Denmark's 3 Oscar finalists and their strong awards history

by Nathaniel R

If you've been reading the Film Experience for some time you know that your host here is fond of Scandinavian cinema. I'm of partial Danish descent and once lived in Norway and the two combined prompted the interest around the time the Oscars took over my life. When it comes to Oscars' Best International Feature Film category the common wisdom is that France, Italy, an Spain reign but that's only because they have the most in terms of "all time" stats. If you look at more recent history, it's a much different story. For instance, in the 22 years of the 21st century to date, Norway has doubled its meager nomination count and Denmark has more than doubled its previous nomination count. In fact, Denmark is currently tied for #1 in terms of Oscar's favourite foreign country of the 21st century thus far (8 nominations and 2 wins... which Germany also has. Only Sweden, once Oscar's favourite scandinavian country, has been losing momentum.

To make a long story short, Denmark should always be watched closely in the Oscar race. After the jump their three finalists for their 2022 Oscar submission plus their rich Oscar history overall...

THE THREE FINALISTS 

HOLY SPIDER (Ali Abbasi)
Holy Spider is inspired by the true story of a serial killer who preyed on female sex workers in the early Aughts Iran. Zar Amir Ebrahimi won Best Actress at Cannes for her performance as the female journalist investigating the murders. (Elisa reviewed it at Cannes) We're not sure how it qualifies as Danish exactly since Abbasi is Iranian-Swedish but he did go to film school in Denmark so perhaps enough of the team is Danish? Abassi was previously submitted by Sweden for the brilliant and bizarre romantic mythological drama procedural Border. The movie comes to Danish theaters in October. Holy Spider also has US distribution from Utopia but no release date has been announced.

FOREVER (Frelle Petersen) 
A drama about parents and their daughter grieving their son/brother. It was released this summer in Denmark.

AS IN HEAVEN (Tea Lindeburg)
This feature debut for Lindeburg was a critical hit upon release in Denmark earlier this year and also an award winning success on the festival circuit starting in the fall of last year. it's about a young girl in the 19th century whose life suddenly changes when her mother has difficulty in labor.

We suspect they'll select As in Heaven but you never know! They'll announce at the end of September.

🇩🇰 DENMARK'S OSCAR STATS 
Submitting since 1956 (the very first year of the competition)
59 Total Submissions
14 Nominations (and 2 Additional Finalists)
4 Wins 

KEY SUBMISSIONS

• Qivitoc (Balling, 1956) Nominee
  A romantic drama about Danes living in Greenland
  
  
• Be Dear to Me (Hovmand, 1957)
  This was the first female-helmed film ever submitted to the Oscars in the International category.
  
  
• Paw (Henning-Jensen, 1959) Nominee
  Holds the distinction of being the first female-helmed film ever nominated in the International category
  
  
• Harry and the Butler (1961) Nominee

• Gertrud (Dreyer, 1965)
  Carl Theodor Dreyer's legendary career began in silent films and that portion of his career ended with a bonafide masterpiece (The Passion of Joan or Arc). He only made 5 talkies in the subsequent decades of his life, the last of which was submitted by Denmark but the Academy passed.
  
  
• Hunger (Carlsen, 1966)
• Tree of Knowledge (Mamos, 1981)
  These two dramas, the first a landmark social realist film, and the second shot over two years in the high school so the actors would age along with the film, were both highly acclaimed and are two of just a dozen movies that were officially marked as "cultural canon" in Denmark in the Aughts. 
  
  
• Babette's Feast (Axel, 1987) Winner
  
  
• Pelle the Conqueror (August, 1988) Winner
  
  
• Memories of Marriage (Rostrup, 1989) Nominee

THE CELEBRATION

• The Celebration (Vinterberg, 1998)
  One of the most famous and best modern Danish films. Thomas Vinterberg's brutal low-fi dysfunctional family secrets drama put the filmmaking manifesto "Dogme '95" on the global map. Alas, the Academy passed, missing a key but short-lived film movement of the late 90s and early Aughts.
  
  
• Open Hearts (Bier, 2002)
  Susanne Bier's debut. Though the Academy didn't respond, they soon fell in love with Bier in escalating fashion.
  
  
• After the Wedding (Bier, 2006) Nominee
  
  
• In a Better World (Bier, 2010) Winner
  Sadly since this win, Bier no longer works in the Danish language but mosly makes English language television .

SUPERCLASICO

• SuperClasico (Madsen, 2011)
  This very enjoyable romcom romp starred Danish goddess Paprika Steen. Though it made the finals it was not nominated in the end. 
  
  
• A Royal Affair (Arcel, 2012) Nominee
  2012 was such a ridiculously exciting year in the Best International Feature Film category. Any of them could have conceivably won in a non Amour year. 
  
  
• The Hunt (Vinterberg, 2013) Nominee
  
  
• A War (Lindholm, 2015) Nominee

LAND OF MINE

• Land of Mine (Zanvliet, 2016) Nominee
  One of the more underrated Best International Feature Film nominees of recent years. Very effective drama about post World War II tensions between Germans and Danes. Louis Hoffman's breakout role! 
  
  
• The Guilty (Möller, 2018)
  This emergency line thriller made the finals and was so well received (and cheaply made) that it prompted a quick American remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal

ANOTHER ROUND

• Another Round (Vinterberg, 2020) Winner
  
  
• Flee (Rasmussen, 2021) Nominee
  The first movie to ever achieve a triple-specialty category nomination at the Oscars: Documentary, Animated, and International Features 

Most Oscar-Honored Danish Artists  

VIGGO ❤️

1. Tambi Larsen (5 nominations and 1 win in Production Design)
2. Thomas Vinterberg (1 nomination in Best Director. Plus 2 nominations and 1 win in the Best International Film category**) 
3. Viggo Mortensen* (3 nominations in Best Actor)
4. Jonas Poher Rasmussen (3 nominations for the same film, Flee, in Documentary, Animated Feature, and Best International Film**)
5. Gale Sondegaard* (2 nominations and 1 win in Supporting Actress)
6. Susanne Bier (2 nominations and 1 win in Best International Film**)
7. [TIE] Dan Laustsen (2 noms in Cinematography) and Mikael Salomon (2 nominations, one each in Cinematography and Visual Effects)
8. [TIE] Mikkel E.G. Nielsen (1 nomination and 1 win in Film Editing) plus Max Rae and Anna Asp (1 nomination and 1 win in Production Design for both of them, separately)

* Though born in the US they have dual citizenship (first generation Americans, born to a Danish parent or two)

** we realize that international film nominations don't technically belong to the director but we think they should so we include it in these trivia lists.

Most Frequently Submitted Directors in Foreign Film 

1. Nils Mamros (4 submissions, none were nominated)
2. Thomas Vinterberg AND Susanne Bier (3 submissions, 2 were nominated and 1 won)
3. Billie August (3 submissions, 1 was nominated and won)
4. Erik Balling (3 submissions, 1 was nominated)
5. Henning Carlsen (3 submissions, none were nominated)
6. Kaspar Rostrup (2 submissions, 1 was nominated)
7. Annelise Hovman, Erik Klausen, and Morten Arnfred (2 submissions each, neither nominated)

Comments

[César Gaytán]

I recently watched The Guilty and I love it, intriguing as a good thriller should be.

Great lead performance, fantastic screenplay and an immersive sound design.

[César Gaytán]

I recently watched The Guilty and I love it, intriguing as a good thriller should be.

Great lead performance, fantastic screenplay and an immersive sound design.

[mara sahh]

That's right. Otherwise, I'd expect we'd be up there with France and Italy. E.g. Palmes d'Or winners aren't given to specific countries (and some winners are international coproductions), but France has 13 winners and 15 coproductions, Italy has 10 winners and 3 coproductions, and the UK has 8 winners and 4 coproductions.

[Score and Cinematography]

Thanks Nathaniel for posting about this race. I especially love getting this news right now when it’s festival season.

Speaking of which - at TIFF I am seeing Godland.

What country would it fall under for consideration?

Also ps if you know - Cate Blanchett is on the TIFF guest list this year but Tar isn’t playing. Do you know of any other projects she may be involved in as producer perhaps ?

[NATHANIEL R]

Score -- Iceland. It's about a Danish man but it's an Icelandic director and takes place in Iceland.