News

Thomas Vinterberg, the Oscar-winning Danish director of “Another Round,” will preside over the jury of the upcoming Marrakech International Film Festival, with which he has a longstanding rapport.

The Marrakech jury will award its Étoile d’Or to one of the 14 first and second films in the fest’s international competition. Recent winners include Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir’s “Mother of all the Lies” last year and French-Iranian helmer Emad Aleebrahim-Dehkordi’s “A Tale of Shemroon” in 2022.

It will mark the first time that Vinterberg attends the Marrakech Film Festival. The Danish filmmaker is one of Europe’s best known directors. He co-founder with Lars von Trier of the Danish Dogme 95 movement in the mid 1990s. His vast and widely praised filmography comprises “The Celebration,” aka “Festen,” (1998) for which Vinterberg won the Cannes jury prize when he was 28; “It’s All About Love (2003)”; “Dear Wendy” (2005); “When a Man Comes Home...

Oscar-winning Danish director Thomas Vinterberg has been announced as president of the jury at the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival, running from November 29 to December 7.

The jury awards the Étoile d’Or to one of the 14 first and second films in the international competition, recent winners of which have included Asmae El Moudir’s Mother of all the Lies (2023) and Emad Aleebrahim-Dehkordi’s A Tale Of Shemroon (2022),

“In this rapidly changing and increasingly divided world, festivals such as Marrakech provide a much-needed window into a wide variety of cultures,” said Vinterberg. “Films can describe what cannot be explained. Make us understand the unacceptable. And there is indeed a lot to understand right now.”

Marrakech has strong connections with the Danish cinema world. Last year it celebrated longtime Vinterberg collaborator Mads Mikkelsen with an honorary career achievement award. He spoke fondly of his connection with the director in his masterclass.

Vinterberg...

Director Benedikt Erlingsson’s second feature scoops $53,000 prize.

Tonight at a ceremony in Oslo, Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson became the first director to win the Nordic Council Film Prize for both his first and second feature films.

This year’s winner was Woman At War, with Erlingsson sharing the $53,000 cash prize with co-writer Ólafur Egill Egilsson and his fellow producers Marianne Slot and Carine Leblanc from France’s Slot Machine.

Woman At War, which premiered at Cannes Critics Week and is Iceland’s submission for the foreign-language Oscar race, is about a middle-aged woman who becomes an eco terrorist to...

Untitled Zentropa Entertainment film will focus on the joys of drinking.

TrustNordisk has acquired rights and will kick off pre-sales for Thomas Vinterberg’s upcoming feature at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The untitled project revolves around four friends who embark on an experiment to remain constantly drunk. Whille initially successful, the plan eventually derails.

The film, which is now in pre-production, will star an as-yet-announced Danish cast and will be produced by Sisse Graum and Zentropa Entertainment. Vinterberg’s The Hunt and Submarino co-writer Tobias Lindholm is writing the script.

Principal photography is expected to begin in summer 2019 with a budget of €3.8m.

Exclusive: Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne are in advanced negotiations to star in The Good Nurse, a thriller based on the book by Charles Graeber and scripted by Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Tobias Lindholm is set to make his English-language feature directing debut. Bron Studios, run by Aaron L. Gilbert, has come aboard to finance and will release through Lionsgate. Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa is producing as well.

The pic tells the true story of the pursuit and capture of Charlie Cullen, a nurse who is regarded as one of the most prolific serial killers in history. Now called “Angel of Death,” Cullen was a married father who was thought to be a responsible caretaker, but his secret compulsion to take life led to his implication in the deaths of as many as 300 patients over 16 years, spread across nine hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Redmayne will play Cullen, who was caught...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Before I Fall (Ry Russo-Young)

Harold Ramis certainly didn’t invent it, but his Groundhog Day made the narrative loop device a mainstream mainstay, lovingly aped in everything from Source Code to Edge of Tomorrow to 50 First Dates. In Before I Fall, the loop treatment is utilized rather intelligently by director Ry Russo-Young, from Maria Maggenti screenplay adapted from Lauren Oliver‘s novel. – Dan M. (full review)

Where to Stream: Amazon,...

Feature is being produced through new initiative Nordisk Film Spring.

TrustNordisk has boarded sales on Gustav Moller’s debut feature The Guilty, which is currently in post-production.

The Danish thriller has already caught the attention of buyers and festival programmers since it was pitched at Goteborg’s Work In Progress in January.

TrustNordisk will show a teaser to buyers as part of its Cannes promo reel.

Lina Flint produces the film through Nordisk Film Spring, a new initiative to support upcoming talents. The Danish Film Institute’s New Danish Screen also backs the project.

Spring was started by Flint (whose credits include The Elite) and screenwriter Emil Nygaard Albertsen in collaboration with Nordisk. Described as an “experimental creative collective,” it supports new talents and new ways of working.

Read more about Spring in Screen’s feature here.

The Guilty is a thriller about a former police officer who answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. With just...

After getting a taste of Hollywood with his adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Vinterberg headed back to Denmark for his next film, The Commune, adapted by Tobias Lindholm (his partner on The Hunt and Submarino, and a great director in his own right with A Hijacking and A War). Following a family whose move into a tiny community ends up tearing them apart, the film will finally arrive in the U.S. this summer via Magnolia and now the new trailer has landed.

We said in our review, “While surprisingly moderate by the pairing’s standards – no child molestation, lynch mobs, drug addiction, or suicide this time around – their latest attempt at dissecting the human condition ultimately reveals itself to be as cynical and glib as their previous collaborations.” Check out the trailer below for the film starring Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Helene Reingaard Neumann, Lars Ranthe and Fares Fares.

Thomas Vinterberg went through a bit of a dry patch following “The Celebration,” with a string of movies (“It’s All About Love,” “Dear Wendy,” “Submarino“) that missed the mark. But now he’s back on form, chilling everyone with “The Hunt,” going the period drama route with the underrated “Far From The Madding Crowd,” and now bringing “The Commune” to art houses everywhere.

Continue reading Choose Your Family In The New U.S. Trailer For Thomas Vinterberg’s ‘The Commune’ at The Playlist.

Us distributor has taken the 1970s-set drama, which won a Crystal Bear at the Berlinale for actress Trine Dyrholm.

Us outfit Magnolia Pictures has picked up Thomas Vinterberg’s drama The Commune, which had its international premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, winning a Silver Bear for actress Trine Dyrholm.

Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk, who are handling international rights, negotiated the deal with Magnolia’s Svp of acquisitions Dori Begley.

Starring alongside Dyrholm are Ulrich Thomsen (In A Better World), Fares Fares (Zero Dark Thirty) and Lars Ranthe (The Hunt). Director Thomas Vinterberg co-wrote the script with Oscar-nominated A War director Tobias Lindholm, who previously co-wrote Vinterberg’s Submarino and Oscar-nominated The Hunt.

The film tells a story about the clash between personal desires vs. solidarity and tolerance in a Danish commune in the 1970’s.

Morten Kaufmann and Sisse Graum Jørgensen produced the film for Zentropa Entertainments19 in co-operation...

Thomas Vinterberg has yet to re-attain the heights of his 1998 breakthrough feature, the vehement Dogme inaugurator The Celebration. His focus on the scabrous underpinnings of interpersonal relationships has remained more or less constant, but his treatment of the subject has lost its trenchancy, and films such as Submarino and The Hunt are too willful and calculated in their abrasiveness to achieve genuine insight. Vinterberg co-wrote those later features with Tobias Lindholm (director of the excellent A Hijacking and A War), and the two Danes reunite for The Commune. While surprisingly moderate by the pairing’s standards – no child molestation, lynch mobs, drug addiction, or suicide this time around – their latest attempt at dissecting the human condition ultimately reveals itself to be as cynical and glib as their previous collaborations.

What Vinterberg has always excelled at is realizing despicable male characters, and he again proves his talent with The Commune’s protagonist,...

Aside from being an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, A War is the work of someone I greatly admire, Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm. If you saw A Hijacking—a film that deserved the same level of attention as Captain Phillips—or any of the films he’s co-written, like Submarino and the searing Oscar nominee The Hunt, you’ll understand my enthusiasm. In A War he turns his attention to the Danish presence in Afghanistan, focusing on a company commander (Pilou Asbæk, the star of A Hijacking) who tries to bring empathy and humanity to his job, especially when it comes to...

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As if new films from the Coens and Jeff Nichols weren’t enough, the 2016 Berlin Film Festival has further expanded their line-up, adding some of our most-anticipated films of the year. Mia Hansen-Løve, following up her incredible, sadly overlooked drama Eden, will premiere the Isabelle Huppert-led Things to Come, while Thomas Vinterberg, Lav Diaz, André Téchiné, and many more will stop by with their new features. Check out the new additions below, followed by some previously announced films, notably John Michael McDonagh‘s War on Everyone.

Competition

Cartas da guerra (Letters from War)

Portugal

By Ivo M. Ferreira (Na Escama do Dragão)

With Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova

World premiere

Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad! (A Dragon Arrives!)

Iran

By Mani Haghighi (Modest Reception, Men at Work)

With Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol

International premiere

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) – documentary

Italy / France

By Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro Gra, El Sicario...

New titles from Thomas Vinterberg, Mia Hansen-Løve, Danis Tanovic, Lav Diaz and Gianfranco Rosi among line-up.Scroll down for full list

Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has added nine titles to its Competition line-up, bringing the current total to 14 (the full Competition programme will be announced soon, according to the fest).

The new additions include The Commune, marking the first time Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt, Far From The Madding Crowd) has been in Competition at Berlin since Submarino in 2010. The film centres on a Danish commune in the 1970s and will be released in Denmark this weekend (Jan 14).

French director Mia Hansen-Løve (Eden) has been selected with her drama Things to Come, starring Isabelle Huppert as a woman embarking on a new life after her husband leaves her for another woman. The film will world premiere at Berlin.

Another world premiere will be documentary Fire at Sea, capturing life on...

The Commune

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Writers: Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg

With a career resurgence following his 2012 The Hunt (earning Mads Mikkelsen a Best Actor Award at Cannes as well as snagging an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language Film), Dogme Godfather Thomas Vinterberg mounted a handsome adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, which enjoyed decent critical reception following a release from Fox Searchlight. His latest, The Commune, co-written by director Tobias Lindholm (whose excellent new feature, A War was Denmark’s official Oscar entry this year), follows a 1970s academic couple who join a commune in Hellrup with their daughter. But things get interesting when the patriarch’s girlfriend also moves in. Though this sounds an awful lot like Swedish auteur Lukas Moodysson’s 2000 feature Together, we’re excited to see Vinterberg’s return with Lindholm (who also scripted Submarino and The Hunt) in a film...

Despite his lengthy filmography as a scribe (mostly Thomas Vinterberg’s righthand man Submarino, The Hunt and upcoming The Commune) and his previous outings as a filmmaker in the grizzly R (2010) and gritty A Hijacking (2012), Tobias Lindholm hasn’t been part of the make-up of the festival in terms of exhibiting a film there, but the Dane has been present as a creative advisor specifically at the January Screenwriters Lab (2014) and June Screenwriters Lab (2015). Rejoining his muse actor Pilou Asbæk, his third film which Variety called “engrossing, impeccably sensitive Afghanistan War drama makes good on the promise of,” and THR suggested that “complexity emerges through a combination of careful writing and a little work on the viewers’ part“) received coin support via the 2014 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award and would eventually land on the Lido in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section. Denmark’s official selection for the...

While it might not have been as widely praised as some of his other films — namely The Hunt — I found Thomas Vinterberg‘s adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd earlier this year to be a highly entertaining, engaging film. Rather than going further down the direction of star-studded, English-language features, he’s returned to a drama in his native homeland, and today brings the first trailer.

The Commune, adapted by Tobias Lindholm (his partner on The Hunt and Submarino, and a great director in his own right with A Hijacking and A War) from one of Vinterberg’s plays, is described as “a Nordic, dark Scandinavian version of Ice Storm.” It follows a family whose move into a tiny community ends up tearing them apart. Living here, amongst new faces, they find themselves more concerned with what others are up to than the lives of those they know so well,...

The Danish Film Institute has announced a shortlist of three films in the running to become the Scandinavian country’s official Oscar entry in the Best Foreign Language category. But this is not an ordinary selection of films and there is also not a clear favorite despite what might seem like an obvious choice.

Each of these films includes some of the most important talents within the Danish film industry today and as a group they showcase an impressive range of subjects and styles. Their selection also represents a decisive position on the part of the Danish Film Institute to focus on creators with unique perspectives in a year that saw films from two of the nation’s most successful filmmakers. Susanne Bier’s divisive “A Second Chance” and Bille August “Silent Heart” could have easily occupied two of the slots in the shortlist. Both directors have won the Academy Award and have established careers abroad, yet this year those outstanding qualifications were overlooked in favor of new daring visions.

Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Look of Silence," Tobias Lindholm's "A War," and Anders Thomas Jensenn "Men and Chicken," form this impressive trio that will surely make the decision-making process a challenging one because this is a fantastic lineup to choose from.

The Danish Film Institute will announce its final selection on September 23.

Here’s a closer look at the Danish candidates

"Men and Chicken" (Mænd & høns)

Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen

Isa: LevelK

U.S. Distribution: Drafthouse Films

Oscar-winner Anders Thomas Jensen focused on writing screenplays for an entire decade putting his directorial abilities aside during that time. Jensen has penned the screenplays for some of the most acclaimed Danish film in recent memory as part of his close relationship with Susanne Bier: “Brothers,” “After the Wedding,” “In a Better World,” and her latest, “A Second Chance.” But the fact that he is behind all of these morally complex dramas doesn’t mean he can’t be as successful in the comedic realm. Dark comedy “Men Chicken” is his first effort behind the camera since 2005 and appears to be a promising return. This film centers on two brothers discovering their family’s disturbing secret and exposing their true colors. It stars Dane superstar Mads Mikkelsen, which is of course a marvelous asset. “Men and Chicken” has just been picked up by Drafthouse Films out of Tiff

"A War" (Krigen)

Dir. Tobias Lindholm

Isa: StudioCanal

U.S. Distribution: Magnolia Pictures

With his sophomore effort, “A Hijacking,” Tobias Lindholm demonstrated an extraordinary ability for crafting searing tension and compelling human drama. And while that film propelled his career as a director, the talented filmmaker had already made a name for himself as a close collaborator of another Danish auteur: Thomas Vinterberg. Lindholm co-wrote “Submarino,” the Oscar-nominated “The Hunt,” and the upcoming film “The Commune.” Following a troubled Danish soldier in Afghanistan, his third feature “A War,” was well received by critics after premiering in Venice last week, and has just opened theatrically in its homeland. Like Lindholm’s previous work, his latest will also be distributed in the U.S. by Magnolia Pictures. “A War's” relevant themes, Lindholm’s dominance of intimate tragedy in the midst of greater conflict, and Pilou Asbæk presence make it a fascinating option.

"The Look of Silence"

Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer

Isa: Cinephil

U.S. Distribution: Drafthouse Films

With scores of awards and unanimously considered a masterpiece, Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to the “The Act of Killing” could be considered the frontrunner among these three films. Despite being a documentary about a terrifying chapter in Indonesian history directed by an American filmmaker, the film qualifies because it’s a Danish production, and, while not in Danish, it’s in a language other that English. “The Look of Silence” is one of the best films of the year and should take all the honors dedicated to documentaries - including the Academy Award, which Oppenheimer also deserved for “The Act of Killing” - but the road in the Best Foreign Language Film category could be much harder. Documentaries rarely get nominated for that award even though multiple countries select a non-fiction piece as their submission every year. The last documentary to achieve such feat was “The Missing Picture."

Read More: 12 Things Joshua Oppenheimer Wants You to Know About 'The Look of Silence'...

A War

Director: Tobias Lindholm // Writer: Tobias Lindholm

Director and screenwriter Tobias Lindholm has received more attention for his work as screenwriter on a pair of Thomas Vinterberg titles (Submarino, 2010; The Hunt, 2012), and the upcoming The Commune. However, he’s at the forefront of rising Danish filmmakers thanks to his own films. Each year he’s worked with Vinterberg, Lindholm has also premiered his own directorial efforts, including 2010’s excellent R and 2012’s more famous A Hijacking. He’s back with A War, a film meant to conclude a loose trilogy centered on ‘desperate men in small rooms.’ Reuniting once more with Pilou Asbaek, who’s starred in all three films, as well as Soren Malling, a Danish commander must make a difficult decision when his troop falls under heavy gunfire, ultimately seeing him face war crime charges.

Cast: Dar Salim, Pilou Asbæk, Tuva Novotny

Producers: Nordisk Film Production’s...

The Commune

Director: Thomas Vinterberg // Writer: Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg

After the payoff of the successful reception of 2012’s The Hunt, looks like we’re going to get a double dose of Dane Thomas Vinterberg this year. With his adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd pushed back (here’s hoping he can enliven the material a bit more rousingly than Schlesinger’s famed version), Vinterberg has already begun production on different kind of period piece, the 1970s set The Commune. Co-written by fellow Dane Tobias Lindholm (who is also working on his own new feature we hope to see next year), who also worked with Vinterberg on Submarino and The Hunt, the exciting cast is headlined by notables Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration), Trine Dyrholm, and Fares Fares. Based on some autobiographical elements from his own life, which inspired a play he also co-wrote, the film follows a young academic couple,...

Danish director’s follow-up to The Hunt picked up by the UK, Germany and Brazil among others.

Thomas Vinterberg’s upcoming film The Commune has been sold to distributors throughout Europe by TrustNordisk in the wake of the American Film Market.

The film, centred on life in a commune in the 1970s, has been snapped up for the UK (Artificial Eye), Germany and Austria (Prokino Filmverleih GmbH), Benelux (September Film), Greece/Cyprus (Seven Films), Czech/Slovakia (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom Film), Poland (Gutek Film Ltd.) and Hungary (Vertigo Media Ltd.).

It has also been picked up for Brazil (California Filmes).

As previously announced, French distributor Le Pacte secured the upcoming film during the Afm.

The film is currently shooting in Denmark and has a cast led by Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Fares Fares and Lars Ranthe.

Written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm, who also both wrote Submarino (2010) and The Hunt (2012), The Commune focuses on group...

Danish feature has begun shooting and marks follow-up to Vinterberg ‘s The Hunt.

Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune has been snapped up by French distributor Le Pacte from TrustNordisk, which is currently pitching the upcoming film at Afm.

The deal was negotiated between Thomas Pibarot, head of acquisitions at Le Pacte, and Nicolai Korsgaard, sales manager at TrustNordisk.

Jean Labadie, CEO at Le Pacte, described The Commune as a “unique, highly distinctive and deeply emotional film” that contained an “overwhelming and powerful one-two punch to the heart”.

Shooting has just begun on the feature and will continue for a total of eight weeks on location in Denmark and in Trollhättan, Sweden.

It marks Vinterberg’s follow-up to Oscar-nominated The Hunt and is being made by Zentropa in co-operation with Toolbox Film.

The ensemble cast is led by Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Fares Fares and Lars Ranthe.

The story explores the clash between personal desires, solidarity and tolerance...

Sundance Institute and Mahindra today announced the winners of the 2014 Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. The winning directors and projects are Hong Khaou, Monsoon from Vietnam/UK; Tobias Lindholm, A War from Denmark; Ashlee Page, Archive from Australia; and Neeraj Ghaywan, Fly Away Solo from India.

The awards were presented at a private ceremony at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A., by Rohit Khattar, Chairman, Mumbai Mantra, Michelle Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute, and Paul Federbush, International Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute.

Now in its fourth year, the Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award is part of a multifaceted collaboration that exemplifies a commitment to and support of world cinema by the Mahindra Group, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in India known throughout the world for its...

Thomas Vinterberg is the first filmmaker to win the prize twice.

Morten Kaufmann, Tobias Lindholm, Sisse Graum Jorgensen

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg has become the first filmmaker to win the Nordic Council’s Film Prize twice after The Hunt (Jagten) collected the $64,000 (Dkk 350,000) award at a gala ceremony in Oslo’s Opera House.

Vinterberg, who also took the prize for Submarino in 2010, will share it with scriptwriter Tobias Lindholm and producers Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Morten Kaufmann of Zentropa Entertainments.

The jury commented: “Through the allegory of The Hunt, Vinterberg’s film explores how the individual can be persecuted even in a well-meaning and well-functioning society, when it suddenly turns on one of its own.

“This remarkable story is carried by Mads Mikkelsen’s powerful performance, the striking score and haunting and beautiful imagery.”

Competition included Finnish director Simo Halinen’s Open Up to Me (Kerron sinulle kaiken), Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakúr’s The Deep (Djúpid), Norwegian...

A Hijacking director Tobias Lindholm to next shoot a feature about military action in Afghanistan.

Danish director Tobias Lindholm, who won several awards for his Somali pirate drama A Hijacking (Kapringen), will next make The War (Krigen), about the military action in Afghanistan.

The film will conclude the trilogy of “desperate men in small rooms,” which Lindholm launched with the prison drama, R (co-directed by Michael Noer in 2010).

Danish actor Pilou Asbæk, who was is in hopeless situations in both R and Kapringen – as a young prisoner and as a ship’s cook taken hostage – will also star in The War, as a soldier on mission in Afghanistan.

The last part of the trilogy will be produced by Tomas Radoor and René Ezra for Nordisk Film Production (also credited for R, Kapringen), and shooting will start early next year.

Nordisk confirmed that the themes of the film will cover democracy, violence, the cost...

Fox Searchlight Pictures announced that Thomas Vinterberg's Far from the Madding Crowd has begun principal photography in the UK today, September 16th. The film stars Carey Mulligan (The Great Gatsby, Drive), Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone, Bullhead), Michael Sheen (Midnight in Paris, Frost/Nixon), Tom Sturridge (On the Road, Pirate Radio) and Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Killer Joe). The script was written by David Nicholls, author and screenwriter of One Day and Starter for 10. Allon Reich and Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films are producing with Christine Langan of BBC Films executive producing. The film will shoot on location in Dorset, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London.

Here's what director Thomas Vinterberg had to say in a statement.

"I am excited to be working with DNA, Fox Searchlight and this talented cast and crew on Far from the Madding Crowd. It is a great privilege to bring such a...

Shoot begins today on period drama starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts and Michael Sheen.

Fox Searchlight Pictures has announced that Thomas Vinterberg’sFar From the Madding Crowd has begun principal photography in the UK today [Sept 16].

The film stars Carey Mulligan (The Great Gatsby), Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), Tom Sturridge (On the Road) and Juno Temple (Killer Joe).

The script was written by David Nicholls, author and screenwriter of One Day and Starter for Ten. Allon Reich and Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films are producing with Christine Langan of BBC Films executive producing.

The film will shoot on location in Dorset, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London.

Vinterberg said it is “a great privilege to bring such a wonderful piece of very English literature to the screen”.

Langan added that Mulligan is “the perfect Bathsheba”.

Based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd is the story of independent and headstrong...

Principal photography begins in the UK today (September 16th) on "The Hunt" director Thomas Vinterberg's adaptation of the Thomas Hardy literary classic "Far From the Madding Crowd" at Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Carey Mulligan ("The Great Gatsby"), Matthias Schoenaerts ("Rust and Bone"), Michael Sheen ("Frost/Nixon"), Tom Sturridge ("On the Road") and Juno Temple ("Killer Joe")

The story follows the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Mulligan), who attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak (Schoenaerts), a sheep farmer; Frank Troy (Sturridge), a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood (Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor.

"One Day" and "Starter for Ten" author David Nicholls penned the script. Allon Reich and Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films are producing with Christine Langan of BBC Films executive producing.

Joining Vinterberg on the film are director of photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen ("The Hunt," "Submarino"), production designer Kave Quinn ("The Woman in Black"), costume designer Janet Patterson ("The Piano,...

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg is among the contenders for the 2013 Nordic Council Film Prize, complete with $62,000 (Dkk 350,000).

Vinterberg, who last won the prize in 2010 with Submarino, will be among five nominated directors.

The line-up includes:

The Deep (Djúpid), Baltasar Kormakúr (Iceland)Eat Sleep Die (Äta sova dö), Gabriela Pichler (Sweden)The Hunt (Jagten), Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark)I Belong (Som du ser meg), Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)Open Up to Me (Kerron sinulle kaiken), Simo Halinen (Finland)

“’The human face’, the individual facing the group or society, and respect and dignity are common themes that run like a thread through all these films,” said managing director Hanne Palmquist, of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, which administers the prize.

“A Nordic reality sets the framework where daily life and its dilemmas are portrayed by eminent actors with empathy, humour and credibility. The nominated films are of high international quality, have a personal voice and something genuine at heart,” she added...

As exciting as it can be to be part of the audience at the first public screening of an eagerly anticipated film – the new Paul Thomas Anderson or Terrence Malick, the new Rian Johnson or David O. Russell – perhaps the purest pleasure that can be found is that of a new discovery. Picking something to watch with no A-listers and no internationally-renowned filmmaker at the helm, and walking out a couple of hours later feeling that you’ve uncovered a gem, and have been the first to find a director who could be a major talent to watch. That’s the feeling we had last year at the Venice Film Festival walking out of “A Hijacking,” a Danish-Norwegian co-production playing in the Orrizonti sidebar. The film’s not quite from a total newcomer – helmer Tobias Lindholm co-directed the acclaimed prison flick “R” a few years ago, co-wrote “Submarino” and Cannes...

To celebrate the release of Tobias Lindholm’s taut thriller A Hijacking, now showing in cinemas, Hey U Guys have 3 x DVD bundles of Borgen seasons 1 & 2 and The Hunt to giveaway courtesy of Arrow Films.

A Hijacking is a tense, chilling drama following the emotional journeys of a ship’s crew as they are taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates. A Hijacking was the stand out film at the Venice, Toronto and BFI London Film Festivals in 2012.

Tobias Lindholm made his directorial...

"The Hunt" and "Submarino" director Thomas Vinterberg and co-scribe Tobias Lindholm are re-teaming again on Vinterberg's next film entitled "The Commune".

The story is based on Vinterberg’s own play of the same name, and deals with a family that falls apart by moving into a small community.

It has been called a "dark Scandinavian version of Ang Lee's 'The Ice Storm'." Vinterberg himself grew up in a Danish Commune in the 1970s so has plenty of experience with the scenario.

Source: The Playlist...

Danish star Jakob Cedergren first caught my eye in Dagur Kari's 2005 effort Dark Horse, a sly and understated sense of humor making him a standout in the piece. It turns out I'd already seen Cedergren at least once before that - in Thomas Anders Jensen's The Green Butchers - but Dark Horse is where it became clear that he was one to watch. And he has rewarded audiences since, anchoring films such as the stellar Terribly Happy and Submarino while proving himself one of the most reliable performers in the region.Cedergren appears next in a Swedish production, the dramatic thriller Sanctuary (Faro) by Fredrik Edfeldt. Faro is about a man who flees into the forest with his daughter to escape a prison sentence. Chased...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Arriving in stores this week from Gallery Books is Killing Geronimo: The Hunt for Osama bin Laden, a graphic novel that retells the story of America's mission to track down the most notorious fugitive in modern times.

Beginning with the tragedy of September 11, 2001, to the dramatic confrontation in Pakistan, Killing Geronimo depicts the search for the Al Qaeda leader, from the initial order by President George W. Bush through to the final firefight.

The graphic novel takes its title from the codename given to Osama bin Laden during Operation Neptune Spear, the Navy SEALs mission that ended his reign on May 2, 2011.

The authors are Darren Davis, founder of the American comics publisher Bluewater Productions, and Jerome Maida, writer of the comics column in the Philadelphia Daily News. The illustrator is Stefano Cardoselli, who has worked on titles by Bluewater, 2000Ad, Antarctic Press and Dark Slinger as well as setting up Azurek Studios,...

Festen director Thomas Vinterberg storms back to form with this drama about a teacher wrongfully accused of child abuse

As the nation recovers from its Newsnight affair, there could hardly be a more relevant movie than this new one from 43-year-old Danish director Thomas Vinterberg about a wrongful accusation of child abuse. Vinterberg has created a drama-thriller with the atmospheric grip of a horror film; there are echoes of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and Lars von Trier's Dogville, but the film has its own exemplary power, maturity and intelligence. To see The Hunt is to be reminded of our own recent history: we watched as a flagship news programme suffered a spasm of misjudgment that could have been avoided with a Google image search, and as a TV interviewer solemnly handed to the prime minister his piece of paper, apparently under the impression...

As exciting as it can be to be part of the audience at the first public screening of an eagerly anticipated film – the new Paul Thomas Anderson or Terrence Malick, the new Rian Johnson or David O. Russell – perhaps the purest pleasure that can be found at a film festival is that of discovery. Picking something semi-randomly from the program, with no A-listers, and no internationally-renowned filmmaker at the helm, and walking out a couple of hours later feeling that you’ve uncovered a gem, and have been the first to find a director who could be a major talent to watch. That’s the feeling we had walking out of “A Hijacking,” a Danish-Norwegian co-production playing in the Orrizonti sidebar here in Venice. The film’s not quite from a total newcomer – helmer Tobias Lindholm co-directed the acclaimed prison flick “R” a few years ago, co-wrote “Submarino” and Cannes...

The Toronto International Film Festival is a ludicrous bounty of cinematic riches, showcasing hundreds of potentially amazing films both old and new. That it’s all crammed into only 10 days means it’s too much for any one mere mortal to even get a proper grasp of. With that “problem” in mind, here’s a painstakingly narrowed list of 30 to try and catch.

Antiviral

David Cronenberg’s son Brandon’s first feature, Antiviral may well sate the appetites of Cronenberg fans who lament the director’s late-career turn into (relatively) middlebrow fare. The creepy teaser promises eerie, creeping body horror, artfully executed, of the sort Daddy used to make.

The ABCs of Death

Horror anthologies are always a tantalizing prospect, but rarely do the segments come together to form a satisfying whole; usually, a weak effort or two sours the bunch. The ABCs of Death might well be the most ambitious film of its kind,...

The Hour of the Lynx

Original Danish "The Killing" star Sofie Grabol has joined the cast of Søren Kragh-Jacobsen's $3.7 million psychological thriller "The Hour of the Lynx" from "Submarino" scribe Tobias Lindholm. Shooting kicks off late September.

Swedish author Per Olov Enquist penned the original story in which Grabol plays a vicar at a locked institution, helping violent, traumatised inmates by giving them the responsibility for pet animals. [Source: Screen Daily]

Motel

Crispin Glover and Martin Klebba ("Project X") have joined the cast of David Grovic's thriller "Motel" at Red Granite International. John Cusack plays a hitman hired by a famous mob boss (Robert De Niro).

The killer has to fight his way through a cadre of other dangerous people who were also hired by the mobster to convene at a shady motel, and then teams up with a woman to plan his escape. [Source: Heat Vision]

Mother's Day

Sharon Stone has joined the...

Mads Mikkelsen starrer The Hunt goes to Magnolia Variety reports that the distributor's picked up U.S. distribution rights to the Cannes Film Festival player Jagten (The Hunt) which took home the actor award. Pic tells of a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of child abuse, and also stars Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrømm Sysse Wold and Anne Luise Hassing. Vinterberg, known for films like The Celebration, When a Man Comes Home, Dear Wendy and Submarino, directs as well as scripting alongside Tobias Lindholm. "Thomas Vinterberg demonstrates his directorial mastery in his finest work since...

Mads Mikkelsen starrer The Hunt goes to Magnolia Variety reports that the distributor's picked up U.S. distribution rights to the Cannes Film Festival player Jagten (The Hunt) which took home the actor award. Pic tells of a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of child abuse, and also stars Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrømm Sysse Wold and Anne Luise Hassing. Vinterberg, known for films like The Celebration, When a Man Comes Home, Dear Wendy and Submarino, directs as well as scripting alongside Tobias Lindholm. "Thomas Vinterberg demonstrates his directorial mastery in his finest work since...

Festen director Thomas Vinterberg makes a storming comeback with this superbly thrilling drama about a kindergarten teacher accused of wrongdoing

It is 14 years since Thomas Vinterberg burst into view with his excoriating family drama Festen, which launched the minimalist Dogme movement and became a much-talked-about cultural phenomenon on its own account. After that, he appeared to lose his touch, and his admirers wondered if he could recover that early mastery (although I was a fan of his 2010 film Submarino).

Well, Vinterberg really has come storming back with this new movie, easily his best since Festen, and a reminder of his superb gift for unsettling collective drama: it is forthright, powerful, composed and directed with clarity and overwhelming force, yet capable of great subtlety and nuance. The theme is admittedly familiar, and so is the implied analysis of what is going on, and yet Vinterberg endows it with such urgency and his superbly constructed script,...

It’s been a long time since we saw this Dane at the Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition capacity. Thomas Vinterberg ‘s second feature film Festen (The Celebration) in 1998 claimed the Jury Prize which he parlayed into a career of experimental-type English language films It’s All About Love and Dear Wendy, and then homegrown titles A Man Comes Home and Submarino followed with less festival plays making it somewhat of a surprise that the filmmaker is in this year’s Main Competition. The Hunt stars Mads Mikkelsen in the lead and of course, the very unique Thomas Bo Larsen plays the supporting role in what is essentially a drama about the rumor mill, how it spreads and how it destroys lives. So far, we’ve drawn a “love it” or “hate it” type reaction, as we’ve got something of a rarity, with scores from zero to five stars.

With new offerings from Audiard, Haneke and Loach, this year's festival will be another feast of quality film-making. Could have done with a few more women directors, mind

Once again, the Cannes film festival has unveiled a gorgeous list. The only disappointments, for some, will be the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Terrence Malick's new project were not included, reportedly because they were not ready in time – although the idea of Malick actually having a new film completed just one year after the last head-spinning epic is fantastically improbable: as if he had moved up to a Roger Corman level of productivity. Some observers will be disappointed that Stoker, by the South Korean director Park Chan-wook has not been selected, likewise Wong Kar-wai's The Grand Master – although the festival could sneak in a late entry here and there.

The relative absence of women in the list of directors is,...

Early this morning brought one of the most anticipated moments in the cinephile's calendar: the announcement of the line-up of this year's installment of the Cannes Film Festival. And while it reads in places like a parody of a Cannes line-up (Alain Resnais! Abbas Kiarostami! Michael Haneke! Ken Loach!) there's no doubt that we're excited about all of those films, as well as new ones from David Cronenberg, Jacques Audiard, Walter Salles and many, many others.

Much of the line-up had been widely predicted by Cannes-watchers (even that April Fool's Day prank ended up getting 18 films right), but nevertheless, there were a few surprises, as well as a few major absences, either expected ones or more eyebrow-raising ones. Some Cannes favorites we've known weren't coming for a while: Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love" opens tomorrow in Italy and wasn't thought to be at Cannes, while neither Wong Kar-Wai...

Thomas Vinterberg (Festen) has signed on to direct The Hunt.

Co-written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm (Submarino), The Hunt centers on a recent divorcé who’s accused of abusing a small child.

Mads Mikkelsen, Susse Wold, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe and Anne Louise Hassing are attached to star in the drama, with production expected to start in Denmark at the end of the week.

Expect this one to be released in time for awards season next year.

Source: Screen Daily...

It was thirteen years ago when Dogme 95 co-founder Thomas Vinterberg made an international splash with Festen, or The Celebration, but his career since then hasn’t lived up to that sophomore feature effort. And although this is arguably a little late, it looks like he might finally have something more promising ready to go in the near-future.

ScreenDaily (via ThePlaylist) reports that the director is getting ready to collaborate with Mads Mikkelsen on The Hunt, a drama written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm, co-writer on his latest film, Submarino. In the film, the Pusher II star will play “a recent divorcé in a small rural town, who’s accused of abusing a small child.” Those Danes know how to make a fun time at the movies.

Also in the cast are Susse Wold, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, and Anne Louise Hassing, and shooting will begin soon — like, Friday soon.

If the Wayans/Zucker/Seltzer/Friedberg  faction ever get ambitious and make something called Scandinavian Movie, it might look a lot like the work of Thomas Vinterberg. Granted, it'd take a good degree more irony than any of them have displayed yet to pull it off successfully, and Vinterberg himself is Danish, but his work so encapsulates the bleakness and horror that the rest of the world projects onto the cinema of our North Sea brethren that it seems to verge on parody, or perhaps a plant from some warring country to sabotage the Cannes Film Festival. Vinterberg first came onto the scene in 1998 with The Celebration, a technically revolutionary (one of the first and major Dogma 95 films) that was nevertheless profoundly emotionally unconvincing. Submarino is a step in the right direction, but it is nevertheless so ruthless in its desire to package the most depressing product possible that it's...

DVD Playhouse—October 2011

By Allen Gardner

Terri (20th Century Fox) An awkward, obese teen (Jacob Wysocki) finds himself forming an odd friendship with his equally left-of-center vice-principal (John C. Reilly), who decides to help the boy navigate his way through adolescence’s rocky road. Low key film is filled with pathos and humor, but is ultimately too laid back for its own good (not to mention too long). Worth seeing for young Wysocki’s amazing, completely natural performance, and Reilly’s goofy charm. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurette; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.

Mr. Nice (Mpi) Rhys Ifans stars in the true story of Howard Marks, a Welsh-born Oxford grad who gained the most notoriety in his life for being the UK’s biggest hashish smuggler during the ‘70s and ‘80s, when he wasn’t busy spying for Her Majesty’s government, hanging out with a...

Thomas Vinterberg is one of several prizewinning foreign film-makers whose brilliant creations are being kept off our screens. Why?

I'm not quite ready to share a shame-filled bearhug with Mel Gibson, but I do have an apology to make. Last week, I wrote about the Danish film-maker Thomas Vinterberg, and the course of his career since 1998's thrilling Festen. In a clumsy sort of way, I set out to praise him, but the success of that approach was summed up by a commenter who told me that what I'd written would in fact "come down like a Monty Python foot on Vinterberg's future bankability". Now, I don't think that's true, because I don't have that power – but more than that I hope it's not, as I want him to keep making films, and I'd love to be able to see them.

So if that didn't come across in the first place,...

Nikolaj Feifer turned his film school project into a short film, a sci-fi affair called Junk Love, taking inspiration from classic 1970′s sci-fi movies most notably Solaris both visually and in the story too. As well as Solaris you can see hints of 2001 Space Odyssey as well as Moon by Duncan Jones. The film stars Peter Plaugborg who was recently nominated for a Robert by the Danish Film Academy for best supporting actor in Submarino.

Feifer describes his approach to the material this way, “I got the idea because I originally wanted to make a story about an ill dying man. Then I thought to myself that instead of doing the classical hospital story, what could be a much more interesting metaphor? Well, for instance a man in a metal coffin as far away from everything as possible – One man alone in space.”

Check out the teasers and trailer below...