anything from an quotas from these countries. A little
me confidence to have the etiquette Worried that he might have made envelope to a shipping container, the key further south the small island state of
down pat, like how to wrap a napkin it too easy for himself, posing as a point being that it cannot be searched Sao Tome is making profits by renting
around a glass at a reception.” neoconservative in a democratic or seized by immigration officers or any out its phone lines to porn operators.
Add to that, Moët et Chandon nation like the US, Brügger next came other law officials. And on the other side of Africa,
champagne, Anne Demeulemeester up with the idea of going to North It is easy to see how diplomatic status Mauritius, inspired by places like
boots, Dunhill Reds and a silver Korea. provides the perfect setup for smuggling Switzerland and the Cayman Islands,
cigarette holder, not to mention a copy or other criminal activities. This is has become Africa’s leading tax haven.
of The Phantom’s “Good Mark Ring”. hardly limited to Africa however. There The common theme to all these
Plainly, Brügger, when he’s out of have been plenty of examples of serious schemes is that governments are willing
character, likes to wear the “Bad Mark abuse of diplomatic status in Europe to sell or rent out what is otherwise
Ring”, too. As Brügger says, the devil is and the United States, and in the City of considered an exclusive prerogative of
in the details. London alone, for instance, embassies the state itself. Traditionally, this has
owe more than £30 million in unpaid been considered either aberrations or
Most of the quotes originate from a
parking and congestion charge fines. a direct threat to states. Yet, the growth
master class held by Mads Brügger at
Yet a diplomatic passport does not of these practices suggests that states
the National Film School of Denmark
always equal a “get out of jail free”-card. are increasingly succumbing to global
The Ambassador Photo: Johan Stahl Winthereik in September. SN, AH Danes for Bush Photo: DR TV Mads Johan Brügger Cortzen’s diplomatic passport
Looking at a recent example the United market mechanisms. Rather than trying
The Red Chapel (2009) States, who never signed the Vienna to control and constrain these forces,
SovereiGnTY
Undercover reporter, docu- of disguising myself as a fly on the wall, Mads Brügger travels to North Korea Convention but applies a national governments spend more and more
mentarian, writer, TV personality neutrally observing, I dress up for the mADS BRÜGGER with a spastic actor and a comedian as statute, did not accept that the former time figuring out ways to play the
Born in 1972. Journalist, TV presenter,
and newly minted radio station part and interact as an agent provocateur. a small communist theatre troupe on a head of the International Monetary sovereignty game in such a way to
author and filmmaker. The author of several
manager. in his multifaceted With all the intentions of a journalist books, he has also written for magazines cultural exchange visit. In reality, it’s all Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had attract international capital or avoid
work, media trickster mads to expose an overlooked part of the and newspapers, produced award-winning a pretext. Their true aim is to describe, diplomatic immunity when he was political and legal constraints.
radio programmes and hosted the critically For sALe
Brügger is unabashedly world, I went to CAR as a rich white from within, how a dictatorship affects charged with raping a maid, since his Again, this is nothing unique to the
acclaimed late night TV show The 11th Hour
pursuing a clear ambition: businessman with diplomatic credentials, as well as the daily news and discussion everything and everybody on a micro- visit to New York was not in an official developing world. From the privatisation
challenging traditional pursuing all the perks that come with show Deadline. He is the creator of the cosmic level. The Red Chapel met with IMF capacity. Protection secondly of prisons and military services to the
journalism and documentaries the title – reckless diamond hunting, satirical docu-series Danes for Bush (2004), both fascination and criticism when depends on the continued support offshoring of terrorist detention and
the feature-length documentary The Red
and revitalising the genres. power abuse, etc. – and became a it first aired on DR. Its blend of black from the country issuing the diplomatic immigration control both Europe and
Chapel and The Ambassador (2011). Starting
And it’s okay to have some fun respected member of their society. November 2011, he will be the station manager humour and mortal seriousness made papers. Immunity belongs to the country, the US are actively engaged in similar
along the way, too! “Precisely because I’m beyond role- of radio24syv. the TV series a cult hit in Denmark, not the individual diplomat. practices of bartering off and outsourcing
playing by actually being a diplomat, though some expressed concern that The Ambassador exposes when they pass me at the airport The notion that a diplomatic passport otherwise core sovereign functions.
Mads Brügger has his own unmistakable I can forge a partnership with a very the North Koreans might be punished a particularly dark side of immigration line. The fascination with can be bought or sold just like anything Most of the time, these practices are
ZENTROPA REAl
style and methods. Over the last 15 sinister diamond-mine owner replete A production company founded by director now that the troupe had revealed its global capitalism, says Thomas the notion of diplomatic immunity else points to a key feature of Mads carried out far away from the public’s
years he has repeatedly pushed the with gold tooth and machete scars on Lars von Trier. Its catalogue includes Katia real mission. The subsequent film Gammeltoft-Hansen who has is that it grants you the possibility to Brügger’s film and the world we live in eye. The rare thing about Brügger’s film
Forbert Petersen’s Von Trier’s 100 Eyes
envelope of what journalism can, and his forehead. That would be highly version won The World Cinema Docu- studied the game of diplomatic move outside the ordinary game rules. today. Companies brokering diplomatic is that it exposes a particularly dark side
(2000), which explores Dancer in the Dark
should, do. problematic for a journalist. But it’s no and von Trier and Jørgen Leth’s The Five mentary Competition at Sundance 2010. titles brokerage. Who doesn’t remember the South titles or, as is also the case, offering to of global capitalism where the line
In his new film, The Ambassador, problem for a diplomat.” Obstructions (2003), a journey into the African diplomat in Lethal Weapon 2 take over diplomatic functions for small between public and private, business
Brügger takes his method a step further phenomenon of filmmaking that was selected BY THOmAS GAmmElTOFT-HANSEN who indignantly invokes diplomatic countries unable to keep up embassies and government, is not only blurred
for festivals worldwide and won numerous
than the role-playing of his previous THE DEVil iS iN THE DETAilS immunity telling Riggs and Murtaugh around the world, is just one example of but on occasion completely erased
awards. Von Trier’s Dogumentary Code
films Danes for Bush and The Red Constructing his characters, Brügger from 2002, the documentary equivalent of Diplomatic immunity. Along with that they cannot as much as give him a a much wider trend for states to basically
Chapel. He is not playing a diplomat consciously and actively works with Dogme95, underlies six films by prominent becoming a world-famous chef this parking ticket, much less arrest him on sell off their sovereignty. The entire legal Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen is a
in The Ambassador – he actually is other people’s expectations, drawing Scandinavian directors, notably Get a Life! was probably one of my most recurring charges of drug smuggling. framework builds on the presumption Research fellow at the Danish Institute
(Michael Klint, 2004). The Ambassador is
the Liberian diplomat Mads Brügger on both Jungian archetypes and recent childhood fantasies and, I am guessing, In The Ambassador, Mads Brügger that diplomats are the legitimate envoys for International Studies and co-author of
produced by Peter Engel. (The Red Chapel
Cortzen. Says Brügger. cognitive neuroscience, especially the from 2009 was produced by Peter Engel under of Mads Brügger too. As a grown-up walks a thin line between legal and of the sending state. Yet, the growing Sovereignty Games: Instrumentalizing
“To show this Africa of the affluent, concept of mirror neurons that explores the parent company Zentropa Productions). I still thoroughly envy those who are illegal, reality and parody. Coming across market for diplomatic passports suggests State Sovereignty in Europe and
I use ‘performative journalism’. Instead how brain cells copy or mirror able to flash their diplomatic passport as a mix between Tintin’s arch-nemesis that more and more states are making Beyond, Palgrave-MacMillan, 2008.
The Red Chapel Photo: René Johannsen
PuTin’s Kiss / Lise birK Pedersen / idFA FeATure-LenGTh ComPeTiTion PuTin’s Kiss / Lise birK Pedersen / idFA FeATure-LenGTh ComPeTiTion
PAGe 10 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 11
A Kiss
WiTh a
Price TaG
lise Birk Pedersen’s fascination with Russia grew as she discovered another side to
the poverty-stricken reality that she already knew so well. Putin’s Kiss, selected for
iDFA competition, portrays a generation of privileged youth in Putin’s Russia who
believe in the future but are caught in their leader’s iron grip on the country. Masha in Putin’s Kiss Photo: Lars Skree
BY ANNA BRiDGWATER nothing can be allowed to challenge the regime,” the “When Nashi members throw
film’s director, Lise Birk Pedersen, says.
posters of their enemies on the
Putin’s Kiss opens with footage from a youth camp in Pedersen takes us to nouveau-riche Russia as well
Russia: thousands of smiling young people partying as to the drab universe left over from the Soviet ground and stomp on them, to
in bright sunshine. The next scene is grainy CCTV days. We meet chic citizens with manicures and me it bears a frightening
footage of a violent episode in a city at night: a group laptops, as well as pale, hunched-over young people
resemblance to other fanatic
of men kicking a figure lying crumpled on the transported like cattle to mass demonstrations. The
ground. director consciously attempted to capture Russia’s youth organisations of the past.”
A documentary about modern Russia under contradictions in her documentary’s aesthetics.
President Vladimir Putin, Putin’s Kiss is full of “I try to take in everything I see. Then I try to
contrasts: violence and happy young people, grey communicate my impressions to make the film research trip, where I focused on young people who
concrete apartment blocks and glittering skyscrapers, visually mirror the narrative. My photographer, Lars were born 20 years ago, around the time the Soviet
choreographed mass demonstrations and critical Skree, and I worked hard to show the contrasts that Union fell apart.”
opposition voices. make up modern Russia.”
One of the young people at the youth camp is Pedersen first became aware of Russia’s contrasts PUTiN, i lOVE YOU
Masha, the documentary’s charming protagonist. The in 2008 while shooting the documentary Nastya’s Eastern Europe, and especially Russia, has always
camp is organised by Putin’s youth movement Nashi, Heart. The film is about a troubled teenage girl in fascinated Pedersen. Her fascination only grew when
and as we meet her in the opening sequence, Masha is a halfway house in Saint Petersburg, but while she she met the country’s privileged youth.
one of the movement’s leaders. The storyteller in the was filming, the director encountered a completely “Meeting Masha and the organisation Nashi was
film is the liberal journalist Oleg Kashin who becomes different side of Russia. a huge eye-opener. Nashi is very seductive. Their
friends with Masha and who plays an increasingly “I had never seen so many expensive cars or headquarters were entirely done in red and white,
crucial role as the story progresses. women in expensive clothes before. We went and their flag and logo were absolutely everywhere.
to clubs and met young people living it up. I was Then Masha sat down in front of me and said, ‘Our Masha with her family in Putin’s Kiss Photo: Lars Skree
RUSSiAN CONTRASTS surprised at how much energy the city contained. plan is to turn Russia into the global leader of the 21st
“When Nashi members throw posters of their I saw that there was another side to the poverty- century.’” Masha, a spokesperson for the political youth movement Nashi,
enemies on the ground and stomp on them, to me stricken Russia I knew, and I wanted to explore that The film owes its title to an episode at a youth
comes to doubt the true ideals of the movement. The film traces
it bears a frightening resemblance to other fanatic aspect of the country. meeting where Masha got up, went over to Putin and
youth organisations of the past. Nashi is on the one “I was already making Nastya’s Heart, and I wanted kissed him on the cheek. the seductive powers of Nashi and Masha’s growing unease.
hand represented by Masha’s smiling face, and on the to talk with other girls from the same generation “There is obviously a duality in the kiss. Was it a
It all started with one bold kiss …
other hand is completely paranoid and has a goal that to show the huge divide in the country. So I took a good or bad thing for her? Masha got something out
PuTin’s Kiss / Lise birK Pedersen / idFA FeATure-LenGTh ComPeTiTion PuTin’s Kiss / in PersPeCTive
PAGe 12 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 13
PUTin’S YoUnG
“There is obviously a duality
in the kiss. Was it a good or
bad thing for her? Masha got
something out of it, but at
the same time total loyalty is
eliTeS And
expected.”
This form of communication is deeply rooted in
Russia. Criticism isn’t popular. There can only be one
way forward, and that way is decided by Putin.”
ThuGs
AN EDUCATiON
Masha’s transformation from enthusiastic Putin-
supporter to her seriously doubting Nashi’s methods
forms the narrative backbone of Putin’s Kiss.
“Masha meets a critical journalist, Oleg, and
although he and Masha are very different, they
Putin’s Kiss Photo: Lars Skree become friends and can discuss their differences. The
film charts her education,” Pedersen says. Nashi sees itself as a young creative elite in
“We see Masha at Nashi and as she faces a number
the new Russia dominated by Putin. In the
of moral dilemmas. At one point, she is forced to turn
in some of her new liberal journalist friends to the opposition’s view, “Nashi is crippling the
authorities, and she suddenly becomes aware that
morality of young people”.
the organisation she is so deeply involved in has a
dark side. She is told that she has to choose between
Nashi and her new friends. An impossible choice for kid on the stomach is abnormal and Russia’s enemies”. The organisation is
Masha.” bizarre,” someone wrote in a heated fighting for Putin’s plan to rebuild the
Masha is seduced by Putin’s power and by the online discussion. Others considered superpower. Nashi’s young lions vie
material rewards for her work for Nashi. But the it an expression of “Putin’s enormous to be like Putin and get closest to the
seduction has a downside, and rejecting the seducer love for his people”. As Putin himself Kremlin trough.
is not a popular option. In the documentary, we explained it, he acted spontaneously As in the rest of Russian society,
experience at close hand the extreme dangers and simply couldn’t help himself. paranoia is rampant in the youth
you face criticising the regime, when one of the Like Masha, Nikita refuses to wash movement, which thunders against
characters almost gets beaten to death. away Putin’s kiss. At the summer camp, Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution. Like
In Putin’s Kiss, the roles of hero and villain are everyone talked about “the girl who the Kremlin, Nashi is concerned that
Masha meets Vladimir Putin Photo: Polfoto/Ria NovostiI
clearly defined, as Pedersen is well aware. “It’s hard kissed Putin”. inspiration from Ukraine will wash over
to avoid portraying Nashi as the villain and the After losing an election to Nashi’s Russia. Though that never came to pass,
opposition as the good guys. After all, I live in Putin’s Kiss offers a rare look mannered, articulate, ambitious young leadership to a candidate who puts the Nashi ramps up its rabid witch hunt
Denmark, I believe in democracy, and that’s apparent at Nashi, the Russian youth Russians like 19-year-old Masha, the fight against Russia’s enemies at the against the opposition.
in the film. So, although both sides speak their minds, movement that’s even more protagonist of Putin’s Kiss. A Nashi top of his programme, Masha begins While very few young people join
I’m the one making the movie. No one can totally interesting to examine now commissar and spokesperson, Masha to doubt the movement she is in. opposition movements, Nashi boasts
leave their background behind.” that its great icon, Vladimir is a middle-class girl from a Russian She meets people with other political around 70,000 members between the
At the end of the day, Pedersen says, this is also Putin, is set to return as family that sporadically resides in outlooks, notably the journalist Oleg ages of 15 and 25. Nashi draws 30,000
what the film is about: “Russia is still marked by its president of Russia. the provinces, an altogether typical Kashin, at a TV debate. Although they youths to pro-regime demonstrations
communist past. You don’t throw that away in a single family. Masha is attracted by the career disagree wildly, they become close in Moscow and to its summer camps.
generation. That kind of transformation takes time” BY ViBEKE SPERliNG opportunities that membership in friends. “Shitting in public is the essence
Nashi opens up, an express elevator Masha’s friendship with Oleg causes of Nashi,” an opposition leader states
For more information on Putin’s Kiss and Nastya’s Numerous commentators, inside to the heights of power. Joining the her no end of trouble at Nashi. All of after finding faeces on his car. But
Heart, see reverse section. and outside of Russia, have described organisation at 16 and quickly rising a sudden, she is an enemy spy. She is Nashi is a hatchery for new leaders.
Nashi as Putin’s “Hitler Youth”. Indeed, through the ranks, Masha became greeted with suspicion in Oleg’s circle, Many Russian commentators have
elements of the movement act as storm the protégé of the minister of youth as well. When Oleg is attacked by been pining for a generational change
liSE BiRK PEDERSEN
troopers, attacking “enemies of Russia”, and Putin awarded her a medal. It was “unknown assailants”, Masha realises in Russian politics. The Nashi troops
Born 1974, Denmark. A graduate of the National Film School
of Denmark, 2003. Has made three films touching on Russian the opposition to Putin. during a visit by Putin to the Nashi she can’t keep leading a double life. marching into the regime’s top tiers,
themes: her graduation film Margarita about a Russian teenager Nashi gangs bash opposition summer camp that Masha kissed him. Putin’s Kiss is the story of Russia’s after serving some time as toadies
immigrating to Denmark, Nastya’s Heart about a transit home in members with clubs and baseball The otherwise reserved Putin politicised youth. Meanwhile, the vast and thugs for Putin, will usher in
Saint Petersburg, and Putin’s Kiss about a new generation of
bats. Other times, they defecate on obviously has a thing about kissing majority of young Russians stay away generational change without the
privileged youth, selected for IDFA competition.
Director Lise Birk Pedersen Photo: Per Morten Abrahamsen
their cars. Nashi’s agenda is not just to himself. He once kissed a horse and from politics. Nashi sees itself as a generational change
support the system Putin has created. a tiger on TV. But judging from the young creative elite in the new Russia
mADE iN COPENHAGEN
of it, but at the same time total loyalty is expected. It deliberate strategy in Nashi, where Putin is idolised The gangs on the organisation’s reactions, he crossed the line when dominated by Putin. In the opposition’s Vibeke Sperling is the Eastern
Putin’s Kiss is produced by Helle Faber of Made in Copenhagen,
was a kiss with a price attached,” Pedersen says. like a rock star. extreme wing seek to terrorise the he pulled up the shirt of five-year-old view, “Nashi is crippling the morality European correspondent for the
while Monday Production holds the rights. Helle Faber has
“Masha gets a good job at a television station. She “Students from the Moscow State University’s produced a number of noteworthy documentaries, including IDFA opposition into silence by using Nikita on the street and kissed him on of young people”. Danish daily Politiken. A former
has a car and her own apartment, while most people school of journalism made a calendar to celebrate and Sundance winner Enemies of Happiness, Shanghai Space violence, and they are rarely put off by the belly. “It’s not about homophobia. While youth from the opposition Moscow correspondent for the national
and The Dark Side of Chocolate. Find more on Helle Faber’s
her age in Russia are still living with their parents.” Putin’s birthday. In it, scantily dressed girls say, police intervention. When a father does that to his son, it’s yell “Russia without Putin”, Nashi broadcaster DR. Author of books about
latest productions Au Pair, The Samurai Case and Putin’s Kiss,
The director is convinced that seduction is a ‘Putin, I love you’ and ‘Putin, you’re simply the best.’ in reverse section. www.madeincopenhagen.net Nonetheless, Nashi also counts well- sweet and fine. But kissing a random yells “Forward Russia” and “Fight conditions in Eastern Europe.
ballroom dancer / koefoed & bonke / idFA first appearance competition ballroom dancer / koefoed & bonke / idFA first appearance competition
PAGe 14 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 15
dAnCinG
both say the collaboration was seamless. Bonke graduated in
directing from the National Film School of Denmark in 2005.
Since then, he has made a string of documentaries on subjects
ranging from teenage love to realtors. Koefoed, who graduated
in 2009, is already a veteran at IDFA. He has taken no fewer
than four films to the festival over the last three years and also
served on the jury for the Student Competition.
WiTh Ballroom Dancer is the first feature-length documentary
for either. Though they both like to use direction in their
documentaries, this production was very different. They
had planned on helping the story along in various ways, for
instance by asking Slavik and Anna to discuss certain subjects,
but Slavik was so focused on himself and his dancing that that
was never possible.
“We started out writing scenes for a kind of script,
imagining the coolest possible story, so we would be dressed to
get the scenes we wanted. But we never got a single one of the
scenes we made up. We never even got close to asking them to
do anything for us,” Koefoed says. “However, the script gave us
clarity about what kind of turning points we needed in order to
let the story unfold.”
Because they also chose not to do any interviews or other
demons explanatory narrative elements, the two filmmakers had to
work hard in the editing room to create understanding in the
audience.
“We wanted the film to look like a fiction film. Everything
should be told in scenes. We filmed it like a very pure
documentary, but we cut it like a fiction film,” Koefoed says.
Though they lacked the opportunity to apply direction,
the two filmmakers had almost unlimited access to the two
dancers’ lives.
Ballroom Dancer. Framegrab
“Slavik is a very generous protagonist. We had extreme
access to his life. We went with him everywhere and he only
For two years, co-directors BY ANDERS BUDTZ-JØRGENSEN asked us to turn off the camera once or twice, even when he “It was a challenge to present
Christian Bonke and and Anna were breaking up. We went along for the whole ride
Slavik in a way that would make the
Andreas Koefoed tracked The spotlight outlines the silhouette of a man sitting on the as flies on the wall,” Bonke says.
former international latin dance floor. Violins fill the room with a mournful Russian air. A audience identify with him, because
World Champion Slavik young woman enters. The rhythm changes. The dance begins PAYS A HEAVY PRiCE he is so tough and radical. Even so,
Kryklyvyy as he struggled and no emotion is too over the top. The show is on. The dance floor is the stage of the performance, but the real
to get back to the top. For When Christian Bonke and Andreas Koefoed were drama is played out in the relationship between front stage and there is something about him that
the Ukrainian ballroom introduced to the strange world of ballroom dancing a couple back stage. Life off-stage is a far cry from the polished dance most modern, ambitious men will
king, it’s a battle not just of years ago, they were filled with fascination and wonder at floor.
probably recognise.”
against his rivals but also the abundance of sequins and shaved chests. The stage was set “Those forced smiles are a wonder to behold. For most of
against his own inner for a drama about winning gold as well as love. When they the film, Slavik and Anna are not getting along at all off stage,
demons. Ballroom Dancer met the athletic, temperamental dancer Slavik Kryklyvyy, they but they still have to go on stage and act like they are madly in
is competing at iDFA. knew they had a natural protagonist for their film. He simply love, faking it the whole way through,” Koefoed says.
outshined everyone else. “The world of ballroom dancing is an amazing scene, where Cologne where he was doing solo training, because he had to
“Slavik was discovered rather late, at age 19. Within a year the dancers are professional partners as well as lovers. It has tell someone about the heavy price he was paying for letting
and a half, he was the best in the world. No one ever shot to drama and it is a very visual environment. The dance contests his love slip away,” Koefoed says
the top so quickly before. He came out of left field and won add a natural dramatic effect to the film, but we deliberately
the world championship,” Koefoed says. But Slavik’s reign was tried to ramp that down to avoid losing focus on the love For further information on Ballroom Dancer, see reverse section.
brief and for the next 10 years, with changing dance partners, story,” Bonke says.
he has tried, and failed, to get back on top. “It was essential to find a balance between the film’s two
Ballroom Dancer follows Slavik in his all-out assault on the main elements, dance and love. Both elements had to be in ANDREAS KOEFOED
Born 1979, Denmark. A graduate of the National Film School of Denmark,
world championship. His partner this time, Anna Melnikova, is play. For Slavik, there was never a separation between dance 2009, and in sociology from Copenhagen University, 2004. His short films Directors Andreas Koefoed and Christian Bonke Photo: Erika Svensson
also his girlfriend. But the trophies elude them and soon events and love,” Koefoed confirms. A Day in the Smoke (2008), 12 Notes Down (2008), Albert’s Winter
are spinning out of control, both on and off the dance floor. “It was a challenge to present Slavik in a way that would (2009) and Pig Country (2010) have all been selected for IDFA, followed
“He’s probably the most talented dancer in the world. He’s make the audience identify with him, because he is so tough this year by Ballroom Dancer, Koefoed’s first feature-length documentary Slavik, once the world’s number one Latin dancer,
and co-directed with Christian Bonke.
just not making the most of it, because his personal demons and radical. Even so, there is something about him that has teamed up with his new lover Anna to make
and internal resistance are always tripping him up. And he is so most modern, ambitious men will probably recognise. High
one final attempt to regain his title. Following their
driven to win that he neglects his love for Anna,” Bonke says. achievers who sometimes forget the girl at their side,” Bonke CHRiSTiAN BONKE
Born 1973, Denmark. A graduate of the National Film School of Denmark,
Little by little, he pushes Anna away with his constant says. struggle on and off stage, Ballroom Dancer offers
2005, and in multimedia design from Mouse, 1994. Films include Between
hectoring and perfectionism in front of the dance studio As the filming progressed, Slavik grew increasingly lonely. Peaks (2004), First Love (2007), and Real Estate (2008). Ballroom Dancer a rare glimpse into the glittering world of ballroom
mirror. Nothing is ever good enough for him. His world championship dreams were fading and Anna left is Bonke’s first feature-length documentary and co-directed with Andreas
him for a wealthy Lithuanian. Koefoed. dancing.
DiRECTiON imPOSSiBlE “His life fell apart and we were extremely close to
DANiSH DOCUmENTARY PRODUCTiON
Ballroom Dancer is the two directors’ first project together and everything. At the end, he called us up and asked us to come to See page 21.
The wiLL / ChrisTiAn sØnderby JePsen / idFA reflecting images The wiLL / ChrisTiAn sØnderby JePsen / idFA reflecting images
PAGe 16 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 17
Henrik’s life is in a shambles. It’s been going that way for years.
With no job, no money, a wife that left him, Henrik, although
sardonic about it at times, is at his wits end. But now his granddad
just died, and he stands to inherit a fortune. A film fuelled by a
darkly shaded family story akin to Vinterberg’s The Celebration.
The
inheriTance
The Will Photo: Henrik Ernst Steffensen
Diving deep into the intimate life of its BY PER JUUl CARlSEN with breathless eyes and buzzed on “recovery beers”.
protagonist, The Will is a documentary They are about to bury a family member whose death
with all the energy and presence of a 41.76 seconds. That’s how long he takes to think about they have been looking forward to their whole lives.
narrative film. We watch a guy have it, as he stares up at the ceiling of his kitchen in Copen - That sets the tone. For the next hour and a half, we
sex, crash his car, be disowned by his hagen. Maybe Christian Sønderby Jepsen is rewinding follow Henrik as he struggles to get his hands on his
father and much more. How far can a back to the weeks he spent filming in Skals, at the far jackpot, his “dream castle” that’s probably why he
documentary go in terms of revealing the end of the country, in “marginal Denmark”. Maybe never really got a move on in life. He is unemployed
most intimate details of someone’s life? he’s thinking about all the days he spent probing every and uneducated, his wife has left him and he is up to
Per Juul Carlsen put the question to The recess of Henrik Steffensen’s private life, docu menting his eyeballs in debt, just waiting out the clock until his
Will’s director, Christian Sønderby Jepsen, every little piece of the puzzle, every burnt-out joint, big payday.
who takes a long, hard think before every empty beer bottle, every text message.
answering. Maybe he realises that he is dealing with one of STRAiGHT OUT OF A SOAP OPERA
the most critical questions of the X Factor age, when “This is a really important story about unhappy
everyone wants to be intimate in the media and the people on the margins of the nation,” Jepsen says.
media wants to know every intimate detail. Maybe he “There are a lot of great themes: the rags-to-riches
just doesn’t know how to answer the question, “Was dream, the human search for something greater and
anything too private to include in your film?” the family conflicts that the inheritance catalyses.”
Only a few minutes into The Will, it becomes
ATTENDiNG A FUNERAl ON RECOVERY BEER apparent that Henrik’s family is like something
It’s not a simple question. In The Will, Jepsen gets to live straight out of an American soap opera, regardless
out his old dream of making a documentary of events of the thick Jutlandic burr. Passing a pile of chopped-
as they unfold. The film follows Henrik, a young man down trees on his way to his father’s farm, he quips
biding his time as he waits for an inheritance from that it reminds him of Isengard, the fortress of the
his grandfather, who made millions running a seaside evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings. When
hotel on the north coast of Germany. Ever since Henrik the farm appears on the horizon, he dryly states,
and his older brother, Christian, were little, they have “There’s Fort Steffensen”. These comments reveal
heard endless stories of the fortune they had coming three great qualities of The Will’s main character – his
to them. Over time, the inheritance became a fairytale self-deprecating charm, his eye for dramaturgy and
castle where they would live happily ever after. his willingness to reveal all, even the most intimate
When The Will opens, Henrik and his brother are detail. The last quality, more than anything, is what
speeding to their grandfather’s funeral in Henrik’s car, gives Jepsen pause to think.
Henrik (driving) and his brother in The Will. Framegrab
The wiLL / ChrisTiAn sØnderby JePsen / idFA reflecting images Love AddiCT / PerniLLe rose GrØnKJÆr / idFA reflecting images
PAGe 18 / FiLm#73 / / FiLm#73 / PAGe 19
in seArCh
of
Love
Director Christian Sønderby Jepsen Photo: Per Morten Abrahamsen
“He told me he was ready to kill himself when we started the having explicit sex in Thailand and being disowned
by his father?
film. The film was a way for him to get it out. He’s a real
“Henrik told me that one of the first things he did
performer.” after meeting Ceci was show her the videos from
Thailand. If he had shut himself up in a little bubble,
his demons would just have kept growing,” Jepsen
“There were no boundaries in our relationship,” he doesn’t know she’s listening in. The friction between says. “He told me he was ready to kill himself when
says. “When he crashed his car and was bawling his Henrik and his brother not only adds fuel to an we started the film. The film was a way for him to get
eyes out, I asked him, ‘Is it okay if I film you now.’ already inflamed family dynamic, it is also extremely it out. He’s a real performer. He used to dream about
And he said, ‘Sure, go ahead, this is one of the most cringe worthy. Yet no one turns to Jepsen and asks becoming an actor. A lot of people with his kind of
important moments in my life.’” him to turn off the camera. history do. They want to be seen and heard.”
Back to the question Jepsen took so long to answer.
DOC VERSiON OF THE CELEBRATION DiSOWNiNG YOUR SON BY TEXT Was anything too private to include in The Will?
Henrik asked to be put on display. He responded to Equally cruel is the sequence where Henrik’s father “No. The ethics was: If it’s the truth to Henrik and
a listing asking for good stories from the real world disowns him. A trained screenwriter might contrive everyone else, it’s going in the film,” Jepsen finally
that Jepsen and his production company, Bombay a scene where the father barges in, crushing the last says. “I could have gone much further with Henrik,
Bully, had posted on various websites, writing: remnants of his son’s self-worth in an argument that but I saw no reason to.”
“I’m from a well-off family and my whole life ends with the son stabbing his father to death with a That’s worth thinking about for 41.76 seconds
growing up was full of letdowns and scandal. Now kitchen knife.
my grandfather is dying and I stand to inherit The Will presents a much more powerful For further information on The Will, see reverse section.
millions. A new beginning?” solution: Henrik’s father sends him a lousy text message,
Jepsen, who comes from that part of the country, informing him that he doesn’t want to see him
flew to Skals on the Danish mainland of Jutland and anymore. Henrik holds his phone up to the camera, CHRiSTiAN SØNDERBY JEPSEN
Born 1977, Denmark. Graduated in TV-documentary at the
found that the story was growing in intensity every half laughing, half crying, showing us the full text.
National Film School of Denmark, 2007. Side by Side (2008),
day. Faced with this unfolding family drama, he Disowning your son by text speaks volumes about
a film about rivalry between neighbours, has screened at a host
got the idea to make a documentary counterpart to the father’s mindset. Later on, Henrik shows us videos of venues, including the Toronto Hot Docs, and was honoured
Thomas Vinterberg’s classic The Celebration. It’s hard from a Bildungs-trip to Thailand that the father took at film festivals in Indianapolis, Reykjavik and Leipzig. The Will
(2011), selected for IDFA, is the director’s first feature-length
to say anything other than he has reached his goal. his two boys on. In one video, a prostitute is sucking
documentary.
The Will is a documentary, but it has the engine of a Henrik’s fully erect member. In another, they are Jennifer in Love Addict Photo: Danish Documentary Production
narrative film, thanks to its protagonist’s dramatic flair having intercourse on a sofa. It comes as no surprise
and desire to disclose everything. when Henrik shows us photos of his parents’ wedding COPENHAGEN BOmBAY Love is a powerful feeling. To some, even destructive.
Founded 2006 by producer Sarita Christensen and director
Two scenes, in particular, have a dramatic construction and says that his mother married a “demon” who Anders Morgenthaler. Holds a specific focus on films for children Pernille Rose Grønkjær travelled to America and met
that would get nods of respect in a narrative film. One drove her to fatal alcoholism. and young people and on crossmedia. Produced documentaries
Jennifer, Eliza, Tracy, Christian and other love addicts.
comes at a point when the audience assume that Henrik The Will is about to be unleashed in Danish by Michael Noer, Vesterbro (2007) and The Wild Hearts (2008).
First two feature films are the animated The Apple & The Worm
and his brother always stick together. Christian, a cinemas and at IDFA, the world’s most important In her film she tells their stories and explores the all-
(Anders Morgenthaler, 2009), and The Great Bear (Esben Toft
recovering drug addict, calls up and tells Henrik that documentary film festival. Is it healthy for someone
Jacobsen, 2011). The Will (2011) by Chistian Sønderby Jepsen
consuming nature of love when it has become a drug.
he “never cared much for Ceci”, Henrik’s wife. He to witness the world’s reactions to scenes of him is selected for IDFA. www.copenhagenbombay.com