10 Reasons for the Danish Film Miracle

OR How Europe Can Beat Hollywood

 By T.C. Jakobsen, at www.daimonmou.blogspot.com

 During the 90s Danish film underwent a small revolution. From being a small nation that occasionally would get a film into the international market, as well as seeing it run away with the box office at national cinemas, the Danish film industry now has record setting statistics in all areas. Of all European countries Danish films does the best in their national market, often beating the more glamorous American productions at the box office. Every year several Danish films sell well in the international market. Almost every year there is a serious contender for the foreign film Oscar nomination. And all this in a very small country (5 mio+ population). It really shouldn’t be possible. Its a case of the bumblebee that shouldn’t be able to fly. Here is a look at some of the reason and circumstances that have made it possible.

 

1. Script is the foundation

By the late 80s or early 90s it became clear to both producers and the National Danish Film Institute that the script is the all-imporant foundation for a good movie. This should be self-evident, but in many countries the script is the weakest link. And also so in Denmark before early 90s. And not just realizing it, but acting upon it, the early 90s saw the establishment of two new national educations for writing – the script line at the National film school and the National Playwright Education (which also dedicate periods of its 3 years to film, TV and radio scripts), as well as a dramatic increase in the Film Institutes support for development of scripts. The institute changed its strategy on scripts – from selecting a few that they would eventually also support the production for – to supporting the development of way too many scripts. The wisdom being that you have to get too many scripts to choose the best. This also meant more professional scriptwriters, as even the ones who didn’t make it into production got paid (to some extent) for their hard work. It also became the standard that the consultants at the institute (who are the ones that single-handlely choose which scripts and film to support) would act as proper consultants, giving advice and know-how support to projects in development. Meanwhile the production companies also got the idea and began to develop more scripts.

 

2. Education is vital

Denmark has had a good National Film School since the late 60s, but by the 90s it became upgraded with the new scriptline, and this also lead to the students learning to work in the all-important triangle of director-producer-writer. The scriptline excelled at teaching the students to work with ‘the natural story’, the concept of its scriptwriting-guru Mogens Rukow, who insisted on using natural stories – the family party, the dinner, the business meeting – whatever social structure who already has it’s own fundamental natural story as a framework for all situations in a script – or even as the basic framework for a whole movie (like his own small masterpiece – Festen (The Celebration) which uses the celebration of big family birthday as its framework). The other areas of the Film School managed to attract the best Danish and international talent as teachers, as well as setting very high standards for the admittance of new students. In the same period Denmark also saw the opening of other schools around the country, which would teach film making at a lower lever, the entry level. They became the standard road to eventually being admitted to the National School.

 

3. Teamwork over auteur

Denmark has always been torn between the continental idea of the inspired genius and the auteur versus the anglo-saxon idea of solid work creates success. The anglo-saxon idea incorporates the concept that art can be taught, while obviously a genius can’t be taught, but is something almost god-given. In the 90s there was a shift towards the Anglo-Saxon view, that manifested itself in a belief in teamwork – the institute stressed the need of a collaboration between the trio of producer-director-writer, and it more or less became a requisite for financial support. The production companies were quick to adapt to it, as well as most directors and writers. It became about teamwork – and this also went hand-in-hand with the new generation of actors, who were not prima-donnas, but mainly relied a lot on teamwork, playing with the other actors.

 

4. Critical mass

In the 70s and 80s most directors would go years between making a feature film. This is not good for developing your art and skills. During the 90s the Film institute and the companies managed to increase the number of yearly productions dramatically, due to their success – as they made more money and also managed to pressure the politicians into increasing the budget for the Film institute – to support the Danish Film Miracle. And it is necessary in the small country to have a substantial state support to carry the burden of risk, as a small country can’t have big money of major studios that allows for risk taking. Also the critical mass applies to the number of production companies, which increased throughout the 90s, both in numbers and in the number of ‘continually producing companies’. The critical mass also has an impact on the audiences as they get used to going to the cinema to see a Danish film, they come to expect it, even to expect that a new Danish film has always just opened its run.

 

5. Companies help out new talent

A tradition already existed in Denmark for established companies to give a helping hand to young talents’ no-budget productions by lending or renting out equipment for free or at a very low cost. This tradition became all the more important as the 90s saw a steady growth in the amount of young people seeking a life in film-making. By staying in touch with the new talent the companies were able to both stimulate them and harvest the best of them. The Lars von Trier company, Zentropa, is especially famous for this, as well for employing a huge number of volunteers, often working 1-2 years without pay for the company. At the same time Zentropa and other companies were often quick to take a chance on new talent.

 

6. Actors are real stars

The 90s also saw a new generation of actors entering the screens and stages. This was a generation who played more ‘natural’, meaning they would speak lines more organic and less artificially – but most of all they understood to reflect modern society in their acting. They became stars in a new way. They didn’t become Hollywood glamour stars, but real stars, in the sense of remaining to be real people that the audiences could relate to in a more real way. The producers of both films and theatre understood to take advantage of this new generation, and make them stars – and thereby help to attract audiences.

 

7. Mainstream and art

The famous division between art and mainstream is not so divisive in Denmark. Many films which could be considered art house material are just about mainstream enough to do well in box office. Also the institute support both types of films, as the philosophy is that the two oft-estranged cousins of cinema actually help each other out. Its all one big pot – if the companies make money on mainstream they are better situated to take a chance on art.

 

8. Dogma

There’s no way around mentioning the event of Dogma-films. The stunt played a major role in re-inventing Danish cinema. It brought everything down to earth, back to basic, and maybe most importantly it made it possible to produce more films, as they were quite cheap, because the rules of the Dogma-manifesto decreed the absence of all the superfluous, expensive stuff like effects, lighting and so on. It became all about the story and the actors. The fundamentals. The general lesson here is to focus for a while on some core values of filmmaking that can inspire and propel forward a new generation of filmmakers.

 

9. Film, TV and theatre are connected.

In Denmark there is not a great division between the three, which means a lot of the same talent, especially actors, work in all three fields, but this also goes for some directors and writers. This means several things. The talent are able to earn a living, because they have more options. They are more well-rounded in skills. And they can bring the experience in one field to enhance the others.

 

10. Lars von Trier

As with Dogma, its impossible not to mention Lars von Trier as a major influence for the blossoming of Danish Film. By his personal example, by his Dogma-initiative and by the activities of his hugely successful renegade company, Zentropa, led by famous pretend-maverick Peter Ålbæk (always sporting a big cigar) he has brought inspiration and helped open doors for other Danish filmmakers. No matter how you rate his films, there is no discussion that he has made a huge impact on the Danish film industry and his fellow filmmakers. And unlike Sweden, were Bergmann was a huge national symbol that almost blocked out anybody else (not intentionally of course) Lars von Triers personal success seems more generous for others, more like a catalyst, than an unreachable standard.

 

There are of course other reasons and circumstances. But these are the 10 most important in my opinion. Some of these are easily copied by other (small) nations, who wish to stimulate their film industry. And they should do so – because the smaller countries of Europe and around the world need to step up and challenge the hegemony of Hollywood. Smaller countries can’t beat Hollywood at it’s own game. The country and the film studios are just too big. The money too big. They can’t compete with that. This is why they most look at different strategies. There should be a healthy competition. And USA and Hollywood became big by rigging the playing field in the post WW2 situation, where USA took its payment for the famous Marshall-help by forcing European countries to embrace the american industry. Pre-WW2 European films were dominant in europe. This all changed after the Marshall-plan had helped the war-torn countries back on their feet by force-feeding the American products.