Vibeke Vogel
Brendan, an American anthropologist, used to wander the planet exploring human nature in all its forms and beauty. But today, he has to embark on a very different project. After falling in love with a Danish woman, he ends up a stay-at-home dad of two toddlers in Copenhagen, and his own boring life as a caregiver becomes his only object of study. Once unable to conform to a conventional lifestyle, he now discovers the few joys and many hardships of child rearing, as well as the bizarre culture of hygge that surrounds him. Abandoned by his mother as a kid, Brendan swore to never inflict the same trauma on his children, but he suddenly understands the prison she found herself in: “We need to find another word than love for this,” he ponders. Filmed over five years, this tragicomic diary is a relatable, taboo-free look at the exquisite torture of parenthood.
This dazzling visual yearbook transports the viewer to a pastoral Danish boarding school where 120 teenagers quickly go from total strangers to chosen family. The students find friendship, romantic love, heartbreak and most importantly, kindness for themselves in their mistakes and first-time experiences. Living on their own, without parents or the comforts of home, they learn intensively and develop self-esteem, confidence and coping mechanisms as a group. Together, they foster the ability to be completely and unselfconsciously themselves in the company of others, which creates a climate of acceptance and self-love so strong that, when the COVID-19 pandemic sends everyone home early, the kids can rely on it remotely.
Erik was born as a girl but always felt like a boy. As an 18-year-old, he began the process of gender reassignment. This is where ‘Dream Prince’ starts too. Shot over a full 10 years and with no filter. Isolation, bullying and anxiety have followed Erik throughout his life, while he has struggled with recognition from his surroundings and himself. Now he is 27 years old and decides to go on a pilgrimage to the end of the world, the Camino de Finisterrae, to finally find peace with himself. With his beloved girlfriend Martyna as a guardian angel, the journey forces Erik to confront the demons of the past. Jessica Nettelbladt’s trustful portrait tackles a difficult topic with seriousness but also with warmth, humour and love. A film about identity, mental health and healing, which goes beyond Erik’s own story.
In 1973, five men and six women drifted across the Atlantic on a raft as part of a scientific experiment exploring the origins of violence and sexual attraction. Nobody expected what ultimately took place on that 3-month journey. Through archive material and a reunion of the surviving members of the expedition, this film tells the hidden story of the project.
In 2006, the American aluminium company ALCOA decides to build their plant in Greenland. The massive billion dollars’ project is the opportunity for Greenland to become financially independent from Denmark. The film zooms in on the isolated fishing town Maniitsoq as the years pass and the local inhabitants are put on hold – waiting for the American Dream.
Moroccan paralympic gold medalist Azzedine Nouiri is no longer looking for the longest throw, but to overthrow the system that keeps athletes with different abilities marginalized as destitute second-class citizens.
Did Ida's grandfather live a double life as a secret agent during the cold war? Ida and her father believe that their beloved father and grandfather worked directly for the CIA during the Cold War in Denmark.
A successful rock band from Greenland? Yes, it's not a lie. In 1973, the Greenlandic Sumé released a debut album, which record time made it to all the households on the icy island. But Sumé's success was not just due to their catchy beat rock, but also to the band's ability to put words to the zeitgeist, where Greenlandic culture was slowly fading away
'History is always made in the middle of the night. And when it happens, you are so damned tired, that you couldn't care less,' says Robert Cooper, an EU peace negotiator whose job it is to get Serbia and Kosovo to reach an agreement about peaceful coexistence. National pride and compromise are on everyone's lips, and much is at stake: Kosovo wants to come closer to independence, the Serbs have been promised EU membership if they can reach an agreement, and the EU tries to strengthen its credibility. But how far is each party willing to go? It is the unique characters that make this fascinating film about a delicate political game so vivid and loveable. The stoic, Serbian negotiator has a great passion for rock music, his colleague from Kosovo does not want to miss out on his daily visit to the hairdresser, and Cooper himself has a closet full of ties - one for every conceivable occasion.
Sensitive 12-year-old Alf is the low man on his class' totem pole, and he's sick of it. Forming a secret, Machiavellian alliance with another student who also has grown weary of being bullied, he hatches a plan to throw a wrench into the well-oiled gears of the school social order. Everything seems to go according to plan, until Alf discovers that turning the tables on his tormentors has its own dire consequences.
Based on the journal of Knud Rasmussen's "Great Sled Journey" of 1922 across arctic Canada. The film is shot from the perspective of the Inuit, showing their traditional beliefs and lifestyle. It tells the story of the last great Inuit shaman and his beautiful and headstrong daughter; the shaman must decide whether to accept the Christian religion that is converting the Inuit across Greenland.
