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Denmark - Culture - CinemaDenmark [Main menu] - [Previous paragraph] - [Next paragraph] Bille August  Bille August, b. 1948. Since the end of the 1980s the film and
television director Bille August has to a large extent been instrumental
in gaining an international profile for Danish cinema. In his early film
and television production, which includes such films as Honningmåne
(1978, In My Life) and the television play Maj (1982), August showed
himself to be a gifted creator of visual poetry, who can depict family
life, women's fates and alienation in the welfare society with deep
psychological understanding. In Zappa (1983), Tro, håb og kærlighed
(1984, Twist and Shout) and Busters verden (1984, Buster’s World), all based on novels by Bjarne Reuter, he explores the conflict-
filled and magic world of the youth of the 1960s. Pelle Erobreren
(1987, Pelle the Conqueror), based on Martin Andersen Nexø's novel,
won both the Golden Palms in Cannes and an Oscar. Here August
created both a social historical epic and a beautiful psychological study
of a boy and his father. Augusts's international breakthrough was
followed by the film and television series Den gode vilje (1991, The
Best Intentions) with a script by Ingmar Bergman. This film, too, was
awarded the Golden Palms in Cannes. Together with Jerusalem (1996)
based on a novel by the swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, these two
films form a sort of Nordic epic film-triology. A move towards the
international mainstream film however began with the ambitious film
version of Isabel Allende's bestseller The House of the Spirits (1993) with
a strong international cast, and the just as ambitious film version of
Peter Høeg's bestselling thriller Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) to be
followed by a new film version of Victor Hugo's immortal story Les
Misérables (1998). B. August made his come-back with the Scandinavian closet play En sang for Martin (2001, A song for Martin)Ib Bondebjerg Nordfoto/Rolf Konow © The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
