Stepping sideways into the animation industry, in no time he became Denmark’s top visual effects specialist. Today, he is known as the master of the pitch. Fascinated by the nerdy nitty-gritty of the business, he sees himself as a highly enthusiastic person. Meet the director and Marco Macaco-producer Thomas Borch Nielsen of Nice Ninja.
Originally published in DFI-FILM in March 2013.
Depicting the genocide in Indonesia in 1965 from the point of view of the perpetrators, “The Act of Killing” has caused an uproar in Indonesia and the West. “If you want to understand where genocide comes from, you have to find out what drives the perpetrators,” says Signe Byrge Sørensen, the film’s Danish producer.
Originally published in FILM Magazine in November 2012.
Bradley Shelver started dancing when he was four. He left his home in South Africa when he was 18 and got a scholarship for the Alvin Ailey School in New York. He has now lived and danced in New York for 15 years and can’t imagine going back. When Apartheid ended, the new government cancelled all funding for ballet and opera because they considered it elitist. That’s a shame, says Bradley. Art shouldn’t be for only one group of people.
Bradley likes to divide his time between peforming, creating and teaching. He loves the moment when a student has a breakthrough, and their eyes light up.
Bradley has always been a natural performer. He loves to express emotions without saying anything. He says that a dancer’s main goal is to connect with the audience by showing what it’s like to be human. That can be hard because dancers are always trying to be perfect. But you have to let it go. Stop thinking, and just do it.
“Screw what you look like, and screw the steps,” he tells his student. “You have 2 minutes and 24 seconds to make the audience care about you. That’s what dance is about.”
Originally published on The Columbialists on August 27, 2013
If you can manage a children’s birthday party…
There’s a saying that goes, If you can manage a children’s birthday party, you can manage a film production. Do women owe their success to their ability to organise and multitask? Does the maternal instinct come out in the ability to nurse a project and make sure everyone onboard is happy? Or, more discouraging, is it simply that the lack of money and prestige in documentaries has been keeping men away?
FILM asked six distinctive, experienced and internationally oriented women producers about what drives them, their watershed projects and daily challenges, and what they think it is women, in particular, can do.
Originally published in FILM Magazine in November 2012
Brian McGinn, a connoisseur of quirky characters, picked Mette Heide of Denmark to be his producer after seeing a Heide-produced film about the eccentric Japanese inventor Dr Nakamats. “The Record Breaker” is a documentary comedy about Ashrita Furman, a 56-year-old New Yorker who holds the world record for most world records.
Originally posted in FILM Magazine in November 2012.
Charlotte Bruus Christensen received the Cannes Film Festival’s technical achievement award for her cinematography on “The Hunt”. Meet the talented cinematographer who values honesty, minimalism and reality in her work.
Originally posted on the Danish Film Institute on 31 May, 2012.
From The Kingdom to The Killing
The story behind Denmark’s golden age of TV drama.
Originally published in FILM Magazine in May 2012.
Interview med Kathrine Windfeld publiceret på FILMupdate 8. februar 2012
Freja Dam 